Zambo refugees coping with health, shelter woes

They may have escaped the fighting, but the 60 people displaced by the Zamboanga City conflict now have other pressing problems to deal with.

For one, the long trip has taken its toll on some of them who were stricken with fever and diarrhea, cough and colds.

A month-old infant was rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) last Friday due to diarrhea and vomiting.

The baby was discharged afterwards and the parents took their child to a temporary home in barangay Punta Princesa, Cebu City.

Nearly 60 people, 20 of whom are children, are staying in a small apartment and are using the truck that took them to Cebu as a mobile home.

Outside the apartment, some of the refugees entertain themselves  using by singing using a videoke machine they brought from Zamboanga City.

At night, the clan members occupy the apartment’s four bedrooms.

Because there wasn’t enough room in the apartment, some chose to sleep on the truck they used in traveling while some sleep in jeepneys owned by their Cebu-based kin.

Traumatized

Since the evacuees arrived last Wednesday, no one from the Cebu City Health Department visited to check  on  their health conditions.

They said only representatives from the Department of Social Welfare and Development came to give them a sack of rice, three mats and bread.

Stress-debriefing sessions by social workers have yet to transpire.

The clan’s 66-year-old patriarch Efren Angeles said the stress debriefing will especially help the children who were traumatized by the shootings in Zamboanga City.

“It’s not easy to live in a place where there’s war. We couldn’t work; all establishments are closed; classes are suspended. I hope they stop fighting because innocent people like us are the victims,” he said in an interview.

Maria Theresa, who has a trucking business in Zamboanga City, said they lost their income since the war started.

“This is the first time we encountered a war. Children were crying. They were shocked,” she said.

Sarah Mae, who lived with her husband in Cebu City for eight years, presently provides the clan their needs.  But she’s hoping the government will also help them.