A Christmas plea for goodwill

Usually at this time of the year I will post something festive and frivolous. This year, however, it’s a bit grim and depressing. You might not know, as it has been grossly under reported in the west, typhoon Odette ripped through the Philippines last week, killing around 400 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. 

My son, Ben, has lived in the Philippines for the past few years, in a little beach town called Moalboal on the island of Cebu. With his partner, Nadine, and his daughter, Ehra, they started a little restaurant called the Three Bears, which slowly grew and became popular with backpackers and travellers. Encouraged by the success of this new business, they opened Crazy Bears, a hostel for travellers. The paint on the new hostel had barely dried when COVID struck and they had to lockdown. For 18 months they have barely survived, relying on local patronage and the occasional donation from the Bank of Mum&Dad. Finally, things looked better as restrictions ended and custom trickled back to life. But then Odette came.

Thankfully, they and their friends are safe. The hostel suffered some damage from falling trees and fences blowing around, but they are still standing. Some of their friends have lost their houses and belongings, blown away by the tempest. Power poles were blown over, uprooted or simply snapped in the ferocity of the storm. The government and local authorities say the power will be restored in 4 to 12 weeks. During that time they have no way to cool their properties, no refrigeration, relying on those lucky enough to have a generator. Gasoline and water are limited, prices have inflated and queues for water of 5 hours have been reported.

We want to help Ben and his friends and neighbours. Ben’s brother Tom has set up a gofundme page. The aim is to provide income as they have no government aid whatsoever. Ben and Nadine want to help their friends and neighbours to survive the coming weeks with no power, no income and no aid. And longer term to rebuild their homes and get back on their feet. Please take a look. Any donation will be a big help, for example ten dollars will buy around 70 bottles of water. 

GoFundMe page

I realise that this is not a particularly cheering or festive post. If you read this far, thank you for your time. I hope you can find some seasonal goodwill to your fellow human. If you can make a donation, please do. 

Just as importantly, please share far and wide, this is currently an unreported story. The more exposure gained, the more help received. Thanks again for your time and attention, now back to those mice pies!