8,300 miles afar

Published in Rappler.com on

November 15, 2013 TORONTO, Canada – It has been almost a week and Filipinos continue to reel from the effects of Super Typhoon Haiyan. The food and medical aid situation remains grim as thousands cry for food. Many nations have given generous financial, medical, logistics and in-kind support, and Filipinos in the country continue to unite while the government is doing its best to supervise calamity operations. Filipinos abroad have stepped up as well and have mobilized themselves – from soliciting monetary support, food supplies, in-kind items to cargo services that could help speed up shipment of relief items for the survivors.

But there are children too who felt saddened and touched by the plight of the people in the Visayas, especially when they knew that thousands have died. This prompted them to think of the ways of how they could help too – from selling lemonade to baking cupcakes for their school bake sale, to selling cookies. These were just some of the ways for them to show they care. Two days ago, after a friend posted a message that his group plans to ship food and clothing items to the Philippines, my 12- and 10-year-old daughters Cerniel and Cailean busied themselves gathering items in our household which we do not use anymore and packed them in a box to make it ready for pick up. They said “we are far away and still it is possible to help.” My daughters love to write poems and so on Thursday night, they shared their minds together to come up with a poem dedicated to the victims and survivors of Typhoon Yolanda. Cerniel and Cailean want to share their poem “Sending Love 8,300 Miles Afar.” 8,300 miles away we see you in our thoughts

So far far away we share you our support 
8,300 miles away we hear your lonely cries
So far far away we sense your worried sighs 

8,300 miles away we send our love so strong 
Our wish that all your sufferings won’t really last for long 
8,300 miles away we pray for God’s true mercy 
His everlasting kindness and endless generosity 

8,300 miles away we reach our arms for comfort
We want to show we care and keep you from all hurt 
8,300 miles away, we offer you a home 
To make you feel so safe from further hurt and harm 

We hope to see big smiles by these little things we share 
And hope these words can make your days so truly fair 
All things are made possible so here we send our prayers 
From Toronto with love 8,300 miles afar