All Hands at World Vision’s Relief Packing Centre
by Martin Nanawa

Volunteers came together to help put together relief packs for the survivors of Typhoon Ketsana. Photo by Juan Miguel Lago, World Vision Philippines.

"I'm going to help some people,” five year-old Neril shares as she stares down a long line of volunteers, queueing at multiple stations in an assembly line that ends in the preparation of a sack load of relief goods.

Young Neril is one of more than 300 volunteers who have come forward to offer assistance in the preparation of relief packs for Typhoon Ketsana survivors at the World Vision Philippines Office.

Flattening empty cartons, which was Neril’s role, may seem a simple task, but due to the sheer volume of the goods which had arrived in truckloads, the whole World Vision was soon cluttered with empty boxes ready to be filled with relief items.

After a brief but practical orientation, each volunteer managed a station in the relief pack’s assembly line. Many man these stations for hours.

“I found it really interesting how getting everyone to work on it, we were able to accomplish a lot,” Manuel, a 16-year old high school junior shares. Manuel volunteered at the World Vision relief drive along with his mother and three siblings. Manuel’s family attended World Vision’s disaster response volunteer training conducted at their church last year, and were ready to assist when the call for volunteers went out.

At another station in the assembly line, Melanie, 19, her mother and younger sister formed a short segment queue, folding small sacks of laundry supplies into larger packs.

They also brought a donation of clothes for affected families. “I’m glad to help,” Melanie says in Filipino. “If classes don’t resume this week, I’ll gladly help all week,” she adds.

On Wednesday (30 September), the first batch of relief packs was delivered to an evacuation centre in Marikina City.

Each World Vision relief pack, funded by generous donors and packed by loving volunteers, is filled with essential supplies and consumables that will last victims for several days.

With affected families amounting in the thousands, it will take much work to prepare enough relief packs, but with every bit of help from volunteers like Neril, Manuel and Melanie who give of their time and effort, this challenge doesn’t seem half as daunting.