After Typhoon Ketsana struck several Asian countries in September, killing hundreds and causing billions of dollars worth of damage, members of PINOY, Wesleyan’s Filipino Awareness Club, began preparing fundraising efforts. On Saturday night, in the midst of Homecoming Weekend, the group held its first fundraising dinner.
The worst storm many countries had seen in over 40 years, Ketsana hit the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, China, and Thailand, causing extensive infrastructural, agricultural, and humanitarian damage.
“A lot of people have been comparing Typhoon Ketsana to Hurricane Katrina,” wrote PINOY member Bea Paterno ’11 in an e-mail to The Argus. “But in a developing nation, subject to an extremely corrupt government with a ridiculously short-term sensibility when it comes to disaster management, it’s almost scary to think about how long it will take us to recover. Our government has hardly been able to provide properly for those people who need it, nor were they prepared beforehand despite seeing strong typhoons hit year after year.”
PINOY members cooked traditional Filipino dishes to serve in Shapiro Creative Writing Center’s event room in Allbritton. The meal cost students $4 and visitors $8. The tables of Allbritton filled quickly and guests watched a presentation about a recent trip Paterno took to the Phillipines. The event raised over $200.
“I was really happy with the turnout,” Paterno said. “It was a fairly small space but we were able to fill all the tables, and since it was Parents Weekend we got some great contributions.”
Directly after the typhoon hit, Scarlett Feliz ’10 started a dorm clothing drive. Feliz, a Residential Advisor not affiliated with PINOY, suggested getting in touch with Residential Life to have dorms and houses put out requests for clothing donations. Members of PINOY then collected the clothing and Paterno delivered the clothes to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, during her visit.
“I went home mainly because I had such an emotional reaction to the typhoon,” Paterno said. “Although my trip was very tough and trying, I believe I have come back wanting to do more. I will continue to help in planning and going through with any events we host in the future.”
PINOY members chose to focus their efforts on certain types of relief in order to make their fundraising efforts more efficient.
“There are two types of relief: immediate, with clothes and food gathered for people trapped, and long-term, like assistance rebuilding and reconstructing,” said Carlos Francisco ’11, PINOY’s treasurer. “This semester we’re focusing on being part of the immediate relief with the clothes and the benefit dinner.”
Many members of PINOY had friends and family directly affected by the winds or the flooding.
“My dad called me as soon as the storm hit to tell me that everyone was fine, although the military had to come in to my sister’s school to get the kids out of there,” Paterno recalled. “He actually called to warn me against looking up what was happening on the news because the storm had absolutely devastated Manila, where I’m from. The images shocked me. My childhood nanny lost everything and was living in a temporary relief shelter with her children… I was absolutely heartbroken.”
Francisco also had family members living in typhoon-hit areas.
“The first floor of my grandmother’s house was entirely flooded,” he said. “Friends back home knew people missing and college students were told to stay on campus.”
Students interested in assisting with PINOY’s efforts can contact Paterno at bpaterno@wesleyan.edu or join the PINOY listserv, pinoy@lyris.wesleyan.edu.
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