Mission life: THE KUKMIN DAILY

I Still Believe in God's Good Will: Interview with a Haiyan Survivor

2013-11-15 10:27


Ms. Sheena P. Dajes from San Jose, outskirt of Tacloban, Philippines, pleaded to me, “Please tell our story to the outside world.” The 20-year-old super typhoon Haiyan survivor got a ride on a soldier’s vehicle and barely escaped San Jose in the morning of November 12. At the city hall she was looking for help. She said in tears, “My nieces and nephews are scared. I worry if they die of hunger. There’s nothing to eat.”

Last Friday, she woke up early in the morning at the sound of wind and pouring rain. She was born and raised in Tacloban and never left the seashore. But this was nothing she has ever experienced before. The water seeped into house and soon rose to chest-level. She ran up to the second floor only to find out the roof had been blown away and her sister and her kids were crying together.

“God, please help us. Please save us!” As she prayed to the storming sky, she heard someone in a concrete house across the street calling them out. “Come over here right away! Otherwise you’ll all die!”

The street was a raging torrent of rainwater. Nonetheless Dajes and her sister grabbed the children and crossed the water to a safe place. All the food they had at home was swept away by the water.

She confessed to me that she took some food from a store. She said, “I do know it is not right to take stuff from the store. But, I had no other choice.” She was ashamed and avoided my eyes. But it was the best she could do for her nieces and nephews.

The family had been stuck in San Jose for the past five days and just came to town. They do not even have a place to stay for tonight. But it was relieving for her to see the survivors cleaning up the streets together and helping each other make contact with relatives.

“I have no idea what God has prepared for us. But I believe his will is good. If those who hear my story could help and save us, we’d be able to find God’s good will there.” She desperately asked for help.

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