8 November: Thousands are killed as a catastrophic cyclone strikes the Philippines
Driving on a moto-taxi through Costa Brava on the outskirts of Tacloban, I could see that virtually all the houses were mere piles of rubble. One image captured the storm's loss and devastation like no other: a photo of a teenage boy with a cut to his cheek, wearing a soaking shirt, standing among debris. His picture was one of those that inspired millions worldwide to donate to the emergency appeal.
Three weeks after my arrival in Tacloban, I stumbled on a Facebook community wondering what had become of him. "Do you know this guy?" I asked boys playing hide-and-seek among the debris. "That's Joshua – he lives there," one replied.
At the doorstep of a concrete house, one of the few left standing, I met Joshua's uncle, who went off to fetch him. The wound beneath his eye had largely healed, and the 11-year-old was in much better spirits than a month ago. How did he feel about the fact that he had unwittingly become the posterboy of the disaster? Perplexed, Joshua covered his face with both hands, before shyly responding: "Nice."
Throughout our meeting Joshua kept smiling, even when we talked about the fate of his family. "My mother and little sister Jamaica died," he said. His father was still in a faraway hospital receiving treatment for a wound to his legs. When a huge wave washed away the family house, Joshua had swum with it and grabbed a piece of wood to stay afloat. As the currents dragged him 2km inland, the plank slammed his face, he explained, causing the cut below his eye.
Weeks after the disaster, Joshua's family still relies on relief aid. But Joshua is looking forward to going back to school in January and seeing his classmates again. He wants, he tells me, to learn to be an engineer.
source Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment