Processing...

Although these posts from the Philippines should have been written a year earlier, I still feel like processing these life events is not just a one time thing.  Looking back through pictures and reading through my journal is so good to reflect back.  Always learning and being reminded of God's work.

I was so encouraged by the Filipino people!  I feel like I learned so much from them.  They'd share their stories yet not having the victimized mentality.  Driving to and from mobile clinics there was so much laughter in the vehicle it was awesome!  Often the topic of 'What Yolanda taught us' came up...one was don't buy things of huge value, they may be gone tomorrow.  Another was don't go to bed angry with your family member...you may not see them in the morning.  Another was wear more then an old skimpy nightie to bed cause that's the only piece of clothing you may have in the morning...lol!

Church services were so encouraging!  The pastor spoke on Nehemiah and the rebuilding of walls - parrallels to Tacloban and Yolanda.  'You're not 6 feet in the ground, get up and help your neighbor out'.  He also spoke about the spiritual acts of rebuilding - 'If your spiritual walk was affected, discouraged, destroyed by Yolanda you need to seek God and rebuild it.  Yolanda took enough, it doesn't need to take your spiritual walk too'.  Every Sunday for worship we'd sing Chris Tomlin's song 'greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city'.  So fitting. 

In India at one of the church services the pastor spoke on stewardship.  He addressed 5 aspects of stewardship: your time, talents, treasures ($), temple (your body), and your testimony.  I never had really thought about being a steward of your testimony.  

Matthew 5:18-20 ' As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, "No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been."  So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.'.

In the Philippines our director encouraged the team to give our testimonies at our morning group devotional time  I was so encouraged to hear others testimony's!  One of the Dr's asked me to give mine on our way to the hospital one morning, this verse rings true...

1 Peter 3:15 ' But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.'

These are a few of the things God taught me in the Philippines.  I'm so thankful to Him for the opportunity He gave me to work alongside this great team and be a part of His ministry there.

Samar

As I mentioned earlier we were stationed in Tacloban city on the island of Leyte.  Another island that also suffered much damage was the island of Samar.  Some areas still were in need of mobile medical clinics, so on our last few days Brianna, Aira, and I did a needs assessment, dropping by different communities to see where the need remained.  The medical team continued clinics for ~ 1 month in Samar after I left.

This is the bridge connecting the island of Leyte to Samar.

Beautiful countryside, but many downed and stripped trees from Yolanda.

Brianna and I.

So many temporary shelters/tents used for housing.

Crazy amounts of damage...seemed surreal.

Downed phone tower.

Tent housing

Beautiful beaches and areas when you look past the rubble.

Hospital with unbelievable amounts of damage!

On our way home from one of the assessment days somehow the topic came up about us riding a water buffalo which Brianna and I had never done.  So we stopped by at Felix's house (our driver), who made arrangements for us to ride his water buffalo.  

Felix and his wife - such wonderful people!

Can you spot him?  Apparently this is how they keep cool in the hot weather.  But Felix got someone to clean him up for us before we rode him ;)

Pig heads for sale...or legs...roadside market ;)

Party time...

When the Schistosomiasis hospital was back to functioning and using the damaged areas for patients once again we had an appreciation/goodbye party for the staff.  A catered meal, games - three legged race, balloon toss, and speeches (Dr Ken and Brianna). The hospital staff brought a karaoke machine, a cake, and a pig...the essentials of a good Filipino party :)

Dr Ken, cutting the pig.

Since alot of teachers were not working (d/t the schools being closed from damage), SP hired them on as translators for us - couldn't do our job without them.

Hike up the mountain

My last Sunday in Tacloban we decided to climb up that mountain we had viewed every trip to the hospital.  585 concrete steps up to the top - you can see the tiny cross at the top.  First we had to cross this sketchy bridge.

 Cheerful kids waving!  Resilience taught at an early age.

So many downed trees! 

Made it!

Infinitea - Bubble Tea

I never had bubble tea until going to the Philippines where I had it...almost every day ;)  Lots of trips to the Infinitea hangout.

