Hope amid despair

By JAZMIN BONIFACIO
April 24, 201

BRGY COSTA BRAVA, San Jose, Tacloban City – “I fight ….and I am fighting for my three young children…. that my children may not have to die so young…because of hunger.”

Bonifacio `boning’ Mabag, a 45 yrs old tricycle driver and a father, who lost 5 of his young children, and whose home was destroyed by typhoon Yolanda.

Mabag, was standing among the twisted wreckage of his home as he was interviewed, reliving the terror they felt while 30ft water and strong winds of 387 kph obliterated their neighborhoods and Mabag described how he and his wife and children took refuge.

“I and my wife were inside our house and holding our children”, Mabag recalled.

“We thought we’d die ….GI sheets and debris started slamming on us.” Mabag said.

Five of Mabag’s children died, as they couldn’t get hold anymore the strong winds and current of water as they try to hold on to the floating logs.

“I lost consciousness…. I tried to look for my wife and children….but I know they are just here somewhere,” fighting back tears, Mabag told Samar News.com.

His 38-year-old housewife, Lorna, was then nine months pregnant when the typhoon occurred.

He exclaimed with joy as he spotted his wife and his two children after two days of searching along San Jose area, a coastal village in Tacloban City.

“I thought God just answered one prayer to let me be OK but he answered both of them,” he said, before being led away from the debris with his wife.

Mabag spoke of his desperations as he tried to round up his family after the typhoon hit and his relief when he realized they (his wife and 2 children) were OK.

“Our hearts are broken for the parents that are wondering about the state of other children that have been hit, I know that there are families wondering where their loved ones are”, Mabag said.

Family’s death is one of many tragic stories to emerge from devastation of typhoon Yolanda. It was one of many heartbreaking stories that emerged in the hours after a deadly storm surge ripped through the city of Tacloban with incredible tales of survival.

Rescuers were looking under every single piece of debris for the missing.

More than five months now after the onslaught of typhoon Yolanda in the city, Mabag is determined to fight and he continues to hold on in faith that God is going to take him through this.

He went back pedaling tricycle (pedicab) for transporting goods and people as his means of livelihood.

“I fight ….and I am fighting for my three young children…. that my children may not have to die so young…because of hunger.” Mabag said.