Four years ago, I started an organization called Feeding a Future, a non-profit group aimed at helping the children of the Philippines move from dumpsites into classroom.
Last week, I watched the news, feeling hopeless and devastated. Typhoon Haiyan invaded the lives of the most defenceless people I came to know. All I could think was, what will become of the dumpsite children, and their families? In remote places such as the dumpsite community, the inhabitants are marginalized. They subsist in stick-and-cardboard dwellings held together by plastic bags and discarded scraps. They are only 30 km from downtown Tacloban, where the typhoon made landfall.
What becomes of these people in a disaster situation? On the evening news, we see airplanes full of aid delayed at the Tacloban airport. Anyone lucky enough to make it to the airport may be able to get a bottle of water, if they are near the front of the line.
Compared to the thousands who actually get on a transport, few are sent to Manila or Cebu. What awaits them there is anyone’s guess. What do you do with so many homeless refugees? These are the lucky ones. Planes are delayed and their supplies do not get out to the countryside where they are needed most.
Imagine if the world were better organized and all of the countries more co-operative? In a utopian situation, helicopters could drop off food, water and medical supplies up and down the coast immediately after the disaster. This would drastically cut down on the after-Haiyan causalities.
But such is not the world we live in.
Everything goes through bureaucracies, at a disastrous cost to human life. The weakest and poorest are not only the furthest away from the front of the line, but from any help whatsoever.
The 30 children in my project, along with their families, are miles from any possible aid. I have just heard that all 30 have survived the typhoon. They now face the struggle to continue to survive. What becomes of them now that the dumpsite is washed away, along with any garbage (food) to scavenge? How will they survive the next day, week and month?
In this desperate situation, our charity has authorized for all of our funds to go to food, while the community tries to rebuild.
Try to imagine yourself in the same situation. How would you survive if everything you had was suddenly taken away? You only have what you are wearing – nothing else – with no access to food, water or help. Imagine if here at Western everyone was homeless and suffering. What would we do? How would we organize to do it?
For three years, the children enjoyed attending school daily, wearing a clean school uniform, having two meals a day, in addition to medical care and some make-shift housing.
I hope to go back to the Philippines as soon as I am able.
In the meantime, my partner, Blair, will be there next month to help with reorganizing and rebuilding our children’s world. Organizations like Volunteer for the Visayans and the Tacloban City Rotary Club will keep us updated with what is needed most urgently for the dumpsite community.
We urgently need help to rebuild what we have lost. And we will rebuild.
For more information, contact Joshua Zyss, a Faculty of Science student, at jzyss@uwo.ca, or visit the Feeding a Future website, feedingafuture.org.