Oxfam’s Jane Beesley met Romeo Rosello (61) at a distribution for hygiene and water kits at Mancilang Baranguy, Madridejos, Bantayan Island, Cebu. As a senior citizen he was fast tracked through the distribution with other senior citizens, women who were pregnant, and those with disabilities. Over 600 families received hygiene and water kits that day. Romeo and his wife Lourdes were revisited on 27 November when they provided feedback on how useful they found the kits.
Oxfam’s Jane Beesley met Romeo Rosello (61) at a distribution for hygiene and water kits at Mancilang Baranguy, Madridejos, Bantayan Island, Cebu. As a senior citizen he was fast tracked through the distribution with other senior citizens, women who were pregnant, and those with disabilities. Over 600 families received hygiene and water kits that day. Romeo and his wife Lourdes were revisited on 27 November when they provided feedback on how useful they found the kits.
Romeo Rosello (61)
When we heard the typhoon was coming we left our home and went to the day care centre. We were told by local officials that it would be safer there. When we came back we found our house was destroyed and all our things were no more.
I couldn’t save anything. All this here is just scraps we’ve managed to find.
I’ve never seen anything like ‘Yolanda’ before in my life. We’ve seen typhoons before but nothing as strong as this. We all thought we were going to die.
We used to work at a corn milling factory but we stopped working there some time ago because we’ve both got health problems. We’ve difficulty with our hands and wrists. Before ‘Yolanda’ I tried to find small jobs, like carrying small goods, anything so we could get by. Now every day is difficult because there are no jobs, or very hard to find, so getting food has been a worry. At the moment we are getting food from the Baranguy (local government) but I don’t know what we’ll do if that stops.
We collect plastic and cans to sell. You get 1.50 Pesos per kilo.
We just have coffee for breakfast and then around 10.30 we have a meal, like today we are cooking rice and sardines and then we’ll eat another meal at night.
Before ‘Yolanda’ we used to buy bottled water from the market but at the moment we are getting it free at the Baranguy.
Now we need to rebuild our home and I’ll just have to try and find work to do that.
On the Hygiene and Water kits (day after distribution)
The hygiene and water kits are a big help to us. We lost most of our things and don’t have money to go to the market to buy anything so everything is useful. There’s nothing that’s not useful! We need it all.
Lourdes Rosello (58)
Before ‘Yolanda’ I just did normal house work jobs like cooking breakfast and cleaning. Now I do the same jobs but it’s a lot harder now. Before life was more comfortable because I had a kitchen. I used to cook using charcoal and now we have to collect wood. With charcoal you could light it and leave it but with wood you have to stay with it as it might set other things on fire. If we’ve more wood we can cook faster but you have to collect a lot of wood for that and we’ve so many things to do that take longer than before.
Cleaning was easier before because everything had its own place. Now we have a few things but they’re all over the place and there is no where to put them. We have this little bit of shelter so there is little space and the rest is in the open so it’s very hard to clean.
We’ve always washed by hand. We collect water from the well behind our house. There are small plastic buckets we use to pull the water up from the bottom of the well. Romeo does most of the washing now because of the problem I have with my wrists and hands. Since ‘Yolanda’ we have had a lot more washing because any clothes we had left were wet through and muddy. Before ‘Yolanda’ we had a bathroom but now I wash at the well. It’s hard I keep all my clothes on because there is no privacy.
Before I used to go to the market to buy food but at the moment we are relying on relief goods as we have no money to buy our own food. If we had any money we would use it to buy materials to rebuild our home.
We are having the same meals as before…coffee for breakfast, a meal mid morning and at the end of the day. If we had money we used buy bread or corn grits. Corn grits to make porridge. A bag of corn grits costs 20 Pesos a kilo and lasts 2 days.
Because our house has gone it’s really crowded at night when we are sleeping and there are a lot more mosquitoes. They’re biting all night and it’s difficult to sleep. (NB. The household includes their two daughters and grandson).
27 Nov Day after the distribution
Lourdes comments
We’ve already used a lot of the items. Last night we used the mats and blanket because ours had been lost because of ‘Yolanda’. And the mosquito nets because we have a lot of mosquitoes so we had a more comfortable night last night!
On the Jerrry can and Hyposol
We are filling the jerry can with purified water. We are doing that for our grandson because we don’t want him to be sick. If it was just us we would collect water and use the Hyposol (a chemical to treat water). The water in the well behind us is salty so Romeo goes to another well and fills up some small plastic bottles (some of the bottles don’t have lids). It’s about a 15 minute walk. I don’t like the smell and taste of Hyposol. We’ve used it in the past when we’ve had no money to buy water. To make it drinkable we used to buy ice at 2 Pesos but because there is no electricity we can’t do that. If there is no other source of water Romeo is happy to drink the salty water. Now my grandson and I are drinking the mineral water and Romeo is drinking the water from the well.
Romeo comments
Our immediate need is to rebuild our house. We’ve been given 10 corrugated sheets, hammer and a saw from another organisation. We can’t use them yet because we need to buy 6 wooden posts first. They cost 350 Pesos each. Then we need to get some ‘diamond’ bamboo sheets for walls. They’re 6ft x 4 ft and cost 180 per sheet. We only have some old plastic sheeting for a roof and it’s not good. It leaks when it rains and is very noisy when it’s windy.
Feedback on the distribution
It was really good. I had quick access because I’m a senior citizen so we received the kits first. It was a bit crowded outside so that was a problem for the people waiting a long time in the heat. Though it was good there was water. Inside it was well organised and people could shelter under taupling sheets.
My plan for the future is to rebuild if we can get materials if no materials we will just have to wait.
Hygiene Kits contents
x2 blankets
x2 sleeping mats,
x2 sarongs,
x2 mosquito nets,
x3 men’s underwear,
x3 women’s underwear,
x3 girl’s underwear,
x3 boy’s underwear,
x1 toothpaste,
x5 toothbrushes,
x2 bed sheets,
x4 laundry soap,
x3 regular soap
Water kits contents
x1 jerry can,
x1 hyposol for disinfecting drinking water
