A double celebration in Cebu evacuation center

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Christine Joy Sarsosa will turn 14 on Christmas Day.

It should be a happy occasion for her, but it won’t be so this year.

Christine Joy will be spending her birth anniversary—as well as Christmas—away from her parents. She is among the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” from Leyte province who have been staying for more than a month in this city, first at the sports center in the village of Tinago.

Only last week, Christine, along with her sister, her aunt and her family, were moved to a tent city put up by the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).

The Sarsosas are among 41 families who are living in what is now called the Family Rebuilding Center on a 1.5-hectare lot owned by the city government.

Christine’s birthday wish is to have her own cell phone so she can call her parents, especially her father, whom she has not seen in a long time.

She and her sister Jessica, 12, had been living with their mother after their parents separated. Later, the sisters moved in with their aunt to Kananga town, Leyte province.

Mark’s wish

After Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) destroyed their aunt’s house, Christine and Jessica sought refuge in Cebu City with their aunt, Marivic Sarsosa, a single mother of three.

Since they don’t have money to spend for Christine’s birthday, Marivic said they would instead use the noche buena food packs they received from kind-hearted donor to celebrate the event.

Marivic’s son, 14-year-old Choon Mark’s own Christmas wish is to be able to play for his football team, the Kananga Football Club, like he used to.

A member of the varsity team in their hometown, he now practices by his lonesome, jogging every afternoon at Cebu City Sports Center to keep his body trim and fit for a football tournament which his team, the Kananga Football Club, is scheduled to join and a first for the club, in Cebu City on Feb. 21 next year.

Once, Choon Mark’s coach, Andrew Gomez, visited him in the city to check on his fitness regimen.

Simple meal

Marivic said her Christmas wish is simple: to share a simple meal with her three children and two nieces and for her son’s club to win the tournament.

“Choon Mark wants their team to be the champion,” she said.

Another evacuee, Ma. Yolanda Codilan of Barangay 64-E in Tacloban City, also lives in the tent city.

When asked what her Christmas wish was, Codilan began to cry as she touched one of the two Sto. Niño images given to her by private donors.

A Sto. Niño devotee for 10 years now, Codilan says all she wants is to be able to to return home together with her son, Dennis, 9.

Seeing family safe

For Samuel and Luciana Baquilod, however, seeing their family safe and together on Christmas is more than what they can wish for.

The Baquilod couple stayed at Tinago sports complex, along with four of their children, a granddaughter and Samuel’s mother-in-law. They transferred to the tent city on Sunday.

But it would also be great if they could rebuild their home in Tacloban City’s Barangay 62, Samuel said, adding that strong winds had blown away the roof of their bungalow that took him 16 years to build.

It was full of good memories as their family had spent most of their lives there, Samuel said. “We miss our hometown,” he said.

But the last few days spent at the Tinago gymnasium gave Samuel and his family and the other evacuees glimpses of past Christmases.

Noche buena

On Dec. 21, five private donors distributed gift packs to each family who received dining sets, rice packs canned goods, boxes of hams and clothes, among others. A noche buena feast was also prepared for them by the PRC.

The gym was festooned with Christmas decor. An improvised Christmas tree made out of a tree shrub decorated with holiday was placed on the stage stage. Balloons also filled the gym and were later distributed to the children.

Luciana said the gift-giving activity made them forget momentarily the devastation and the trauma they went through in November.

The Baquilods have one remaining wish: The full recovery of Samuel who will undergo an operation in January to remove the cyst on his left shoulder. Joel Garganera, barangay captain of Tinago, has promised to pay for the operation.

“We cannot repay Mr. Garganera for his kindness, as well as the Cebuanos for taking us in. We can only thank them,” Luciana said.

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