Photo above from inquirer.net website (of the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper) shows but a small area of the widespread devastation suffered by several provinces in central Philippines, after supertyphoon "Yolanda" (international name "Haiyan") hit the country yesterday. Haiyan is said to be the one of the world's strongest, if not the strongest, typhoon to hit this year. Strong rains and winds have rendered hundreds of thousands of Filipinos homeless, businesses destroyed, roads and other infrastructure devastated. Body count of the deceased (some lying on the roads) is just starting, and the Philippine Red Cross has an early estimate of more than a thousand dead. (Update: as of Saturday, authorities say more than 10,000 are said to be dead, in Leyte province alone. News from many other provinces devastated by Yolanda are still hard to obtain as of Saturday because communication and transportation to these areas are still not possible.)
Prayers are really needed to help the devastated people rise again from this calamity. And donations for their needs will help them very much also because they now urgently seek for food, water, clothes, shelter and other daily necessities.
You can forward donations to one of the institutions now accepting donations, which is the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Philippines's leading newspaper. And also the Philippine Red Cross. See details below (image from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/524095/inquirer-accepts-donations-for-yolanda-victims). For cash donations coming from abroad, I believe that Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) mentioned below has international branches.
Thanks very much for your prayers, sympathy, and help for my country.
(Update November 11, 2013: Please see http://www.spot.ph/the-feed/54864/how-to-help-yolandaph-relief-operations-and-donations f
or list of more ways to send in donations to the Philippine Red Cross, the Department of Social Welfare and Development or DSWD of the Philippine Government, and the Gawad Kalinga, which is a nongovernment organization [NGO].)
This photo appears on the front page of today's Philippine Daily Inquirer, a daily in my country, the Philippines. Thousands of my fellow Filipinos are now displaced in Zamboanga City, south of the Philippines, because of more than a week-long fighting between government soldiers and extremists, who have taken hostages. I really hope and pray that this senseless fighting will end soon because of the many lives lost and thousands of people evacuated from their city dwellings and now cramped in various evacuation centers.
Photo caption: A woman and her two children wait for food to arrive at Joaquin F.
Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex, where thousands of people have taken
shelter from fighting between government forces and Moro rebels in
Zamboanga City. Photo by EDWIN BACASMAS, PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
Okay, I've seen this one thrice too many on Facebook. People writing "von voyage" to, well, wish their friends a happy trip. The intention is appreciated BUT, as far as I know and as verified by Google (including dictionary dotcom), it should be "bon voyage" not "von voyage."
But because Facebook (and other social media websites) seem to thrive on making trends out of the usual and ordinary, I just don't know if using "von voyage" is just one of those trends that people trying to be "cute" (heheh) are using nowadays.
Anyway, I'm sticking to using "bon voyage" (in and out of the Internet) because I'm already cute (heheh).
Yup, that's me crying, ahhh, singing...trying to sing!!! King and Queen of Hearts (by David Pomeranz), the fave song of a friend of mine who celebrated her birthday just this May. Video was for her, although I don't know if she was able to open it at all! But she did hear the audio, which I think made her a little happy, anyway. Heheh.
Yesterday
morning, hurrying to get a ride to a meeting, I came across a little
girl about to enter our village gate. She was clad in dirty t-shirt and
shorts, and was barefoot. I am one who can never accept that a child
should be in such condition. I stopped her and asked why she had no
slippers, as if i didn't know why. She told me she was eight and didn't go
to school. Knowing that we kept some small slippers at home for such
kids, I told her to go to our house, a few blocks away, to look for
my mom or my brother who can give her a pair. I scribbled on a piece of paper
our home address and a note to my brother about the slippers. I asked the little girl if she could read or remember the number i wrote. She said yes. But she didn't go to our home, I learned later.
For how long still should children be poor in clothes, food, shelter, and education? For
how long still should children--and their present and future--be victims of poverty? I hope not for long.
Rustan's Superstore Cubao (Quezon City, PH) was the in-store way back
when, with its huge supermarket, modern interiors, stylish stores,
accessible location, and everything else. With the various developments
(read: new buildings) ongoing now at the
Araneta Center, Rustan's big white structure is a mere fraction of its
old self, and its imposing signage has been long gone. Rustan's building
has been halved as a start to putting up another of the condos in the
area. Short video shows the space (behind the trees) once occupied by
Rustan's other half of its building. The remaining half still standing
will probably be gone soon, too, as soon as the banks and other small
establishments now on site are transferred. I'll miss Rustan's. The same
way I'm missing Fiesta Carnival and COD with its animated Christmas
display (not the same even if it's in Greenhills now) :) Just have to
look back to the memories :)
