DepEd utility workers give up rice gift for storm survivors

MANILA, Philippines—Instead of taking the gifts for themselves, utility workers at the Department of Education decided to donate the sacks of rice from their boss to survivors of Tropical Storm “Sendong.”

At ground zero, teachers volunteered to prepare meals for evacuees, putting aside their own problems despite having lost loved ones and homes.

Amid one of the worst disasters the country has ever seen, can still find the true meaning of Christmas.

For Education Secretary Armin Luistro, who saw for himself the devastation caused by Sendong in Cagayan De Oro and Iligan cities, the spirit of Christmas happens where it seems unimaginable.

“Our traditional way of preparing and celebrating Christmas is [that] there are nice gifts, we spend, there’s delicious food. But the experience of Sendong tells me that all of these can be lost in an instant,” Luistro told the Inquirer Thursday.

He recalled a story of a teachers’ family reunited, just when they thought they had lost each other in the flood.

“Should we not celebrate Christmas anymore? No. On the contrary, I think that’s the very meaning of Christmas: when you had lost everything except each other, when the family comes together, when there are no gifts to share except the warmth and the presence of people you love,” said Luistro.

The education chief visited the ravaged cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan earlier this week, checking up on affected schools, teachers and students.

And as powerful as the loss and destruction he saw at ground zero, Luistro was struck by the resilience of storm victims he met and the generosity of people who are far away from the disaster but quick to reach out to help.

“At the evacuation center, almost every teacher, even if their homes were flooded and they lost loved one, they are all helping each other,” related Luistro.

“Without any prompting from us, the teachers were the ones cooking food for evacuees. They scrounged around from their own pockets to help feed the evacuees even before help from the outside came,” the official said.

Encouraging stories continued to come when Luistro returned to Manila. He was moved to tears in relating how DepEd’s utility workers–gardeners, maintenance personnel–decided to give sacks of rice to storm victims.

The rice sacks were gifts from Luistro, supposedly raffled off as prizes for the utility workers’ Christmas party.

“When I asked what happened, I was told they donated it. That made me cry. I am rarely able to give them anything and they decided to give it up,” said Luistro, choking up.

“I think the poor know what it means to go through something like that. And I cry whenever that happens, when you see that kind of generosity. That’s unusual, something you wouldn’t expect,” a tearful Luistro said.

DepEd is running its own relief drive at the Central Office in Pasig and other local offices nationwide.