‘Overflow of love’: A Villamor volunteer explains her motives

For the better part of our three-hour shift, I was making meatballs. We were to make almondigas for the survivors and volunteers at the Villamor Air Base; and I was happy to be doing what I usually do at home, only this time I was making something nourishing for total strangers. 

 

The people were in good spirits, every person sporting a smile—and I felt right at home. And I wasn’t surprised when I saw some friends, one waiting for his turn at Oplan Hatid, another serving meals. 

 

When Yolanda struck, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the devastation it wreaked. I am a cry baby, and when the kids and I started watching the news, they said, “Oh, ma, 'wag ka umiyak.” But I couldn’t help it. 

 

The response of the global community was just heartwarming. They matched the horrific scenes of tragedy with an overflow of love—love in the form of encouraging words; love in the form of food, water, clothing; love in the form of soldiers and doctors and engineers and yes, journalists, doing what they could to help out.

 

I wanted to do something too. I am a single mom. I couldn’t treat the wounded. I couldn’t build homes. But I could make meatballs and take care of kids so I volunteered. And that’s how I found myself chopping onions, with tears in my eyes in the middle of a makeshift kitchen. I was happy to be there—and so were the hundreds of other volunteers in Villamor. 

 

When my daughter and I went up to the grandstand with soup and sandwiches, the gravity of the survivors’ situation knocked the wind out of me. Displaced from their homes, flown out from the land they grew up in, most of them seemed in despair. Some of them looked blankly into space, weary for what the future awaits them. One particular survivor struck me—a man in his 50s, his skin burnt from the sun, his feet hardened by the soil. I offered him soup but he just looked at me with such sad eyes. I wanted to hug him right there and then, but I know a warm embrace could not take away his pain. And so I just offered him a smile and a consoling touch. 

 

I was to have another shift today at the children’s play center, but I was told that Villamor is being shut down. I’ve read reports of politicking and some such nonsense and it just breaks my heart. I hope these reports are not true because if there was ever a time for Filipinos to come together, it is now.

 

I should have hugged that man when I had a chance. 

Editor's Note: Oplan Hatid volunteer operations have been transferred back to Villamor Air Base from Camp Aguinaldo as of Thursday night (Nov. 21, 2013).

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Jing Lejano is a single mom of four and "lula" of one. She lives in Las Piñas City. This was previously posted on Facebook. It is reposted here with the author's permission.