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marginsofmarga · 4 years ago

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You are a Survivor: A Reminder to my Future Self

Dear Survivor,

On the 12th day of January 2000, a bouncing baby girl was born and was destined to meet the world. She was innocently ecstatic, bursting into tears as a newborn, and her parents couldn’t be more grateful to have her as their daughter. As she turned eighth months, her parents were in disbelief for she had to deal with a serious medical condition called intussusception — a form of bowel obstruction in which one segment of the intestine telescopes inside of another. She was in a 50-50 situation during that time and the doctors did not provide any assurance for her to live when she had to undergo a surgical operation.

The baby girl was you.

Yes, you. Luckily, here you are. You made it. Your life started after such a tragic incident. In an early age like that, you are already a survivor. What a precious privilege it is for you to be alive. You have a purpose and it is yet to be discovered.

But brace yourself because it’s going to be one heck of a roller coaster ride.

Anxiety and the ‘new normal’

Growing up, you are this girl who is full of fears. You are afraid of anything that might put you in danger and you are terrified of the uncertainty. Diving deeper, your big fear is not knowing what the future holds. And I‘m sure a lot of people can relate.

This fear was especially present when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The world seems to have ground to a halt because of the virus. As a fearful person, this is such a big deal. In retrospect, conditions created by the pandemic were taking a psychological toll. You were full of anxieties that you even experience panic attacks. Remember how difficult it was when you couldn’t sleep? And how overthinking consumed you for months? You were drowning in pain and fright and you never knew when it will be over. You were stressed about so many things: your health if ever you and your loved ones catch the virus, the mental agony it creates, your education when setbacks and transitions happened, the stress of what this year would be like, the postponed travels, and all the uncertainty. Anxiety bugged you for too long. It took all your strength.

Think about where you were earlier last year. You were in your second year in college. Just before the world slowed down, you were just a typical college student who tries her best to go through the day of university life. Back then, you were kilometers away from home which required you to rent a dormitory. On weekdays, you basically had a routine – waking up as the sun rises, getting ready for school, wearing your neatly ironed uniform and taking a short commute when going to school. Having meaningful lessons, small talks during the breaks with your friends, exchanging information with your professors, and learning day by day made the regular jiffs worth it. Later on, the pandemic took place. It felt as if the world stopped. Everything changed in a split second. Over the past few months, you’ve experienced an unprecedented shift in your way of life due to COVID-19. Coping up with the transition from face-to-face to online classes wasn’t easy.

The journey you’ve been through was on a rugged terrain and so full of ups and downs. You were stuck at home juggling chores, classes and your side hustle, content creation. It seemed so difficult to adjust; there was a change in the situation of class’ atmosphere, you struggled with time-management and self-motivation along the way, workload is way larger than regular classes, barriers occur such as bad internet service, power interruptions and so on. Not to mention creating content when you are not at your best. All these left you in a crucial spot.

Challenges as the virus came closer

It was in the month of March when you found out that your grandmother, 72 years old, tested positive for COVID-19. Much to your disbelief, you were scared to death. It felt as if a thorn got pricked in your heart. Your grandma means so much to you. She is such a remarkable woman. A heart like hers would give so unselfishly. She’s a combination of love and laughter. The thought of losing her is painful to handle.

Fortunately, she was asymptomatic. But we never knew what might happen in a snap.

The pandemic is impacting everyone. And your family wasn’t an exception. It meant making big changes in everyday routines and raised anxiety in every household member. The alarming numbers gave you a picture of how deadly the virus is. It’s killing people on a large scale. So much about the virus is out of your control. Not just the virus itself but all other aspects of life.

Time often makes you play the waiting game. It quickly passes by when you want it to stay still, but doesn’t seem to tick at all when you want it to hurry up. At this point, you are deeply hoping that the pandemic comes to an end.

Disastrous encounters

In the early morning of November 1, 2020, Super Typhoon Rolly (International name, Goni), made its first landfall in the Philippines in Bicol – with catastrophic winds of up to 280 kilometers per hour and torrential rainfall. Reading about the weather update, you began to ponder how tormenting it is to deal with such predicament: super typhoon in time of pandemic. That’s two disasters in a row.

