A boy saved by the dog during typhoon Yolanda graduated college this year


Marvin Morales and his proud mother Maribeth.
         Salcedo, Eastern Samar – One of the hundreds of community in Eastern Visayas which has been devastated by typhoon Yolanda last 2013 were the coastal brgys of Salcedo Eastern Samar.

         One of which is Brgy Asgad where Marvin Morales, 21 years old and his family lives. Like thousands of Yolanda survivors, this young man has also his own story of survival.

         It was early in the morning when the storm surge hit their village that wiped out their houses and killed 10 of his neighbors including his two siblings.

          He remembered the moment when he lost hope in surviving because of having no strength at all in swimming for him to survive.

        “Wala akong makita noon, nawalan na ako ng lakas ng nagpalutang lutang na ako sa tubig,” Morales said.

          Until such time that he felt that there something moving towards him. He felt that it’s a dog swimming close to him. He grabbed the dog and swim along with him to a floating jeepney until the water had already subsided.

          “Nang umaga na nagulat ako nasa may jeep na ako. Hinanap ko ang aso pero wala na hindi ko na nakita. Ilang buwan muna bago bumalik ang lakas ko kasi parang na trauma ako nung nangyari. Tapos doon ko lang naalala na meron talagang nagligtas sa akin,” Morales added.

         Recently Morales earned his Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science at Eastern Samar State University Salcedo Campus.

       “Laking pasalamat ko sa asong yun, kasi kung hindi wala na ako ngayon at hindi ako makakapagtapos ng pag-aaral ko,” he added.


        Maribeth Valdenor, Morales’ mother opened a sari-sari store to support their daily expenses as well as for the education of her remaining siblings. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The various dialects of Eastern Visayas

Image
This photo was taken during the celebration of Tacloban City fiesta last 2014.  Learning is fun especially if you’re interested in exploring new things that come your way each day. One of my interests is learning on how to speak the various dialects of Eastern Visayas. I traveled a lot in the past few weeks touring around the beautiful places of our region. I never had a travel in my college years. It’s all about waking up in the morning, speaking behind the microphone and studying at night. Since I was a kid, I’ve heard people speaking in “bisaya” and I find it very short but sweet to the ears. I found out that in Eastern Visayas, the inhabitants of some towns and provinces were speaking in “bisaya”. The province of Southern Leyte widely speaks “bisaya” as the place was closer to Central Visayas where large numbers of inhabitants were speaking the same dialect. The word “pangga” is short for “palangga” means “loved” is the sweetest among all words I had ever he
Read more

First Badjao teacher aims to produce more professionals from their tribe

Image
By: Lottie Salarda The pride of Brgy Dolho, Bato Leyte, Jesus Menjani Esmani, the first Badjao teacher in their community, is committed to produce more Badjao professionals by helping his nephews to get education. In his 22 years of working as a high school teacher, Esmani has produced two Electrical Engineers, one graduate of Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Bachelor of Science in Fisheries. Esmani, as the youngest child in the family, witnessed the hardships of his parents raising them by fishing as their means of livelihood. “ If there’s a storm, it means there will no food available for us. It’s so painful to see my family in that kind of situation, so with the encouragement of my high school teachers, and with the help of my siblings, I pursued my studies and dreamed that one day I will have a job,” said Esmani. He sells beauty and food products with his teachers, classmates and friends in school to help sust
Read more

"Labyu langga" one of the best songs ever written

Image
Bar owner Mr. Ruperto and his son performing live at Cafe Ruperto, San Antonio Northern Samar Honestly, ever since, it's been my frustration on not learning easily the bisaya  dialect which people of Central, Western and some other parts of Eastern Visayas speak. When I am in a place of bisaya  people, I listened and almost listed all those words I've heard and study them carefully. This month, we, from the local media together with bloggers and with the Department of Tourism visited the island of San Antonio in Northern Samar. Actually, that visit was not my first time. I was with the Zuellig guy who accompanied me to meet the Municipal Health Officer of the town for our Solar Scholars Program last month. I haven't gone to Cafe Ruperto when I visited the island. The place was perfect in listening to the love songs they sing while the night was covered by thousands of fireflies flying beautifully and peacefully. The owner Mr. Ruperto performed for us as he narrat
Read more