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Tuesday, 06 October 2009 03:36 |
 | by Mario Mallari
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Last Saturday we were again threatened by a strong typhoon the weather bureau said more powerful than hurricane Katrina that devastated parts of USA early this year. But that never refrain us from the scheduled ride. Our mission— “Relief Goods Operations” to the families still waiting for help on the remote parts of Montalban and San Mateo Rizal and also to survey and asses the areas and look for the families trapped in the remote Barangays caused by landslides and damaged roads and bridges.
My trail buddy Johnny and I took off at around 8 a.m. Our backpacks approximately weighing 15 kilos containing; noodles, 3 in 1 coffees, lots of biscuits and canned of sardines. We brought also with us some used children clothes. I tried to bring rice but my backpack is full so I opted to bring lighter goods instead. The forecast said that the typhoon will hit the land 3 p.m. that day so we decided not to endangered ourselves by choosing easiest route and target familiar areas. First stop is Erap housing in Montalban. It's personal. I have an employee named Bong that lives there. Their house was severely damaged and his wife just gave birth weeks ago so I decided to bring them help...I never gave them the goods. They were not in the remote areas instead I gave him some amount of cash cause its easy for them to buy what they need...on our way to san Mateo--I witnessed the devastation the first storm has brought to this area...houses are still submerge in flood waters, people begging for food in the streets old and young. Including women and children...debris are everywhere...and the stinks of the garbage is on the air...I tried to stop to take some pictures but the people in the area rushed over us chanting "KUYA KAHIT PANG KAPE LANG"...and before we knew it we' re trapped and surrounded by lots of children begging for something...we have no choice but to give them the goods...I don’t know about Johnny but I chose children...they were cold in the rain and I saw hunger in their eyes...they cleared our way when they saw that that the backpacks were emptied. One unlucky kid that maybe never got a chance to get anything from me--pulled my legs and uttered something..."KUYA BABALIK KA HA?"...I was speechless...I have six kids and that scene blew my mind away. I just nod to that kid and said yes. I will be back and next time I will give him something...we left the area with empty backpacks...Nasa patag pa lang kami...I thought to myself—God how much more in the remote areas?
With the empty backpacks we decided to continue riding just to survey and asses other areas as far as we could reach. I saw lots of landslides-damaged bridges and roads confirming that there are really some people that needed help up there somewhere...We reached Maarat almost 2 p.m. There we started to feel the typhoon. We could hardly see the road cause of the strong rain so we decided to go back...
Honestly, I feel sad coz I know what we did was not really enough. My heart bleeds for those kids...My oldest kid Lorraine approached me when I arrived home…asking about our ride...I just smiled and said its ok and again flashed in my mind the image of that young kid...oh yes, definitely....I WILL BE BACK.### Related Article:Trail Riding for a Cause. Anyone? |
