Posted by Terry White on October 6, 2009 | No Comments
A personal perspective from BMH Executive Director Terry White:
Thank you for all your prayers on behalf of the Philippine flood victims and all you are doing to help in their crises.
I had the opportunity to be in Manila during the worst of the flooding, which began when Tropical Storm Ketsana blew through on September 26, dumping more rain in six hours than the capital city typically receives the entire month of September.
By some accounts, more than 240 people have lost their lives, and more than 400,000 had to seek shelter in evacuation centers.
Manila, with a population of about 12 million, is comprised of 17 smaller cities, as I understand it. I was in Manila as one of three trainers teaching writers and editors of Christian publications through the Magazine Training International (MTI) ministry. We had students from Japan, Korea, Australia, India, Malaysia, the US, Philippines, among others.
Several (from Moldova and Africa) were unable to obtain visas. At least one could not attend because they had lost their homes in earlier flooding. One lady in our class told us that the week before, she had to wade in chin-high water to get home from work. I asked her how she did that, and she said, “we held onto a rope.” I asked if she were frightened, and she said, “Only because an animal park in our neighborhood was flooded and five crocodiles escaped.” Imagine wading through high water under those conditions!
We were unaffected by the storms in our conference hotel, which was in the Makati business district, across from the US Embassy on Manila Bay. After our course ended Friday night a fellow editor and I took a taxi about 1.5 hours to the east on Saturday to one of the flooded areas (Marikina and Cainta). This is near where the Ruiz’s and Dan Beavers live, and also is the area where Faith Academy, the school for missionary children, is located.
The devastation is unspeakable. The water was gone, but there were huge gaping caverns where roads were washed out. Debris was hanging from trees and fences. Huge piles of debris had been pushed to the roadsides by bulldozers and backhoes and scavengers were going through it looking for flip-flops for their feet and any wearable clothing. Dead animals were inspected for any salvageable meat. Crushed and matted furniture was piled high. Bank records sat on the street in soggy black plastic bags—the only record of what was on deposit at the now-closed institutions.
Our missionary hosts, John and Libby Dreisbach, drove carefully around the area, stopping to give pre-bagged soap powder to anyone out washing clothes. Children got bags of peanuts. All got a Tagalog Gospel of John and a sympathetic hug.
We stopped at the home of a Christian man named Bong, whose wife and children had gone to be with family in the mountains. Bong showed us how high the water had been in his house–he was washing out the mud and muck and trying to get electrical appliances working again. All his Bibles and Christian materials had been destroyed.
The Faith Academy campus, which sits on 14 acres up very high on a hilltop, was safe, but was being used as a refugee center. All the students were out helping with cleanup projects.
The amount of loss is staggering. May God have mercy on all who have lost so much.
Click here to read a first-hand report from one of our seminar participants as she wrote about her experience upon invitation from Christianity Today.
The first-person testimony of another writing seminar participant may be read by clicking here.
