A Brief Tale of Tragedy & Humanity

My wife's family live on an island in the southern Philippines. The town nestles between virgin rainforest and the ocean. It sounds idyllic and in some ways it is. By day it is beautiful but there are drawbacks too. At night you dare not go out without a guard. It can be dangerous, lawless, your life would be in danger.

The family home was relatively large, the product of a lifetimes hard work, and home to three generations of the Castillo family plus business space below for 78 year old Nenita's little Nipa Palm Thatch business. At four o'clock in the morning last Friday a street fire swept through the home from the rear. They had just seconds to get out, the mostly timber buildings burn fast. My wife's brother Edwin went back inside to get something but we will never know what for he did not make it out alive.

The entire family are now homeless and in genuine peril. They literally left with only the clothes on their backs. My wife and I are sending whatever financial support that we can on a daily basis to keep them all safe, fed and off the streets but it will not be enough. Our two boys wanted to help too but have no means. One has only just found employment this week after losing his last job at the start of covid. The youngest is still at university learning, amongst other things, how to beat covid and has nothing but student debt. They decided to start a 'gofundme'. My expectations were not high, their friends have not much more money than them and anyway, they do not know the Castillo family.

I was wrong, so wrong.

I am humbled and overwhelmed by the humanity and generosity of strangers during these still rather bleak times for many.

To see just how wrong I was follow this link


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