One of the main objectives of the trip was to express solidarity to the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan and the Catholic Relief Services staff working on the recovery process in Leyte, Philippines.
Typhoon Haiyan affected 12 million people. More than 6,200 people died and 1.1 million houses were damaged.
The delegation, composed of one CRS senior staff member, two CRS board members and two diocesan social concerns directors, was able to see the front line of the disaster as well as the recovery progress.
While in Leyte, the delegation visited the different recovery programs that CRS is developing in partnership with other agencies and beneficiaries.
These programs include: Shelter Program, Livelihood Program and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
As a member of the delegation, I was moved by the faith and resilience of survivors who shared their stories.
“I lost two relatives. Life has been difficult, but we have hope because there are people who care and who help us…” shared Dorita, who is a survivor of Typhoon Haiyan. Through this and other similar encounters, I was able to appreciate how deep faith, partnered with acts of global solidarity, makes hope and recovery real and possible.
The global solidarity demonstrated by people around the world including the faith community of the Diocese of San Bernardino has strengthened hope in the lives of survivors like Dorita. In the midst of a world affected by what Pope Francis has denounced as the “globalization of indifference.” (Lenten Message, March 2015), global solidarity continues to be a gift and a challenge.
Two years have passed since Typhon Haiyan hit on November of 2013 and significant progress has been made possible through global solidarity. There are other daily typhoons that also need to be addressed as Cardinal Antonio G. Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, told us when we met with him in Manila:
“We are also dealing with the everyday typhoons of poverty, corruption and violence,” Cardinal Tagle said, “but we continue to hope and work with God’s grace.”
Cardinal Tagle’s words made me think about our own everyday typhoons of homelessness, poverty, violence and injustice here in our own diocese. There is an urgency to continue to find effective and creative ways to respond through local solidarity to daily “typhoons” affecting our communities.
In a world that seems to be affected by a culture of indifference, small acts of global and local solidarity truly make a big difference: they fill lives with hope.
Sister Hortencia Del Villar is Director of the Office of Social Concerns in the Diocese of San Bernardino.