The Week After

The week of August 6 was very reminiscent of what happened to the Philippines, three years ago. The strong rain matched with the strong winds scared people as it reminded them of Ondoy and the chaos it brought. Different areas of Manila were gravely affected as some areas were flooded, making people have the need to stay in the second floor of their houses, while some had to really evacuate and leave their homes, hoping that not too much damage take place in their homes while they are away.

A situation of how Metro Manila was submerged in flood water during the hit of typhoon 

Ondoy in 2009.

Photo taken from http://reynaelena.com/2009/09/28/ondoy-situation-map-for-metropolitan-manila-list-

of-flooded-areas/ 

While some people were stuck at home due to impassable streets surrounding their houses, some are in evacuation centers, there are also those who braved the rains to assist in relief operations that took place around Metro Manila.

Relief operations initiated by different schools, foundations and other groups of people were successful in their own ways to help out the victims of the Habagat. There were a lot of generous people who donated so much goods, and so much time in assisting these relief operations that one can feel the Filipino spirit really acting in all of us.

Bayanihan is the idea where there is communal effort from people of a society to be able to achieve a goal or simply to be able to achieve something where the whole of society benefits. Perhaps, in this case, we can say that is one conviction that resounded throughout all of the Filipinos last week. Whether you have called your friends to check up on them, donated goods for the victims, helped out in packing the goods or even simply making people aware of the situation  of areas like where is it flooded and such, you had in you the spirit of bayanihan. Maybe, we can say, that we have in all of us, an Everyday Idealist-in-Action.

Relief operations begin at the Ateneo de Manila campus. Photo courtesy of Dominic Go. (from Rappler.com)

And perhaps here we see the potential of the Filipino nation to truly unite to reach great heights. We shouldn’t need to wait for another calamity to pass us by just for us to be of service, to be one nation. We have witnessed from previous storms, be it Ondoy or Milenyo from way back, and even just recently with the strong storm, that we all can truly practice bayanihan, that we can most certainly be one nation.