A school garden to remember the dead

THE GARDEN of Remembrance inside San Joaquin Central School in Palo town, Leyte province, where pupils pray for their classmates and friends who perished during “Yolanda’s” fury. Photo by Joey Gabieta

PALO, Leyte—Every time 12-year-old Christine Ong misses her best friend, she goes to a garden inside her school’s compound in Palo town, Leyte.

“I just hope wherever she is right now, she is at peace. I will always remember her. She was friendly and easy to get along with,” Ong said after laying flowers and praying for Chelsey Svetkaya Lacandazo, 11, at the Garden of Remembrance.

But the girl’s body has yet to be found, almost a year after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastated the province and the rest of the Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013.

Korean mission

The first of its kind in Leyte, the Garden of Remembrance was built inside San Joaquin Central School (SJCS) in Barangay San Joaquin for the 67 pupils who died during the typhoon. The school accounted for the biggest number of deaths among children in Palo, one of the hardest-hit towns. A teacher, Arlene Lacandazo, was also a fatality.

The 100-square-meter garden was initiated by a Korean missionary, Viktor Sang Young Choi, who belongs to the Seoul-based nongovernment organization Truly Good Friends. Construction started in September and was completed early October.

“This will serve as a place for the parents to always remember their children who perished during Yolanda. And by coming here, they will slowly come to terms that their children are already gone. This will help them in their healing process,” said Choi, 55.

The Korean and three other volunteers of Truly Good Friends arrived in Leyte on March 1. They provided free meals to thousands of pupils from San Jose Elementary School in Tacloban City, Tanauan Elementary School in Tanauan town and Palo Central School and SJCS, both in Palo.

In one of his visits to SJCS, Choi was informed of the tragedy that befell the school where 67 of more than 400 pupils died.

“I was so touched by the tragedy. Imagine, 67 children and a teacher were killed in a storm? That is too much to bear,” he said. “I recognized that their hearts are in need of comfort. I want to share not only food but also God of comfort and mercy for the wounded heart.”

3 boulders

The garden’s attraction is a set of three boulders, each weighing at least 10 tons and as high as 2 meters. Engraved in the boulders donated by Saturnino Conde of Tacloban are the messages: “In Christ Jesus,” “We Love You Forever” and “Love.”

Several other rocks bear such messages as “comfort” and “wounded healer.” The message on a big mahogany chair reads, “My son, my daughter, I love you forever.”

At one corner of the garden is a white board where the names of all 67 pupils are posted.

First on the list is John Reynard Modesto, 5, whose body was found after the water subsided. He was buried in a mass grave inside the compound of San Joaquin Church, less than 100 meters away from the school.

His mother, Lydia Modesto, a Grade 4 teacher of SJCS, said she could not help but feel pain every time she passed by the garden. “I was holding him tightly on that day when a strong wave swept him away from me. I promised myself not to cry, but I could not help myself,” she said.

Best friend

Unlike John Reynard, Chelsey Svetkaya Lacandazo remains missing. She is being missed the most by Ong, a Grade 6 pupil, though two other classmates—Gerard Kyle Metilla and Mary Jessel Porca—died.

“She (Lacandazo) is really my best friend. We played around here in the school and even after school. Her death really came to me as a big shock. I cried when I learned that she was among those killed by Yolanda,” Ong said.

Ong survived the storm surge that hit San Joaquin by clinging to the beam of a two-story barangay hall building where, incidentally, 10 children drowned.

She recalled that before the typhoon hit, there were 46 pupils in her class. The number dropped to 24 because some of her classmates did not survive while others had moved to Manila or transferred to other schools.

Ong is thankful that the Garden of Remembrance has been constructed because she now has a place where she can pray for her best friend.

Another Grade 6 pupil, Alexza Ballon, 12, volunteered to help in constructing the garden because she knew it was for her schoolmates who did not make it.

“I was one of those who pinned a yellow ribbon placed on a slab of wood in the garden. I miss them. They are not just classmates but relatives and neighbors, too,” Ballon said.