Hello, hivers! As promised, I am back for a continuation of my long overdue Odette blog. A bit of disclaimer for a week gap and delay (again) which was due to another electricity and data signal problem that keeps on recurring. Well, it has not been resolved yet but we will get there fingers crossed!
But this shall not hinder me from sharing the stories I promised.
I drafted this about two weeks from the day Odette happened. On this day, in most places, tap water is back with electricity and internet connection is up if you are lucky. As of this day, our place has not had our wires fixed, and still lit candles and use flashlights at night. In here, at most times even, we get either an idle to super weak data connection, thus this post didn't make it on time lol!
Today, it has been more than a month since the super typhoon danced to its wrath and blown away thousands of houses and affected our ways of living. In some few places, I still know some houses who have not fixed their roofs yet and some other important resources is still out of reach. I have seen families, from kids to parents and grandparents, carrying water gallons and fetching water. Nevertheless, gas station, water refilling stations and atm machines are back to normal to shorter queue.
What was supposed to be a day of rest after that typhoon Odette became a day of fixing and cleaning (up until today to be honest). The next day after, all works resume and that doubled the responsibility and workload —you need fixing at home, you also have to fix things at work all due to Odette. It has been very clear to me that we are so flexible and adapting because we always manage! This has shown me the truth that Filipino people are indeed resilient. Not that I romanticize resiliency but it is such an unremarkable character that is innate in humans to survive —this alone is truly honorable. Isn't it amazing how nature works in all things and people in this world for survival? We go on, we move on, we find ways, we strive hard to beat another day who has tirelessly worn us out and then get up the next day all braced for another day of survival.
The day after Odette, our family has been actively pulling out every branches that fell, cleaning our pathway. We cleaned the outside first since it's easier and it doesn't need mopping unlike the inside of the house that's all muddy and with rainwater.
When I started drafting this post (as I was convincing myself I can post this a week later lol), it was a good hard 2 weeks of recuperation since the aftermath. We were out to find water both potable and for drinking and also bought some goods in the public market for our meal. With this, we were able to have stroll in our town and had a view of how things were so far in some places within our town. I thought of bringing a cam cause I planned to take some pictures while around thinking that I'd rather share photos around the town than sharing the photos of our damaged house (which actually made it to my previous post by the way).
So I took some snaps of everything I could find and which I feel is resonating to the heart at this times of trial.
This was at a gasoline station along the highway. Most gasoline station in the town looked like this.
As we were on our way to our fish supplier, we saw these linemen checking on this huge post, with big wires that almost blocked the entire barangay road.
It was a really hot Saturday morning that day with scarce water supply and no cold water to drink with.
In these two photos, if you look closely, you could now see the beach which wasn't visible before because it was all covered with trees. Now, the the large boats are visible at a farsight as well as the Island of Mactan.
Deep wells are such a huge help at these times.
Children helping out to fetch water for their families and neighbors. Some families are able to fetch water for a half to a kilometer distance from their houses. Some fetch for free, others get water with a fee.
Filipino children still wearing beautiful smiles.
The struggle of finding cold drinks on a hot, sunny day.
In other parts of the town, uprooted trees blocked half of the road.
We saw a house full of garland that's still bringing a Merry Merry Christmas vibe to everyone that sees it! A good cheer in what was still a joyous season.
Lastly, I was able to take photos of the old church in our town. I took this a week after that weekend stroll. It's a pain in the heart to see the house of people with no roof and only covered with sheets.
Going home after, I felt like it was a quick breather I didn't expect I'd take. A new scenery that's not from our house. It was also like I visited a place that wasn't ours. That it was another apart. And although it is devastated, it doesn't seem like it. It just felt like it's old. And yet no matter how it feels old, everybody in the place still looks happy.
That feeling stayed with me the whole day and I could still smell the same feeling until today everytime I remember it.
Later that week, we had our 30+ year old deep well fixed. Fetching water and taking a bath or doing laundry at our neighbor has ended.
The Star of the Year
This deep well is our neighbors'. They have just newly fixed this too at this time. Prior to rhis, we fetch water at a farther neighbor, still a walking distance and along the road, and we can only fetch at night. Took this photo when we had our first use here. So blessed to have generous neighbor.
They have the best view of the sky too!
As of today, many houses are still out of electricity. Linemen for both internet and electricity are everywhere fixing what needs to be fixed. Everyday, I get to see men working with these wires. Some networks in some places still don't get their strong network signals back, including ours. Hehe I hope the network could fix this already while we don't get our internet wire fixed yet. Not complaining though.
Nevertheless, the most important, the life giver — WATER is now within reach, consistent and sufficient! Aaahh, what a relief! Can you feel me? We got our water back almost after a month since typhoon happened, so it is just recently that we were able to declutter the house and mop with clean water. (Imagine living for a month in a cluttered house, with no electricity and no water. Yes, it sucks! Bangga diri, bangga didto. Likay diri, likay didto.)
Slowly, we are getting back to our defaults. Our progress is still progress and every inch of movement is not in vain. This is quite a reminder that slow progress is still progress. Everyday I get to acknowledge that these are small wins even on the days I feel like nothing is happening.
I guess this is how life works, there are pauses and in betweens, and there are small wins. No matter where we are in those phases, life is to be celebrated!
Thank you for reading this far! There still so much I'd like to share in this blog but it might overwhelm you readers. So I am leaving this as is.
Somehow, this is just a glimpse of the story I wanted to post, hoping I will reread one day and will look back at how far we have come.
Wishing everyone love, peace and happiness!
Love and light,
Kach ✨
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Disclaimer: All photos used in this post are mine.