- After Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 caused unprecedented havoc in and around Tacloban, the Philippines, another Typhoon of Sai Seva began and it continues till this day filling the hearts of these distressed people with hope, light and love.
Typhoon Haiyan, known as Typhoon Yolanda in Philippines, was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded. The cyclone that affected parts of Southeast Asia, Philippines in particular, struck in early November 2013. The typhoon is believed to have killed at least 6,300 people in Philippines alone and left cities like Tacloban without power and basic amenities for months.
Bhagawan's devotees spontaneously rushed to the aid of these afflicted masses. As a first step, a Sai Home was setup in the town of Tacloban, which is about 90 minutes from Manila by flight. The situation was so stark that the ground floor of the house rented out by the Sai Organisation for a Sai Home was itself inundated well up to the month of January 2014.
Even as the volunteers of the Sai Organisation landed in the Tacloban airport, they could see things were quite bad. The airport had no roof and all that was left was the tarmac. They had to use manual labour to get their luggages out. And what they encountered at Tacloban was far from welcoming. Apart from all the devastation, there was no power and running water. In fact power was not restored for the next three to four months. These were the hostile conditions in which these pilgrims of hope operated from.
As soon as the Sai Home was set up, the volunteers began their Narayana Seva. The cyclone had washed away most of the vehicles and so hiring vehicles was not too easy or economical. They managed to hire what was locally referred to as a multi-cab and then cooked food in the Sai Home would be taken to a nearby Barangay (a village). As days went by, the devotees began visiting more Barangays and serving upto 500 to 700 meals everyday. The seva was mainly meant for the children of the area, with some elders also at times standing in the queue.
The children were a delightful lot as always. They would come with their little plates and join the lines gleefully calling out, “Plato, plato!” But with time they realised that these people serving them were greeting each other 'Sai Ram.' So eventually they too began calling out 'Sai Ram' as they would see the Sai Volunteers. Some of the volunteers recollect how heartening it was for them to see before their eyes, these children growing healthy with every passing day. Some of them had nothing, they were left with just the pair of clothes they were wearing as the water had washed away everything else.
Bob Singh, one of the people who was blessed to be part of the Seva in Tacloban for a few months recollects, “The most beautiful thing about the Filipino people is that with all that they went through, they tried to maintain a cheerful disposition. They will never make you feel that they are very sad. They would embrace us warmly when they saw us. They would sing happily and dance for us. And each time they saw a foreigner coming to help them they would say, 'We thank you for coming and helping us at a time of distress. Thank you for helping our people'.
As mentioned earlier, there was no power in the town. So the volunteers had to go out frequently to the market to buy vegetables as nothing could be stored. They would wake up early in the mornings, cook the food, go out and serve the people, come back and do the dishes so it can be ready for the next day, and then have their lunch which they would've set aside for themselves in the morning.
Sometimes they would have local people dropping by the Sai Homes too. On such occasions the volunteers would happily share the little they had set aside for themselves too. When we asked Mr. Bob Singh how they managed the food, he recollected one occasion when five people turned up to share the food they had. “I felt that Baba was presenting us with an opportunity to see what we would do. We called them in and gave what we had. They had their food silently and as they left, they turned and said, 'Salamat' (Thank you) with a smile. The happiness we got at that moment just filled our stomachs. We felt as though Swami just accepted our offering... it was so fulfilling. I should also add, we stayed there for three months, but we never saw any of those five after that. These are opportunities that you can't afford to let go. This was just one of the many such instances that happened!”
Even as the Narayana Seva was an ongoing process, the Sathya Sai Organisation began medical camps in the affected areas. These were held on a monthly basis, with doctors, paramedics and volunteers coming from different countries. An Australian volunteer who was part of the team that conducted medical camps in the backward district of Dulag recollects how their 12 member team had people from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, Austria and Italy. All doctors and volunteers stayed in the Sai Home, battling the tropical heat, mosquitoes and no running water. In spite of all these hardships they managed to be all ready by 6:10 a.m. to leave for the camp site.
The medical camps were held in various Barangays and some of them were in places that were completely cut off. The Sai Doctors were the only ones the people in these places saw, no other NGO had reached out to them. At times the volunteers travelled by boats like the one in this photo, where doctors were heading to Barangay Burgos, in Bassey. On other occasions they took the help of military trucks, for that was the only way to manoeuvre through the swampy paths. Another remote area was Biliran, where doctors put up with a lot of inconveniences to serve their Master. These volunteers who were successful professionals in developed countries slept on cardboard boxes and gave up their simple needs to reach out to these distressed Filipinos. At one camp held in April 2014, the doctors saw over 1200 patients, going up late into the evening. In fact they had to stop registration because they did not have enough light. But the doctors continued to see patients and treat them. Such is the commitment when one is inspired by Bhagawan's pure love and message of service.
