STEVIE Smith barely let the shock subside before booking a flight to help Super Typhoon Haiyan’s victims in the Philippines.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Her luggage for the trip is made up of a few personal possessions and a large bag of clothes for the children of Bantayan Island.
The distance education university student will fly out of Melbourne at 10am after a very early drive from her Leneva home.
By tomorrow, she hopes to join her fellow Our Connection group members in sourcing drinking water, food and everyday essentials from the mainland.
The last time she was on the central Philippines island in February, she was helping with a project to build homes for 40 poor families.
Soon dubbed The Border Village, it resulted in Miss Smith forging a close bond with the islanders.
The horror of the typhoon that killed an estimated 10,000 people when it slammed into and wiped away towns across the central Philippines hit Miss Smith hard.
“When I first saw the photos I was absolutely devastated,” she said.
“I just couldn’t believe the extent of the damage and I immediately thought of all the kids who we were playing with the last time we were over there.
“But I was very relieved to hear there were no fatalities on the island that we know of so far.”
Flying out so soon after the typhoon hit was an easy decision.
She just wanted to go and help in whatever way she could.
“Because I had already been over there I had built a rapport with a lot of people on the island.”
Miss Smith still does not know where she will be bedding down tonight but that’s of no concern.
“We’ll sort that out when we get over there,” Miss Smith said.
“A lot of the work will be taking supplies to the island from the mainlaind because they’re quite secluded and they’ve got nothing at the moment,” she said.
“I’ve got a big bag of clothing I’m taking over to give to the kids and some of the adults.”
She knows the work she does over the next nine days — she returns home on November 24 — and the clothes she donates appear miniscule within the scale of the typhoon’s absolute destruction.
“We’re only a small group of people helping out one community, but there’s lots of others doing the same thing on the mainland,” she said.
“It’s just great to see so many people helping.”
The only information she has been able to get about the island is from fellow Border resident Daniel Kuzeff, who raised $170,000 last year towards the new homes.
That is 30 per cent of homes were destroyed and 90 per cent without roofs, but the village is still standing.
