‘Yolanda’ survivors grateful for outpouring of help

“YOLANDA” survivors wave the flags of countries and organizations that extended help to them and other typhoon victims at the start of Saturday’s Unity Run in Rizal Park. EDWIN BELLOSILLO

Her last memory of her family was seeing them walk out the door as floodwater came rushing into their house.

“There is no more future for me in Tacloban. I don’t want to go back,” said 22-year-old Jennifer Tañajura, the lone survivor in a family of five.

Her mother, father and two siblings drowned when the storm surge hit the city at the height of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” She survived by climbing to the roof of their house.

“I came to Manila to find a job and start over. Maybe it is not yet too late for me even if I lost all my family members. I still hope to finish my studies and reach my dreams,” Tañajura said.

Since her arrival at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on Friday, Tañajura said that volunteers of the Department of Social Welfare and Development have been helping her look at her employment options.

On Saturday, she and 24 other Yolanda survivors from Leyte, Samar and Tacloban City participated in the Unity Run held at Rizal Park to convey their gratitude to the people, countries and organizations which have extended them a helping hand.

Organized by the Order of the Knights of Rizal, the Unity Run was held “to signify the gratefulness of the Filipino people considering the overwhelming amount of aid that has poured in from all corners of the globe.”

With the theme “Ramdam ang Pasasalamat Mula sa Kilometer Zero,” the event also kicked off the month-long celebration of the heroism of the country’s national hero Jose Rizal and the 100th year of his monument in Rizal Park.

More than 4,000 runners started their run from the Kilometer Zero marker in front of the Rizal monument, the point where Philippine independence was proclaimed in 1946.