A mother from Siargao hopes for a swift recovery from Typhoon Odette

Surigao del Norte – Jocelyn, a 40-year-old mother, hopes that her family will recover swiftly from the impact of Typhoon Odette that hit her community in December last year.

Jocelyn, a 40-year-old mother, hopes that her family will recover swiftly from the impact of Typhoon Odette that hit her community in December last year.

“The typhoon was very strong. It flattened our house to the ground,” said the mother.

Jocelyn, her second husband, and their two children, Mark Lawrence and Rhiane Jane, are staying inside a makeshift shelter on a nearby vacant lot. The roof and part of its walls are made of tarpaulin material.

“There were many times that it rained and our children complained because water would leak inside our home. I just explained that we have to endure our situation because we still can’t afford to build a new , our children would complain because water would leak inside our home. But I would explain to them that we have to endure our situation because we still can’t afford to build a new home,” she shared.

The typhoon didn’t just swept their house but also destroyed their source of livelihood after it toppled or snapped majority of the coconut trees in their area. Jocelyn’s husband worked as a copra or dried coconut kernel harvester but he was left income-less after the typhoon.

The loss of livelihood also results to other challenges for the family such as the provision of their daily food supply, materials for their hygiene use, and other important house needs.

For now, the family don’t have to worry with these challenges in the next few weeks because they received multiple relief kits from World Vision as part of the Typhoon Odette Response.

With the funding support from the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Jocelyn and her family received food packs with rice and drinking water, hygiene kits, and household kits.

“We are grateful for these donations from World Vision and the government of Hong Kong. We have something to ease our situation,” the mother expressed.

Within three months, World Vision has reached a total of 13,312 families families for its World Vision’s emergency response wherein the organization also provided 3,111 food packs, 2,500 emergency shelter kits, 2,892 hygiene kits, 2,000 kitchen kits, 2,892 non-food items including mosquito nets and blankets, and 1,000 water purification packets in Bohol, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Southern Leyte, Dinagat Islands, and Surigao del Norte provinces.

World Vision thanks its funding donors during the second phase of the response including the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The organization continues to appeal for support as the needs of the typhoon-affected families remain massive.