Typhoon Country

Post for Sunday, June 22, 2008

Typhoon Fengshen, aka Typhoon Frank, passed over us here in Oriental Mindoro with heavy rain. We lost electricity, we are safe but are grieving the lives lost in other parts of the country . That we were safe was through no effort of our own, although we took all of the common-sense precautions and stocked up on gasoline for the generator. A baby boy was born by candlelight and a flash, number 7 for the mother. They are a Muslim family, and I was afraid that the grandmother would set all of her scarves on fire in the birthroom! The mother was inside the room with no wraps at all; only her husband and women are present. She had been in latent labor since Wednesday prenatals; where I had met her. She is softer now. The beaming father gave Vicki and I crackers as we left.

Next door, Rachel and her gorgeous little baby girl were still resting as her husband did her laundry. There is no monetary fee ever, but we do have a little can for donations to other indigent families if they can afford to help others. This is what your donations from the States provide, and we tell them so. That Westerners care about them enough to subsidize their care, and that many are Christians. They call us "born-agains" here, to differentiate from the (mostly by default) Catholic faith.

We wade back through the main street of White Beach and drive home. Scott informs us that this is Typhoon #6 of the 19 expected this year, plus 30 or so tropical storms. If you look at the map above, Oriental Mindoro is the 2nd blue dot from the right. We are near the top right side of that island. However, Typhoon Fengshen was bigger than all of the Philippines and the effects were felt to some degree everywhere. This time, Cebu got the worst of it. So far the news reports 155 dead, plus another 800 plus in a related ferry sinking. My sister Vicki sank once, on my birthday in 2006 and miraculously lived. You should hear the story if you have not. Maybe I will email it to you.

It is worth knowing. There are many storms in life. In this one, people died and people were born.

And born again.