Clothing Distribution

So there were boxes of clothing picked up from Alaska in the storage area of the hospital...we needed to do something with that.  Kathy and I had never done a clothing distribution and SP usually doesn't do them, so a new experience for us :)  

By now the Pediatric patients in one tent had been moved back into the hospital so we set up a little shopping area in the tent.  Multiple huge boxes, a huge job!  It took 5 of us a whole day to sort through them all - seperating womens, mens, & childrens clothing, blankets and shoes.  

Alex and Klint, two of our nurses found matching sweaters.  

Sorting... 

and more sorting.

We first allowed SP national staff to 'shop', then the hospital staff, patients, family members, and the local church.  People were limited to 20 items so there wouldn't be resale on the street and we only had maximum 10 people at a time in the tent to prevent overcrowding.  It was so funny to hear the people outside the tent cheer when the first group of people got their clothing.  I love these people!

At the end all that remained were XXL and XXXL clothing...too big for the Filipino population.  They were given to local seamstresses to use for other clothing purposes. :)

DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team)

I learned so much, and yet I know it's just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to disaster response, and was so encouraged, inspired, and blessed by the Samaritans Purse team and privileged to be a part of.  Although health is my field I was working in, there's so much more.

 - Health

 - Shelter

 - WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene)

 - Agriculture and Food Security 

 - Protection

 - Logistics/Human Resources/Finance

Some of our team members out for Sunday lunch.  It just amazed me how the team would 'grab the bull by the horns' and get things done.  The flexibility, adaptability, determination, and discernment in a crisis situation is truely a gift!  Such hard workers!

Below is some wonderful women I got to work with:  Brianna (Dr), Kathy (RN), Anne - my roomate (logistics), and myself.  

Looking out from our home - Hotel Lorenza in Tacloban city. 

Divine Word Hospital across the street from us.

Shelter Team

It was so neat to be able to go to our shelter teams base...a previous high school gym.  

The shelter team would buy downed trees from people's yards, employ national staff to cut them (mostly by eyeballing - amazingly accurate 2x4's and 2x6's, etc), make shelter/housing kits, and give them away.  

The day we stopped in on our way back from a mobile medical clinic one of the SP staff members was leaving so they were having a little farewell party.  

Appreciation speech along with his testimony to his fellow workers - why we do what we do :)

Oriental hotel.  What was before Yolanda a beautiful luxurious hotel, now was SP's warehouse/storage area.  An agreement was made with the owner to use the space for SP's relief work and at the same time to clear up the debris and start to rebuild.

The shelter team also worked here...making the kits.  

Hard to imagine 3 storey high waves (~ 30 feet), coming from this now calm ocean.   

WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene)

Although I never got to see firsthand what the WASH team was doing...I know they were busy with biosand filters, teaching, and selling toilets/building latrines.  The Philippines even had a 'National Toilet Day', how cool is that!

Agriculture and Food Security 

The World Food Program (WFP) runs the food distribution and designates different NGO's to different areas.  I don't remember the exact numbers, but the amount of trucks loaded each day and the amount of tons of rice distributed was crazy!  Closer to the end of my time in the Philippines the WFP and NGO's were switching from relief to recovery phase of disaster response.  The WFP was working to feed people yet to not harm the farmers/local economy who were now starting to do buisness again.  

Amazing how this is coordinated!  

Security/Logistics/Human Resources/Finance

Yet another branch of disaster response that's fundamental to the team.  HR and finance working alot with obtaining different grants, statistics, hiring local staff, etc.  Logistics - organizing basically everything, ordering supplies, keeping all the staff in order - fed, watered, sheltered, etc.  And security - thankfully there was no security issues in the areas we were in.  For some of our mobile clinics we had Police escort us as there were some rebel groups in some rural areas, but we had no issues.  

Dengue

A few of our staff members, five out of our 30, got Dengue (viral hemorrhagic fever).  Dengue is received from an infected mosquito.  Thankfully I wasn't one of them!