“Bangon Igsuon” (Stand Up Brothers and Sisters)
Relief Operation for the Victims of Yolanda (Haiyan) in Bantayan Island, Cebu

After a series of careful planning meetings by the relief operations team, assessment of the damage and the needs of the affected families in Bantayan Island, careful repacking of relief goods, and contacts with concerned citizens and leaders of the affected areas, the relief operation was ready.

***The relief operations team, composed of SVDs, lay partners (faculty of University of San Carlos, staff of the SVD-founded NGO, the JPIC-IDC Inc., students), left for the island of Bantayan on November 19 at around 9 PM. Along with the volunteers’ disposition and openness to serve were four ten wheeler trucks and two school buses carrying a total load of around 8 tons of relief goods. These forty volunteers intended to reach out to hundreds of families in the municipality of Bantayan, Bantayan Island including its remote villages. Thousands of survivors in these areas have been in dire need of food and water.

***The team arrived in Santa Fe, on the Island of Bantayan, at 6:30 AM on November 20. The team immediately proceeded to the targeted villages. As the convoy passed through other villages the team saw the magnitude of destruction. As far as their eyes could see there were destroyed houses, buildings, toppled trees, etc. Emotions ran high during the trip but they were good ones. The volunteers realized the importance of their mission.

***The first stop of the convoy was the village of Guiwanon. The distribution of relief goods to 583 families went smoothly since the targeted families had already received claim stubs for their relief goods the day before. In the next village of Kabangbang, 624 families also received food and non-food items; rice, noodles, coffee, milo, biscuits, and canned goods. They also received a 5-gallon pail, 5 liters of purified water, a bar of bath soap, a bar of detergent, a blanket, mat, and cooking pot. After the distribution in Kabangbang the team immediately proceeded to the third village, Kampingganon. The beneficiaries were already waiting in line in front of the parish church. There were 470 families in this village who received the same relief goods. The team also distributed relief goods to an additional 708 families in other villages.

***The whole operation went as planned. The volunteers really gave their best in performing their designated tasks which made the “bangon igsuon” relief operation in Bantayan Island a meaningful event. This outreach would not have been possible without the support of generous donors and benefactors.

Fr. Carmelo Odiola wrote: “We need to change our mindsets and ways of doing things. We need to move fast in creating new, life-giving cycles. Let us not waste our suffering as we work towards a "new heavens and new earth" (Revelation). After the relief operations in Bantayan Island and its remote villages the relief team knew clearly that they would come back. The wreckage and havoc inflicted by typhoon Yolanda needs an ongoing response. The people they met who clamored for basic needs such as food and water need to rebuild their lives, their homes and their livelihood.

It is in the midst of their suffering that goodness and love spring out from generous donors and benefactors like you.

The next stop of the Relief Operations Team is Tacloban.

Fr. Heinz Kulueke, SVD
Superior General

(Photo Credit: Fr. Isagani Ehido, SVD)