Last Sunday (September 27), we helped at the relief center and were able to pack four truckloads of goods. But today, we wanted to be in the front lines.
Our day started with a lot of tweets, calls, and texts. We gathered all the goods from among ourselves and from those that donated to Luca branches. The tweets, retweets, Facebook status updates really helped! I was so shocked to see the number of relief goods dropped off at our branches! Our shop was overflowing!
We were coordinating with Angel Locsin who set up a relief drive two buildings away from our GA Sky Suites showroom. We all planned to go to Marikina for distribution but after seeing Angel’s text, we decided to go to Payatas.
Angel’s text about Payatas, “Kawawa yung mga biktima dito na never nakatikim ng maginhawang buhay. Wala silang 2nd floor na matungtungan. Estimated 50 ang patay, pero hindi sila mabibigyan nang pansin.”
We were able to gather the goods at the showroom by 12:30. Some of our friends were already there when we arrived. People from GA (Florence, Theresa, Merla, Mj, Chubby,Rocky, Vanessa, and Donny) came in full force; designers such as Martin Bautista and Veejay Floresca, Ino Caluza were there; Stylist Shahani Gania and Pam Quinones; Embassy DJ Mars Miranda; Supreme’s David Milan; our doctor Khaz; Architects Ric Matic, Yong Lansigan, Jay Lumbuan; Saga peeps Mia and Elmer; and Olive Chan. Whew... what a list!
Here comes the magical part. Since we all finished packing quite late, Angel’s group went ahead. We were able to fill four SUVs with relief goods. And I mean packed: just the driver, the goods, and no passengers. We made our way to Payatas, but since we were such a long convoy of some seven cars, we lost some of the others along the way. Anyway, while we were trying to look where Angel was, we saw the destruction wrought by Ondoy along the way. You could already see how so many people’s houses were destroyed, and how everything was just so muddy. Even the people walking had mud all over them. The roads were tiny and we got lost trying to maneuver from one point to the next. We ended up at one of the basketball courts that had already been converted into a relief center. I went down to check if we could distribute any goods or if we had finally found where Angel and the rest were. They weren’t there. All I saw was the basketball court divided into two sides: left side were for those that had lost their homes, and right side were for those that had lost their lives. There were dead bodies right in front of me. I decided that I wanted to help, but I wouldn’t have been able to stop the tears flowing from my eyes had we continued.
The Typhoon Ondoy Reality
And while we were giving away goods, someone was about to give birth! Unbelievably, one of our friends was a doctor! See, another magical moment. No, she didn’t give birth, after all. But he assisted her the whole time.
To top it all off, we heard the most magical thing before we left. The area where we stayed was nicknamed Noah’s Ark. It became the the safe refuge for the whole immediate area, as it was the highest point in the vicinity. The place wasn’t big, only about 1000 sq m. So it looked like an island during the storm. It was just so magical that we ended up there — considering the place was pretty hard to find. You wouldn’t have thought it was a compound but rather, just the gate for someone’s house.
We said our goodbyes and promised to come back to never forget our experience. We may have lost Angel trying to find the original relief center, but you know what? All the angels I’d ever need were already with me... my friends. While we were all close to tears in saying our goodbyes, one lola asked me again, “Is your name really Divine Lee, as in the word divinely?” They thought it was a joke. “No, my name really is Divine Lee. And this place really is Noah’s ark... for them and us alike.”