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I wanted to share a story.

Wednesday night, 8 Feb it rained. It was the most significant rain we have had since I arrived in December, beginning around dusk and escalating to a downpour around 7:00pm. The All Hands volunteers had concluded their day of work, they had showered after the toils of the day, and the nightly meeting had been conducted as dinner was finished. The rain was so hard and prolonged that it was difficult to speak over. A core group of volunteers and staff made their way the 300 meters from our base to the “tent city” where the Typhoon Sendong survivors are located in order to assess the conditions caused by the downpour. The lead team found flooded tents and families scrambling to create makeshift drainage canals. One of the team came back to announce “the tents are flooding and we need to help.”

It was beautiful to witness. The All Hands volunteers who had worked all day, showered, were enjoying dinner, and their evening – stood up and donned their wellies and muddy clothes, grabbed their headlamps and a shovel and walked to the “tent city.” We spent the next 2.5 hours routing puddled water, clearing plugged canals, and working with the families to create much needed drainage around the tents that are now “home” for the Sendong survivors . From the All Hands volunteers there was no hesitation, no whining, no “but, I finished my work for the day.” A need was present, we were able and had the tools, and we went to work to address the need of our neighbors. Simple.

The residents worked with us, laughed with us, and took photos with us as we shared our soggy Wednesday evening together in Cala’anan, Cagayan De Oro.

Sometimes, it is miraculous.

G’night

Marc

Volunteering is Beautiful to Witness

Posted on 02/09/12 9 Comments
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4 Comments

  1. Aaron says:
    Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 8:56am

    Anyone who’s come to or supported projects in the past won’t be surprised at volunteers’ ability to drop everything and help in any way needed. That’s why they’re there in the first place. Absolutely wonderful to hear this. Let’s see some photos!

  2. Julie from Palo says:
    Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 3:54pm

    This gave me goosebumps! So proud of All Hands … like always!

  3. terri says:
    Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 12:03pm

    Marc I love this story, thanks so much for sharing! I only wish I had a tissue when I started reading.

  4. chris says:
    Friday, March 2, 2012 at 10:52am

    great job! I know how tough it is with just a normal day, but to go back out again…good on ya.

5 Trackbacks

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  3. By Getting My Daily Dose of Inspiration as a Volunteer on March 6, 2012 at 10:23 pm

    [...] work for the day is done and everyone has had a shower and is relaxing, if a job needs doing (like shoveling out the gutters in the tent city during a rain storm, or unloading 4,000 ceramic toilets from two shipping containers) it gets done [...]

  4. By Getting My Daily Dose of Inspiration as a Volunteer on March 6, 2012 at 10:23 pm

    [...] work for the day is done and everyone has had a shower and is relaxing, if a job needs doing (like shoveling out the gutters in the tent city during a rain storm, or unloading 4,000 ceramic toilets from two shipping containers) it gets done [...]

  5. By one. kind. thing. - All Hands on Deck on May 13, 2012 at 3:05 pm

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