Ten years ago today, Yolly hit home. 

And Yolly hit hard. 

As she slammed into my hometown of Tacloban, she also changed my life forever.

(link) Here’s an old video of my elementary school being submerged in 12-foot water. 

I still vividly remember the gut-wrenching moment we lost contact with my family based in Leyte. Mama, Papa, my Auntie Nene, my brother Mark, and my youngest sister Fatima were all in Tacloban at the time. 

It was November 11th and I was on a plane for a documentary film project. This was my first major gig as a freelancer coming out of corporate earlier that year. Ironically, the docu was all about how to mitigate the impacts of Climate Change. 

Tapos yun pala Yolanda would climate-change the whole country. 

I cried silently in my seat scanning the news. It had been two excruciating days since I last heard from my family. 

How strong could this typhoon be? 

We thought it was just another strong one. We had weathered countless storms before. Kinaya naman yung napakaraming bagyo sa amin. In fact, there was one in the 90s that was so strong that we didn’t have power for several months. 

This was Typhoon Uring. 

I was very young but I remember going to the Ice Plant once a week to buy the huge blocks of Ice that we would put in our battered unbranded ice box to keep our fish and meat cold.

Sure power was out, pero lagi naman wala kuryente sa Pinas nung time na yun diba? Di pa uso powerbanks, but meron naman kandila and water. Life went on.

That same ice plant was totally destroyed by Yolanda. The few parts that were found eventually got repurposed into a coffee shop. 

The ol' Ice machine is now an interior design piece. 

That’s how frickin’ strong Yolanda was. Ginawa nyang joke yung akala kong malakas na Typhoon Uring.

I finally heard from my family on the 4th agonizing day when they managed to walk to the free emergency charging stations and cell sites.

In the aftermath, and if you were living there, it all felt hopeless. Doomsday apocalypse feels talaga.

Rebuilding seemed impossible. But the resilience and bayanihan spirit of our people was unstoppable..

Help poured in from across the country and around the world.

Kahit ako I got swept up with the relief efforts. My classmates and I planned a small relief drop to Leyte, and nag post ako sa wall ko that I’ll be heading there in a small van with relief goods, and I asked who wanted to send support. 

That’s me with the Facebook thumbs-up shirt 

And so naging delivery boy ako. ^_^ 

I went to towns and barangays that weren’t covered by the TV crews and the politicians repacking the donations for their own benefit. 

Even found myself shooting a GoFundMe video for kids who lost their school. (that’s a story for another day)

It was a crazy journey. The money they gave me ran out because the diesel in some parts of the route was sooo expensive. 

We had to camp beside our truck for a couple of days as we were waiting for another round of funds to get to our last destination

Selfie muna sa ilalim ng truck in a secluded spot bago mamigay ng relief goods

I know the photos are all about me, ako kasi may-ari ng phone ko so what else? hehe pero grabe yung bayanihan. So many people worked together, ako lang nag-deliver and nag-photo op. 

Ito yung time na I was a real life Model. Modelever og bugas. I kid you not, may bigas din kasi ako sa truck. ^_^

Hahaha nagamit din yung joke. Pero seryoso, while there was immense suffering, there was also a lot of hope. I realized that there are so many kind people in the world pala.

10 years later, Tac is back, baby!

Although may scars pa din from Yolly's wrath, it’s in much better shape na. Homes and livelihoods have been rebuilt. Children play safely in the streets again. But we will never forget those we lost and the incredible adversity we faced together.

The anniversary of Yolanda reminds me that even when devastating storms upend our lives, we can still find new opportunities if we stay determined. Just as we supported each other after Yolanda, tayo as Freelancers, - - as part of the Work Fun Home Community - - we can band together to uplift and encourage one another. 

Kaya yun lang, I just wanted to write something about it.

On this day, I honor those lost and our ability to start anew. By taking things one day at a time and working together, we can overcome any storm.

Keep swimming, 

Shoden "The Model" San

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