This time the purpose of my visit to Leyte was to conduct a project involving Christmas parties for the kids who are victims of Typhoon Yolanda. We hoped that we could provide them with a good time, especially the kids who have been physically or mentally damaged. We hadn't really considered it until we held this project, but the event made smiles not just for the kids, but also their mothers. The event was a hit among both the kids and their mothers. We had around 890 participants. Through this experience I learned that mental care is really important, as well as material care. Especially for those in harsh situations.
__________________
"WELCOME TO Yolanda village". On a hand-made billboard. It's impossible to see those jokes in Japan. Japanese don't have this kind of sense of humor. In Japan, to make jokes about an incident in which many people have died is not allowed.
Even concrete buildings are missing their top half. What kind of thing can grab away a reinforced concrete building? No wonder everything flew, like roofs, humans, cars, and coconut trees, if the wind had such strong power… The sight reminded me of scenes right after a war. Apparently many dead bodies were scattered all around, then they were gathered. But some of them, which hadn’t been found by relatives, were just kept along the streets. Fortunately, I didn't see any this time.
Even now, they don't have electricity yet. The nights are deeply dark, creepy and scary. All you can see is just debris, sometimes the lights of cars. Something is going wrong. It's totally different to the case of the earthquake in the northeast of Japan in 2011.
First of all, the difference is the governments. There is little help from them here. The local residents gather the debris with literally their own hands, and carry it somewhere. I can't believe it. How many years will it take?
But even in this situation, there is no dark atmosphere here like after the earthquake in Japan. Nowhere in the Philippines. In Japan, we have a tacit understanding that we cannot mention about a disaster in a funny way. But here, even this calamity is used as a joke among people all over the Philippines. Even victims are making billboards like "WELCOME TO Yolanda village", as I mentioned before.
______________
I asked myself what can I do using the power of art and design in this situation? Is there any way of helping with art those who primary concerns are about basic needs? Is there any way of helping with art those who are craving clean water, and cover from the rain? But come to think of it, there are a lot of ways to help them. We can focus on good preventative design, and also on good design of facilities for use after disasters occur. For example, good house design to prevent major damage from disasters.