After the immediate needs of food and health had been addressed, it was time to turn to the long term needs. San Isidro Elementary school in Palo was one of the many schools which had its infrastructure severely damaged. The Sathya Sai Organisation took up the reconstruction of this school and providing the supplies needed for it to commence functioning again. The new building was built with German engineering to withstand wind speeds upto 180 mph.
On October 4, 2014 a one day Education in Human Values (EHV) introductory course to 8 school principals and 27 teachers of elementary schools was held in Tacloban, Philippines. The lectures were conducted at the office of the Vice Mayor of Tacloban. Many more such camps were held in the months to follow. One was held on 24th Jan 2015 at the Leyte Normal University, Tacloban. Even as this story is being published, more work is being undertaken to bring EHV in schools through teacher trainings and volunteers from different parts of the world offering their expertise.
Another long term initiative taken up was the setting up of the Sathya Sai Medical Clinic in Barangay called San Jose in Dulag. A local health centre, Bumi Wadah Foundation Maternity Clinic, partnered with the Sathya Sai International Organisation (SSIO) to establish a new Sathya Sai Maternity Centre to provide free medical services. The SSIO, Philippines identified a building suitable to set up a medical facility and completely renovated it and two additional wings were constructed on either side of the existing property to accommodate the free clinic. The owner of the building was very touched by the outstanding services provided by the SSIO and its volunteers. She said, “Thank you for serving my brothers and sisters in Dulag. May Jesus bless all of you always.”
Innumerable families were touched by the love Swami's devotees brought to them in the form of relief. One family's situation which was quite pathetic and needed immediate help and care was the Ocada family. Due to certain administrative oversight, the family was ignored for relief and support by the local administration.
Alberto Dasal, the 42 year old breadwinner of the house, who supported the family by fishing, had his livelihood hit when the typhoon damaged his boat. It was repairable but would cost Pesos 5,500. Alejandra Ocada, the eldest in the family was a 76 year old. Completely bedridden, she needed help even to get up from her floor bedding. She was on medication, which she had stopped since they could neither afford the medicine nor the trip to the doctor.
The mother was completely dependent on her 46 year old daughter, Nena Ocada. Apart from her old mother, Nena also had to care for her 22 year old daughter, Leslie Ann. An attack of meningitis eight years ago had left this cheerful girl too completely dependent on her mother.
The family had to live for almost a year without a rest room, using the open spaces for bath and answering nature's call. This meant Nena had to carry her mother and daughter down a flight of few steps everyday for their ablutions. Nena herself was under medication, which the family could not afford anymore. The mother also had to care for two other school going girls.
When a member of the Sai relief team visited them, he could see that the family needed help badly. They must've gone hungry for a few days too. They were immediately given a hamper of groceries. The devotees then arranged for a wheelchair for the family, to be used for the grandmother and Leslie, and a water filter.
Later a toilet was built for them and help was given so they could set up a home garden for their food. Earlier the family would even cook outdoors, so a kitchen was built under a roof. The Barangay Captain (local authority) was approached and it was ensured that the family got re-registered in the government records so they could continue to get support, medical and such.
Those of us who have been fortunate to be in Swami's physical presence know, that He was happiest when He was giving. There would be a joyous glint in His eyes when He would shower gifts to the needy or inaugurate a project that would serve the desperate. And it is a share of that joy that Swami allows us to partake in when we set out as His emissaries. It would be most apt to conclude this feature with the words of one of the Sai Doctors from the UK who was part of this project. This is what the grateful devotee had to say, “Swami took all of us (handpicked by Himself) on a journey of discovery and adventure to meet our Filipino members of the family. He did this because our role in life is to discover our innate divinity, grow in love, and radiate this love to all, including those who do not like us. On this journey, He threw quite a lot of challenges at us to see to what extent we could work together, how competently each performed his allotted duties, and whether we saw Swami in everyone, and whether we enveloped all in our orbit of love. Going by Swami’s feedback following most of the camps done earlier, I personally feel that He would have been pleased to see us rise to meet at least His minimum level of expectations. Let us all thank Swami for giving us an opportunity to be part of His mission to change hearts and minds of other humans, armed only with our love, and to bring joy into their lives.”