A Year Ago Today

A  year ago today, I was an evacuee.
Excerpts from my post:(click for full post)

"By 1145AM, as soon as we reached Bulua of Cagayan de Oro City, I considered myself and the rest of our GX Team (71) as evacuees. And although I do not know exactly yet how I'm feeling, I do know it doesn't feel very nice and very peaceful."

"Everything is still so surreal and everything seemed so fast. "

"I've been in a similar situation when the pier was bombed 10 minutes after JVP Batch23's arrival in Davao City. But that was my home and there was nowhere to "evacuate." It's a different case this time around, as we are all not from Iligan. And it wasn't just an isolated bombing of one place - there were series of bombings and exchange of gunfire between the rebels and the military in the nearby town."

"If there's a prevailing sadness, and worry, in me, it's for the people in my area/exact community in Robocon, Linamon, Lanao del Norte. They are, once again, caught in the middle of the crossfire. And we thought in our interviews and visits to them, that after the 2000 major armed conflict - they are finally healed and ready to start thinking about sustainable livelihood plans."

"I am an Evacuee; a helpless individual amidst a major peace crisis."

Last week, while I was with about a hundred PNP head officials, with no opportunity to watch the news as we were working until midnight, more than 20 soldiers were killed in the crossfire in Basilan. And although I am not privy on the story behind the all out "war" there, I remain very skeptic if the said combat was necessary. I remain in my stand that Violence can never lead to Peace.

The sad thing is, I think we all are, in one way or another, still "Evacuees amidst the Crisis we are facing." For this is not the country we deserve to live in; this is not the state of life the young generation deserve to grow up in; most of our current government officials are not the leaders we deserve; the disease of graft and corruption reeks in our nation - like diseases that easily spread in evacuation centers etc. etc.

But like an evacuee, we cannot forever be dependent on dole-out relief and donations if we want genuine restoration. We have to go back to our home, Learn How to Rebuild Our Lives and Really Work Hard On it. We work with what we have plus work hard to get what we need in our restoration efforts. We cannot sit on our backs and expect our homes to be rebuilt for us. It just doesn't work that way, We All Know That.