Emma’s update from Manila

My friend Emma just got back from Manila. Here was an update she sent me from her perspective of things over there:

Emma (blonde) with Riza (all the way to the left) and James (all the way to the right)

“I first came to the Philippines exactly a year ago. This is now my third trip here. I consider myself a pretty well travelled individual, but I am always struck by the poverty surrounding me here and how lucky we are back home to live the way we do. Its funny how much we can take for granted until we see what others do not have an option to have.

Even though people may have less here, they always seem to be happy and have a smile on their face. The people of the Philippines are known for their politeness and hospitality. The workers at the hotel greet you whenever you pass by them and there are at least 15 to 20 people I walk by when I leave my hotel room. I have never met a more friendly people—they definitely go out of their way to make me feel welcomed in their country. I always look forward to these trips a couple times a year and have made some very good friends over the past year here.

I am writing this when I should be asleep because it is very late in Austin and I have to go to work in just a few hours. When I am in Manila, I work at nights because I work with a call center here which is open during US hours so we can service the American consumer population. I am not sure how the locals here do it; work long hours during the night and sleep only four or five hours during the day. The city isn’t quiet either during the day which makes it even harder to sleep. There are many people I work with here that have children and sleep even less so they can spend more time with their children before and after school.

I expected to see a lot of damage from the recent flooding but most of it has been cleaned up now in Manila. I have heard that there are heaps of trash in Marikina (Football fields full of trash)which is one of the lower lying Provence of Manila, where a lot of people belongings were dumped. The only other remnants of the severe storm are on hillsides where the earth and trees have been pulled up from mudslides. It rained so much that the earth became so saturated it couldn’t absorb any more water. The earth became unstable and created huge and catastrophic mud slides. In the more rural areas outside metropolitan Manila, many homes were completely wiped away by these mud slides.

I am meeting with some people at the Ortigas, Manila center tomorrow where we donated $1,000 to their relief efforts. I’ll check on things. More to come…”

Emma sent me a note the next day with this info:

“The $1,000 we donated got put in with the money that Telus had raised as well and went towards people who lost a lot in the flood (appliances, beds and household goods). Telus first put a list together and categorized people based off severity of what they had lost so that the people who lost the most got assistance first.”