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Assumption Philippines: Typhoon Ondoy Updates, October 6, 2009
We will be posting updates on the relief and rehabilitation work that our Assumption Family -- Religious of the Assumption, Little Sisters of the Assumption, Augustinians of the Assumption, alumnae and lay friends -- are engaged in. Much remains to be done. We are grateful to Sr. Regina Victoria who keeps us informed of the latest developments.
October 6, Post-Super Typhoon (see below)
If you would like to send a donation to help the Sisters help the typhoon victims, you may send it to:
Religious of the Assumption
Attention: Sr. Nuala Cotter, RA
11 Old English Road
Worcester, MA 01609
Please make checks payable to Religious of the Assumption and write "Philippine Typhoon Fund" in the memo line. Your donation will be acknowledged and is tax deductible.
Let us keep the people of the Philippines and all victims of natural disasters in our prayer.
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October 6, Post-Super Typhoon
Yesterday’s Philippine Star carried a heart-lifting article by Tony Meloto:
“The best Filipinos in the worst of times” – a beautiful account of city-wide, nation-wide solidarity worth downloading from philstar.com. What he saw, what many of us saw and experienced of the innate beauty of our national ethos is something very hard to forget. Calamity broke down walls that separated the rich and the poor. The tragedy has turned despair to hope and created new heroes form everywhere.
Meanwhile Pepeng (super typhoon that hit the northern Philippines last weekend) cannot get out of the Ilocos area as he is blocked by another typhoon coming from the China Sea and Quedan (another typhoon) that just entered our area of responsibility early this morning from the Pacific Ocean. God hears our cry as the new typhoons are expected to pass over Batanes (northernmost Philippine islands) without landing on our soil. Around 25 lives were lost in Northern Luzon and 400+ million pesos of rice harvest. PAG-ASA (weather bureau) has traced four more incoming typhoons after Pepeng. These are indeed very trying moments. There must be more treasures suffering will dig and bring to the fore from us. I pray and hope these gifts will be translated into concrete and lasting changes in our society.
Just as help from the global community is pouring in, so are Balikbayan boxes and cash from our International Assumption Family starting to arrive. We are seeing a new face of “Assumption Together”. Sisters Fe and Ana Maria, Milette O. and Silver Jubilarians will meet tomorrow for greater coordination in our operations. Assessments are being done in several levels and areas so we can conduct the rehabilitation stage well. Besides families in Malibay, we have many staff members who lost homes or still stay in houses submerged in water, especially in areas along Laguna de Bay, Marikina and Pasig rivers.
What’s happening in Assumption is multiplied in all Catholic schools, parishes, local government units, TV stations, even politicians’ headquarters turned into Relief centers, etc. I think that we are living a moment I want to call God’s moment. It is good to be here.
Regular classes have resumed in Malibay, San Lorenzo, Antipolo and San Simon. The San Lorenzo College Lobby is the reception center for relief goods that continue to pour in. Packaging and delivery work goes on. Our administrators want our 3,000+ students to see this daily activity even as they prepare for the semestral exams. We, at the Marie Eugenie Institute (MEI) and the Assumption Together Lay Formation team have also resumed our work to prepare for the Assumption Together Congress, the MEI tracks in November and the ongoing lay formation sessions in Baguio, Cebu and San Lorenzo. We know many interior movements are also going on, so we continue to read God’s action in our lives today. It’s a pleasant surprise to see a huge international website carry this headline: “A new super-typhoon heading towards the Philippines. Filipinos brace and pray.”
May we never cease to turn to God at all times.
