Tambis,16/01

This time, the storm has arrived: plenty of rain, grey sky and wind. Remi and Jacques have to stay on board to keep an eye on the boats.

The conditions make it difficult to land our dingy. Our all smiling local driver, Olong, is waiting to take us to Tambis.

On the way to Tambis, we are trying to find some bamboo as the prices keep increasing every day. We have only got 6 bundles of 50 pieces this morning but needed 20 bundles. Our day seems repetitious: counting the number of corrugated iron and tools to distribute for the new houses, inspection of each building site to distribute the food and solve any issues.  While eating at Jerry’s, he is telling us about the visit of the Red Cross.

Just after the cyclone, when everyone was waiting for help, the famous 4 wheels drive of the Red Cross arrived at the village.

Jerry took his precious time to help the Red Cross to list the damages and what needed to be done urgently. However they never came back. This is our second bad experience with this organisation since we have arrived in the Philippines. We really hope the Red Cross is more efficient somewhere else! We think the Red Cross comes on site to assess the damage and diagnose statistics. However when we see how much work still need to be done today, it makes you wonder!

Our donations are nearly gone so we have decided not to start any new houses not because everyone has got one in good state but because the poorest have already been helped.

However we cannot refuse to finish a house that we have already started. We still have one little street to explore before lunch, so we decide to check it out. The street is longer than we thought with approx 20 houses. The last one is tiny with a roof made of rusted corrugated iron and tarpaulin. Once again, everyone in the team has a different opinion as we already decided not to add any additional work on the list. To rebuild the roof, we would need 12 sheets, so we decided to give 6. The owner, a very young man comes to join his wife: it is Nino, one of our volunteers.  We explained that we have decided to give him 6 sheets but as he has been helping us, we will give him 10 tomorrow in order to rebuild his roof.

Their family and friends explode with joy.  Nino nearly cried and so did we!!

We meet other poor people that we unfortunately can’t help due to the extensive damage of their house. Communication with local people can be hard sometimes as they do not speak English. But when they understand that we have decided to help them, their expression change from concern to happiness and gratitude. And once again we feel the same emotion than on the first day.

Tonight we have ordered the corrugated iron for Nino and we finally managed to find some bamboo for tomorrow. It is time to go back to the boat as the wind is getting stronger and we need a well- deserved rest. We meet Remi and Jacques who spent the day on the boat, writing a new song with their guitar and violin: the Hymn to Tambis!