Nomadic at Puso: TANGLAW FOR TAAL

2-day Outreach for Taal Evacuees

Feb. 22-23, 2020

Last January 12, 2020, Taal Volcano erupted and a lot of people living nearby were affected. We even experienced Ash Fall here in Metro Manila on a Sunday night.

On the following days, relief operations from the government, private companies and individuals flooded in. Donations and different campaigns or fundraisers for the victims and evacuees kept coming. The true spirit of Bayanihan for the Filipinos was once felt again on a crisis like this.

I found a Facebook Post looking for volunteers and sponsors for a two-day outreach that will focused on kids affected by Taal and a medical mission. And so I joined this group which called themselves as Tanglaw or Tayo ang Ilaw (We are the light). Tanglaw in Tagalog means light.

We raised funds and collected donations for a month and the day finally came!

Saturday, February 22, 2020. Day One.

One fine Saturday morning, I finally got to meet all of them and at past 10 am, we were already on the way to Batangas. Our first destination was at Talisay, Batangas.

It was a private resort of a local official that they temporarily converted into a relocation site for almost 100 families.

This day’s program consisted of the following:

- Repacking of school supplies

- Medical Mission

- Buying, prepping and cooking for everyone’s early dinner

- Puppet show, short film watching for kids, Arts and Crafts and distribution of School Supplies.

- Feeding

Volunteers were assigned to these different activities and we just enjoyed the busyness of this day. After all, our goal to help was fulfilled.

Repacking of school supplies. Because of the donations from generous and kind souls, we were able to pack 500 sets of school supplies! Thank you so much, dear sponsors and donors!

Medical Mission. We have volunteer nurse and doctor on the team and they were able to serve more than 60 patients. We also brought donated medicines and vitamins. These has been distributed to those in need.

Puppet show, short film watching for kids, Arts and Crafts and distribution of School Supplies. We also have some teachers on the team! We were in charge of the activities for more than 60 kids. We had a puppet show, then short film watching and Arts and Crafts. Kids enjoyed all these activities that we prepared for them.

School supplies were distributed as well during this time. And theme of our Arts and Craft for this day was Dream Art. They have to write their dreams on the clouds given to them. Most of the kids wanted to be a teacher. Why not? All dreams are valid!

We let them know that whatever trials they are facing right now, they have every right to dream and eventually make it come true. Through this activity, hopefully we also let them realized what their dreams really are.

Never stop dreaming, kids!

Buying, prepping and cooking for everyone’s early dinner. Most of the boys on our team were in charge of the food. Hats off to our volunteers who went and bought in the market, prepared the food and cooked for everyone.

We were done by past 6 in the evening. We left the place with a happy heart. Kids and their parents gratefully bid us goodbye. We were also grateful for letting us help them.

The team had dinner at Tanauan Batangas Market wherein we tried Gotong Batangas. It was my first time to try it and I guess I will never try it again. Ha-ha. Sorry, no offense meant.

Luckily, one of our volunteers have an available house for rent that we can stay for a night. It was in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

We were all got tired because of the activities that we did for this day but we were happy knowing that we were able to give some love, time and effort to those in need.

Day 2. Sunday, February 23, 2020

After a hearty breakfast, the team was already on the way to our next destination. And that was at Balete, Batangas. It was another relocation site for Taal evacuees. I call this as temporary tent city.

This day’s activity was the following:

- Grouping of kids

- Short film watching

- Arts and Craft

- Distribution of School Supplies

- Lunch Time

- Medical Mission

- Dinner and Back to Home

Grouping of Kids, Short film watching, Arts and Crafts, Distribution of School Supplies.
We borrowed a nearby covered court where will conduct our activities for the kids. There’s a lot of kids compared to yesterday that most of our volunteers need to handle at least 20 kids each.

We grouped the kids according to age range so we can manage them well.

Just like yesterday in Talisay, kids experienced the short film watching and the Arts and Crafts. We also distributed to them the school supplies.

We also had some games for them while they are waiting for their turn to watch the short film. Since we have hundreds of kids for this day and we only have a limited space for the film watching, we did it on a batch by batch.

After they watched and school supplies were distributed, we finally proceeded with the Arts and Crafts. We called this the Dream Art wherein the kids were instructed to write on the clouds what are their dreams.

Never Stop Dreaming. This is our message for them. That despite of the crisis they are experiencing right now, they should never stop dreaming and life must go on.

Snacks were also given to them before they went home.

Lunch Time.

The whole team had a lunch a nearby lomihan before going on the second part of the program which was the Medical Mission.

Medical Mission. Our volunteer nurse and doctor were able to serve again more than 60 patients and some of the volunteers who are not even in the medical field assisted.