Can you recall waking up to howling winds and heavy-pouring rains? Of course you could. It was almost seven o’clock in the morning. Windows were intensely rattling in the wind. Some were even shattering. You were in your room full of worries, wondering when the catastrophe will end as your door started to tremble caused by the blustery weather. You immediately got up and went to your parents’ room. Your little brothers were still asleep. Your mom was securing some of your belongings and your dad wasn’t there so you looked for him outside through peeking by the window. You spotted him taking his good ‘ole motorcycles out of the garage and transferring those in the front gate. As you saw that the flood started to rise, you ran into your room and packed all of your things in plastic bags. As you finish, you prepared for breakfast. There were drizzles from the kitchen windows due to the gushing rain. Picking up new door mats was your idea but just then, the flood water began to enter. You tried to mop it out at first until it became too much too handle. It was not just a wet floor anymore. You continued to put everything on high places of the house. You weren’t sure whether the flood is going to reach above the ankle as usual but as several minutes or so passed, the water started to reach the knees and outside the house, the water reached the thighs of an average person.

It was a great relief that you were living in a two-storey house, but the second floor was usually untouched and unoccupied, and at that exceptional moment, it was your only safe refuge. That isolated part of the house had to be cleaned first so you and your brothers had to wait sitting on the stairs for the meantime. Almost everything was a bit slippery and taking a few steps to the stairs, your mom accidentally slid and fell on her buttocks, leaving her semi-injured with a small wound on the heel. Aching in pain, there she was as your anxiety began to escalate with everything that was happening.

It was past 12 o’clock during noon as the rain lie low and the strong winds stopped. Meanwhile, flood water kept entering the house. It even reached your bed. The unprecedented intensity of the calamity made the water rise so high. Other appliances were soaked in flood water. You all tried to secure everything in the house, but the sight of flood-affected area was horrible.

It seemed such a cruel irony that while battling the pandemic, a disaster as strong as Rolly made repercussions to your family and other families. It was such a struggle to recover from the losses. Some appliances were broken and your dad’s piggery was devastated. The agricultural damage it also brought to the small rice field your dad was handling affected your finances. The calamity knocked out mobile phone services, uprooted trees and destroyed critical infrastructures. The neighboring towns, particularly those which are near Mayon Volcano were engulfed in floodwater and volcanic mudflows. How awful! It was a twofold challenge on your concern. You badly want to help but you’re still a jobless student.

Just days after the onslaught of Typhoon Rolly, Typhoon Ulysses roughly crossed the same track and made landfall on November 11. Disaster after disaster. Destruction after destruction – in the midst of a pandemic. It was unbelievable, it was beyond imagination, and all at the same time, dreadful.

Multiple factors contributed to this turnabout. Most of the time, caused by circumstances beyond anybody’s control.

The rise after the fall

When you were in despair, you prayed everyday and kept your faith intact hoping and believing that everything’s going to be all right. You stayed strong when you are at your weakest and you let God move in His mysterious ways. Tomorrow awaits. There is hope. The anxieties were no longer haunting you. You realized that you are doing the best you can, you are letting go of the things you cannot control and you start to focus on things that actually matter. You learned to embrace the uncertainty by accompanying it with faith. Your greatest fears especially the consequences of this pandemic took all your strength but there was redemption. It may be chaotic as it seems but you managed to make it through. The girl who was full of fears is now full of strength.

You survived your online classes, finished the whole semester alongside content creation with new projects coming in, and you adapted to a new reality. The monstrous and unimaginable situation brought by the virus was difficult to deal with but you still took control of what you can actually muster. You learned to manage your time wisely. You created a workspace and followed a study schedule. You made learning a joy. You made content creation a passion. You tried your best in keeping your spirits up for the sake of surpassing all of the hardships.

One afternoon, while you were running errands with your mom, a notification popped. You were informed by a block mate that you are a dean’s lister. Wow. It made your parents proud. You were bursting in bliss. It was totally fulfilling. Memories suddenly flashed back. You remember all the challenges you faced, the hardwork you made and the efforts you poured bore an academic achievement in the midst of the pandemic. It all paid off.

Look at your grandmother. She’s doing well, healthy and is now back to her normal routine. You also get to spend more time with her now. A new tradition for the family was made. Every month, there is a “family day” where joyful memories are created. Being with your family is a blessing, take note of that. Don’t be so busy watching out for what’s ahead of you but rather, enjoy where you are. Never miss any opportunity to spend time with your loved ones.

