Rain Love on Leyte and beyond

New York, New York. It's been 12 days since typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda raped the Philippines. The eyes of the entire world are now focused on an archipelago that has always been too hospitable to storms of massive destruction. And the Filipino is in the spotlight, both as the helpless and the helpful, as the victim and the savior.

As the world comprehends the nature and the consequences of this natural anomaly - of a climate in such total imbalance, that a land mass inhabited by over 10 million people be close to eradicated from maps from this point onward - we fill the gaps of our knowledge with a world-record tilt toward compassion. This is what I take away from the flood - of photos, articles, TV coverage, status updates, links, likes, comments and all other vessels of information about this disaster. What is to go down in history as the worst day of the country is slowly being rewritten as the day following the days in which the country and its neighbors become better. In a place made barren by the forces of nature, the forces of men came for their fellowmen. And we were there for each other, the way we often forget to be.

Rain Love on Manila is a grass-roots initiative that was meant to respond to the typhoon disaster in 2009. But every year, because the Philippines receives an average of 19 typhoons annually, Rain Love on Manila resurfaces to do what we can - either tell our story to more people, or find a way to send basic needs to those in need, or connect with others on a message of hope.

For Yolanda, Rain Love on Manila chooses to resume efforts quietly, which means that our aim is simply to gather and send relief from different places in the world back to the Philippines, where it hurts the most.

In NYC, we are:
1) gathering in-kind donations, for sending through LBC to either LBC Foundation or the Philippine National Red Cross
2) asking for monetary donations, for wire-delivering to the Philippine National Red Cross
3) driving people to donate through other means and charities like World Vision, etc.
4) selling Rain Love on Manila shirts and other limited-edition Filipino-designed graphic shirts, with 100% of the sale going to the Philippine National Red Cross

In LA, we are:
1) gathering in-kind donations, for sending through LBC to either LBC Foundation or the Philippine National Red Cross

In the UK, we are:
1) gathering in-kind donations, for sending through LBC to either LBC Foundation or the Philippine National Red Cross

Please watch this blog for other updates.

We urge you to send us your ideas on how else to provide disaster relief despite the distance, or to send us your comments and inquiries on how to help by emailing rainloveonmanila@yahoo.com.