The pain didn't end when the rain stopped

Almost one month ago Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Visayas, killing over 5000 people and destroying how many By now, most of the disaster aid organisations have received their food and are distributing it across the visayas. The non profit I am a full time volunteer at is already established on the ground. We had five months of nutrient enriched rice packs that we give out to our livelihood program participants. So we were able to give organisations like the Red Cross 64000 meals, and equip campus crusade for Christ and rotary clubs with food while they waited for their own stores. But the devastation continues. Families are returning home and recognising that their livelihood has disappeared. Boats, carts and nets are in bits, fields are swollen, nutrients washed away and won't be producing substantial crops for at least a year. Yet their families still need to be fed and they need money to rebuild their homes and lives. Desperation sets in. The lack of options. And it is in the poorest provinces that people involved in sex slave trafficking are visiting. Talking to the impoverished and offering them money to rebuild their homes and even out food on the table - but at a price. Their daughters and sons are taken away to a life of unspeakable horror. If the parent is wavering, the seller can reason, "the child we're taking will get fed daily ... And it will be one less mouth for you to feed." And desperate parents agree. The cruellest aspects of typhoon haiyan are still to be played out. It breaks my heart but I cannot judge those parents - for I have never known poverty.

Comments

[Maureen Lyons]

Beyond horror, Tess. Sadly, you describe it well.

M xox

[reverse phone lookup]

Actuallу informative post.Muchh thanks again. Αwesome.