Mahiga settlers cope with cramped tents, mud

IMAGINE 11 people sleeping on a small wooden bed.

That’s how the Arcipe family spend their nights inside a blue tent, one of several sent up at the temporary shelter for dislocated  Mahiga Creek  families in Block 27 of the North Reclamation Area (NRA) in Cebu City.

Ramil Arcipe, a jeepney driver, said his children have been crowding  on the bed for nearly a week after rains soaked their hole-riddled tent.

They sleep on the muddy soil, which was  soaked after yesterday’s downpour.

“It’s tough because it gets  muddy after the rains so we  sleep like sardines on the bed, squeezing each other for space,” Arcipe said.

Inside their tent was a small TV and an image of the Virgin Mary in the corner.

If there’s no rain, some  children sleep on mats while others occupy  another tent.

Despite these conditions,  Ramil said their shelter at Block 27 is better than their old shanty in sitio  San Isidro II, barangay Mabolo.

Ramil  said the situation has kept the family close.

Ramil said he and his wife Estrella would share small servings of hot noodle soup, sardines and rice inside their tent.

They and 16 other families live in Block 27 while  a relocation site is being prepared for them by the city government.

Settlers  built a small basketball ring  for the children and teenagers on the site. Some residents put up a  sari-sari store.

The site has lights, power,  water systems and five portable toilets. Correspondent Fatrick Tabada