When two super typhoons as powerful as Rolly and Ulysses both left trails of destruction in your region, it terribly affected many families and your family wasn’t an exception. It struck as the Philippines continues to battle the pandemic. Despite it all, your family recovered. After the previous crops have been ravaged by the merciless storms, the succeeding harvest was a bounty.

Seeing how the super typhoons affected millions of people in eight regions, it made your heart shatter. There was something in you that wanted to lend a helping hand not only to your family but to the community as well. Good thing, an opportunity came. You were asked to be the chairperson in your town for a relief operation called Barya Ni Juan, a movement made by Discover MNL in collaboration with Bicol Bloggers and other Bicolano brands, which provided aid for 1,000 families in 10 Bicolano communities that were gravely affected by Typhoon Rolly and Ulysses. Of course, you accepted the offer without thinking twice. With the help of your friends, you managed to accomplish the mission by distributing 500 peso-worth each relief pack to 100 homes. It may be a small act of kindness but you saw smiles on many faces. It felt gratifying. The greater your storm, the brighter your rainbow.

What a life! You’ve learned that things don’t always turn out the way you planned or the way you think they should. You’ve learned that you can turn pain into power and you can overcome anything that was meant to destroy you. You’ve become patient with yourself and your growth, knowing that good things take time. You fell so many times but you were able to get back up.

Be proud of how far you’ve come – the silent battles you fought, the adversities you faced, the moments you had to wipe your own tears and pat yourself on the back. You’ve gone through the dark side of life but you have gained strength, courage and confidence like no other.

Always remind yourself these:

“I surpassed many challenges.” “I am capable of everything I set my mind into.” “I take every setback and use it to my advantage.”

One day, you’ll look back and you’ll tell yourself you are indeed a survivor.

With love and light, A stronger version of yourself

_______________________________________________________________________

This story is an entry to ComCo Southeast Asia’s “Write to Ignite Blogging Project Season 2: Dear Survivor”. The initiative continues to respond to the need of our times, as every story comes a long way during this period of crisis. The initiative aims to pull and collate powerful stories from the Philippine blogging communities to inspire the nation to rise and move forward amidst the difficult situation. The “Write to Ignite Blogging Project” Season 2 is made possible by ComCo Southeast Asia, with Eastern Communications and Jobstreet as co-presenters, with AirAsia and Xiaomi as major sponsors, and with Teleperformance as sponsor.

#survivor #pandemic #writing #inspire #tumblr #inspiration #letter

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dispatchesfrom2020 · 4 years ago

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2020

Week 44: October 26-November 1

26: A downed power-line in Orange County sparks a fast-moving fire in Orange County, forcing 70,000 people to evacuate their homes. The Senate votes to confirm Amy Coney Barrett along entirely partisan lines. It’s a repeat of the highly contentious confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 - the pair tie for the narrowest confirmations in the history of the court. The addition of Barrett will swing the balance of the court heavily in conservatives’ favour, and sets Democrats up for an uphill battle on key issues like healthcare abortion, and voting rights. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says that Republicans acted in bad faith confirming Barrett so close to an election - something they protested against when Obama nominated a Justice 9 months before the 2016 election. Millions of Americans had already cast their ballots before the Barrett confirmation hearings began. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell defends the Republicans, saying they broke no rules. You don’t have to break rules to be an asshole, Mitch.

27: Time for a story I’ve been avoiding: the murder of Samuel Paty. The French schoolteacher was killed in retaliation for showing his students cartoons of the naked prophet Muhammad published in Charlie Hebdo. He used the images as props during a lesson about freedom of expression. The magazine was attacked by extremists in 2015 over the publication of these cartoons - 12 staff were killed. Paty’s death sparks off renewed tensions between muslims and non-muslims in France. President Emmanuel Macron weighed in early this month, offering a full-throated defence of the use of these images in schools. In a public address, in early October Macron said: “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today”. His comments have immediate blow-back, resulting in anti-French protests around the Muslim world. Today, protesters in Iraq burn French flags and thousands of people rally in Dhaka to call for a boycott of French goods. Saudi condemns his remarks and Turkey’s President blasts Macron as ‘mentally unwell’.

