As Typhoon Rai battered the Philippines, Sarah Forrosuelo watched in horror from the other side of the world. Television footage showed the super storm sweep across her home town of Cebu City, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. In the immediate aftermath of the category 5 typhoon, she received a single WhatsApp message from her younger sister, Gina, showing the wreckage of her home. And then nothing.
Days passed without contact. Between shifts at Foster’s supermarket, in Grand Cayman, she frantically texted friends back home. She contacted media in Cebu and posted messages in Facebook groups.
“Has anyone seen or heard from my sister?”
She managed to reach the mayor of the city, but her efforts brought no new information.
Meanwhile, news reports out of the Philippines painted a frightening picture. The official death toll was approaching 400, with hundreds of thousands more injured or displaced and more than 4.5 million people impacted across 10 regions. People were living in makeshift shelters built from the wreckage. Aid workers were struggling to reach parts of the country and concern was growing about an absence of food and clean water in the worst hit areas.
“It is hard for me. I am crying all the time and it is hard to work,” Forrosuelo said.
Tearful Christmas
Marilou Cangmaong, a nanny in Grand Cayman, had a similar feeling as she watched the scenes from her home town of Surigao City – where the storm, known locally as Odette, made landfall on 15 Dec., flattening entire villages and leaving thousands homeless.
“Everyone here in Cayman has been excited for Christmas, but it is heartbreaking for us,” she said, of the Filipino community.
It took her three days to get news from her family.
Her family home, where her brother and 18-year-old son still live, was destroyed in the storm. They were able to find shelter with her sister in another province. But several of her relatives were killed in the typhoon. Others saw their crops or boats, which they rely on for income, damaged.
“It is hard for us to be so far away and unable to help,” she said. “There is nothing to do about it. We are crying and crying.”
Happy news
For Forrosuelo, the anxious wait for news went on through Christmas. It wasn’t until Boxing Day that her sister was able to make contact to tell her she was safe – living in a tented shelter in Cebu.
A tree had crashed down on her house, forcing her and her husband to flee. Power, water and WiFi were out across the city, and she had been unable to make contact until two weeks after the storm.
“I felt so good to hear from her,” said Forrosuelo, “The news was so scary, but I knew she was safe.”
Fundraising effort
Now that the drama and stress of searching for loved ones has passed, the attention of Cayman’s Filipino community has turned to what it can do to help.
The Cayman Bayanihan society is collecting donations to support the families, neighbours and communities of Filipino people living in Cayman, most severely impacted by the storm.
The society – named for a Filipino expression which roughly translates to CaymanKind – was set up in response to COVID to add structure, organisation and official non-profit status to the loose support network that already existed among the more than 4,000 workers from the Philippines on the islands.
Michelle Asadon and Rachel Gepolla, who run a YouTube news update show called ‘Sugar and Spice’, aimed at Filipino workers held an online video telethon before Christmas to raise funds.
“We are asking if people can give monetary donations right now,” said Asadon. “We have contacted agencies in the Philippines that will be able to buy supplies and distribute them.”
She said there were a lot of people in Cayman whose families had been impacted.
“The Cayman community has been very generous in the past. Whatever donations we can get, we will ensure go to the people that need the help,” she added.
Want to help?
To donate to the relief operation use:
Butterfield Bank
Acc Name: Cayman Bayanihan Filipino Community
Account Number KYD: 1361776440019, USD: 8401776440020
For more information, contact Dion on 917-6482, Derdie on 325-1282 or Kokai on 922-6947.
For more information about the Cayman Bayanihan Society, see caymanbayanihan.com.
Related Videos
