This is my gift to myself and to my family. Her name is Suzy. She is a Shih Tzu. You can see her other pictures at my facebook account - robrobe@yahoo.com. Having her is like having a baby. But most importantly, she takes the stress off me.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Ondoy's Birthday Gift To Me
Last October 4 was my birthday, but I didn't really get to celebrate it. The past weeks, and up until now, the news is all about Ondoy and the flood. I never realized and I never dreamed that I will be part of the news, a newsworthy but worrying news.
You see, where I live was devastated by the flood Ondoy caused.
It was a rainy Saturday, my nephew JM was with me. The street started flooding, but that was normal. Our street always flood, but it never rises and never entered our compound as our houses are a little bit higher than the street.
The rain never stopped and it was already creeping up. The flood started rising and rising until it entered our houses. We never thought it would rise up to more than a couple of inches so what we just did was put everythingn on a higher place like making sure the TV was on top of the dining room table.
The water just kept on rising until finally it was waist level. There was only me and my nephew and I have to take all my office files and other appliances to the 2nd floor. By the time I was done, the flood was chest deep and all my clothes and books at my parents house was already submerged.
Saturday ended badly. Blackout. I was only able to save water and food that was in the fridge. The refrigerator and sofa were already floating at the 1st floor. All other appliances were submerged at our other house. By midnight, the flood was already "lampas tao".
Ondoy left Saturday but the flood never left that Sunday. It was still too high. We could not go out. By that time, my other nephew Romel was with me already, but was having a complication. He was having an asthma attack! Since there was no electricity, he could not nebulize. He had no inhaler. He thought he was dying. I thought so too. None of us could go out as the water was like rapids.
I told Romel's father at the other house to do something but he didn't budge. Fortunately, my office assistant swam to our house to take Romel out of the house and to a hospital. We had an inflatable chair (JM's toy) but no air pump so my staff, James, manually inflated the chair. This they use to be able to float and navigate the flood.
I could never show panic, I had my nephew with me. Fortunately, he never saw the experience as traumatic. He never cried. We prayed. I invented games to keep my nephew occupied.
The only food we were able to eat for two days while we were stranded was ensaymada. That was it. For two days, there were no rice, no hot water for coffee.
Monday, the flood receded. I was finally able to go down the house and out to the streets. Our house (my parents house)was all in mud. All my clothes, books, papers are in mud.
But thank God my family and I survived this disaster.
If there is one thing I learned during this experience, it was to value life and learn to let go of material possessions.
You see, where I live was devastated by the flood Ondoy caused.
It was a rainy Saturday, my nephew JM was with me. The street started flooding, but that was normal. Our street always flood, but it never rises and never entered our compound as our houses are a little bit higher than the street.
The rain never stopped and it was already creeping up. The flood started rising and rising until it entered our houses. We never thought it would rise up to more than a couple of inches so what we just did was put everythingn on a higher place like making sure the TV was on top of the dining room table.
The water just kept on rising until finally it was waist level. There was only me and my nephew and I have to take all my office files and other appliances to the 2nd floor. By the time I was done, the flood was chest deep and all my clothes and books at my parents house was already submerged.
Saturday ended badly. Blackout. I was only able to save water and food that was in the fridge. The refrigerator and sofa were already floating at the 1st floor. All other appliances were submerged at our other house. By midnight, the flood was already "lampas tao".
Ondoy left Saturday but the flood never left that Sunday. It was still too high. We could not go out. By that time, my other nephew Romel was with me already, but was having a complication. He was having an asthma attack! Since there was no electricity, he could not nebulize. He had no inhaler. He thought he was dying. I thought so too. None of us could go out as the water was like rapids.
I told Romel's father at the other house to do something but he didn't budge. Fortunately, my office assistant swam to our house to take Romel out of the house and to a hospital. We had an inflatable chair (JM's toy) but no air pump so my staff, James, manually inflated the chair. This they use to be able to float and navigate the flood.
I could never show panic, I had my nephew with me. Fortunately, he never saw the experience as traumatic. He never cried. We prayed. I invented games to keep my nephew occupied.
The only food we were able to eat for two days while we were stranded was ensaymada. That was it. For two days, there were no rice, no hot water for coffee.
Monday, the flood receded. I was finally able to go down the house and out to the streets. Our house (my parents house)was all in mud. All my clothes, books, papers are in mud.
But thank God my family and I survived this disaster.
If there is one thing I learned during this experience, it was to value life and learn to let go of material possessions.
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