28: Spurred on by anti-abortion legislation passed last week, Polish women have organized strikes and rallies. An estimated 430,000 people participated in 410 demonstrations across the country. Meanwhile, Indonesia has logged 400,000 cases of COVID since the pandemic began, the first country in Southeast Asia to surpass this milestone. Hurricane Zeta makes landfall in Louisiana and strikes northwards. And the Trump administration rolls back decades-old protections for the Tongass National Rainforest in Alaska, allowing nearly half of the forest to be opened up to logging and road-building. Tongass is among the world’s largest temperate rainforests and a vital carbon sink for the continent’s carbon emissions. All five of Alaska’s Indigenous tribal nations withdrew from consultations about the plan, saying, “our participation in this process has not actually led to the incorporation of any of our concerns in the final decision. We refuse to endow legitimacy upon a process that has disregarded our input at every turn.”

Women in Lodz dress up like characters from the A Handmaid’s Tale to protest new abortion restrictions in Poland - Marcin Stepien/Agencja Gazeta

29: A boat carrying 140 refugees catches fires and capsizes off the coast of Senegal. 140 passengers drown. The heavy rainfalls from Typhoon Molave leave dozens dead and many others missing in central Vietnam. Zeta continues its destructive tour of the American southeast, cutting a path through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and now Virginia. The storm’s death toll rises to six as forceful winds shred roofs, tear down trees and down power lines. In COVID-news, India becomes on the second country to total 8m cases, trailing closely in the United States’ wake. Italy records over 25,000 new cases of the coronavirus today - their total number of cases has now surpassed 600,000. And France approves new lockdown measures - all non-essential businesses will be closed, however schools will remain open. Traffic clogs the streets of the Île-de-France region, as people try to get out of Paris before the second lockdown begins.

30: The Belarussian President, still beleagured with pro-democracy protests, abruptly shutters the country’s borders with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Ukraine citing coronavirus concerns. The Philippines brace for a massive, category five super-Typhoon. Goni will be the 18th storm to strike the country this year - and will be the largest cyclone in over a year, since Hurricane Dorian struck the Caribbean in 2019. And the New York Times reports that border officials have expelled at least 200 unaccompanied children from Central America to Mexico, regardless of whether or not those minors have family in Mexico to care for them. A further 545 migrant children are still missing, having been separated from their families upon arriving at land borders.

31: Video evidence shows Azerbaijani forces using white phosphorious in Artsakh. The use of this chemical agent as a weapon is banned under international law. In an interview with the Washington Post, Dr. Fauci criticized the White House’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying the country “could not be positioned more poorly” for the fall and winter surges. He tells the journalist that the coronavirus task force is more focused on the economy than public health and reports that he and the team’s other medical expert, Deborah Birx, no longer have access to the president.

Biden delivers a speech during a rainy drive-in rally in Tampa, Florida. In contrast to the Trump rallies, which rarely make concessions to the pandemic by asking attendees to wear masks or socially distance, Democrats have gone to great lengths to find novel ways to hold COVID-safe events - Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

1: Polling is showing Joe Biden with a clear advantage in swing states as the United States heads into a high-stakes election on Tuesday. Most polls show the former Vice-President leading in Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Pollsters are eager to regain much of the credibility they lost in 2016 when Trump upset Hillary’s performance and swept into the White House, against their predictions. Despite advancements in their technique - and oversampling Trump’s key demographics - the numbers will be way off again. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces a month-long lockdown beginning next week although schools and universities will be allowed to remain open. Athens, too, will be locked down, following orders for the Greek Prime Minister. Portugal too, is following suit, and locking down most of the country

#2020 recap

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chloesliterates · 4 years ago

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Typhoon Vamco

Typhoon Vamco, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ulysses, was a powerful Category 4-equivalent typhoon that recently caused the worst flooding in Metro Manila since Typhoon Ketsana in 2009. The twenty-second named storm and tenth typhoon of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season, Vamco originated as a tropical depression northwest of Palau, where it slowly continued its northwest track until it made landfall in Quezon.

Vamco made its first landfall in the Philippines near midnight in the Quezon province. The typhoon brought heavy rains in Central Luzon, and the nearby provinces, including Metro Manila, the national capital. Heavy rains caused by the typhoon overflowed rivers, causing severe flooding in Marikina. As the typhoon crossed the country, dams from all around Luzon neared their spilling points, forcing the dams to release large amounts of water into their impounds. As the Magat Dam approached its spilling point, all seven of its gates were opened to prevent dam failure, which overflowed the Cagayan River and caused widespread floods in Cagayan and Isabela. Days after the typhoon had passed the Philippines, rescue operations in the Cagayan Valley were still ongoing due to the unexpected extent of the flooding.

As of November 14, 2020, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in the Philippines reported 69 validated deaths, with another 12 missing, caused by the typhoon.[1][2] However, other government agencies are reporting a death toll as high as 43, with at least 20 missing.[3] The typhoon caused no fatalities in Vietnam.[4]

On November 8, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) began tracking a new tropical depression 132 nautical miles (245 km; 150 mi) north-northwest of Palau.[5][6] At 12:00 UTC on the same day, the PAGASA declared the system as a tropical depression inside of the Philippine Area of Responsibility, and named it Ulysses.[7][8] The next day at 7:15 UTC, the system strengthened into a tropical storm, earning the name Vamco by the JMA,[9] with the Joint Typhoon Warning Center later issuing their first warning on the system as a tropical depression. As the system tracked closer to southern Luzon, both the PAGASA and the JMA upgraded Vamco into a severe tropical storm.[10] Vamco was then upgraded to typhoon status by the JMA on November 11, followed by the JTWC and the PAGASA shortly after.[11][12] At 22:30 PHT (14:30 UTC), Vamco made its first landfall on the island town of Patnanungan, Quezon.[13] Then, surrounded by favorable conditions for an intensification, Vamco continued to gain strength and reached its initial peak of intensity, with 10-min sustained winds at 130 km/h (81 mph), 1-minute sustained winds of 176 km/h (109 mph) and pressure of 970 mbar, supporting Vamco as a high-end category 2 equivalent typhoon.[14] At 23:20 PHT (15:20 UTC) and at 1:40 PHT of the following day (17:40 UTC), Vamco made its next two Quezon landfalls over Burdeos (in Polillo Island) and General Nakar (in the Luzon landmass), respectively.[15] Later, Vamco dropped below typhoon intensity inland. At 00:00 UTC, Vamco emerged over the South China Sea.[16] The system left the PAR at 01:30 UTC as the PAGASA redeclared the system as a typhoon.[17] Vamco gradually intensified in the South China Sea, before rapidly intensifying into its peak as a Category 4-equivalent typhoon on November 13.[18] The typhoon then weakened before making its last landfall in Vietnam as a Category 1-equivalent typhoon on November 15.[19]

Philippines[edit]

As Vamco initially formed inside of the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) immediately began issuing severe weather bulletins in preparation for the typhoon.[20] The Philippines had recently been hit with three other tropical cyclones — Typhoon Molave (Quinta), Typhoon Goni (Rolly), and Tropical Storm Etau (Tonyo) — making this the fourth tropical cyclone to approach Luzon in the past month. After Goni damaged the PAGASA's weather monitoring station in Catanduanes, one of the only three stations in the country, typhoon tracking was done manually.[21] The PAGASA first raised tropical cyclone wind signals as early as November 9.[22] By 23:00 UTC on November 10, the PAGASA had raised a Signal #2 wind signal for 17 provinces, parts of 6 provinces, 2 islands, and the national capital region, Metro Manila.[23] The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC), also began sending out emergency alerts to mobile phone users about possible storm surges. The NDRRMC later used this same system to alert citizens in areas under Signal #3.[24]

Residents in the Pollilo Islands and in Central Luzon were forced to evacuate a day before the storm's landfall.[25][26] 14,000 residents were also to be evacuated in Camarines Norte.[27] Bicol Region, one of the regions worst hit by Goni last month, evacuated 12,812 individuals ahead of the incoming storm.[28] Over 2,071 passengers were stranded in ports in multiple regions of Luzon as sea conditions worsened.[29] Philippine Airlines suspended flights due to the inclement weather brought by Vamco.[30] The Office of the President of the Philippines suspended work in government offices and online classes in public schools in 7 regions, including the National Capital Region.[31] 12 hours before the typhoon's landfall, the PAGASA raised Signal #3 warnings for areas to be hit by the typhoon on landfall including Metro Manila and the entirety of Central Luzon. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology then issued lahar warnings for the Mayon Volcano, the Taal Volcano, and Mount Pinatubo hours prior to the typhoon's landfall.[32]

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