On Saturday, June 23, we left at 2 AM and drove 2 hours south to ride a ferry to Dumaguete. People and vehicles of varied sizes (motorcycle to 18 wheelers) rode. After eating breakfast at Jollibee's (Filipino McDonald's-type restaurant), we took a very rough 3 hour van ride north to La Libertad. We were to visit a tent city that was created because residents had been displaced by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake and resulting rockslide that buried their village in February. A mountainside destroyed the village and the church. The location essentially is a mass grave as most who perished could not be found. We met a 28 year old man who lost 2 children, his wife, both parents, and a grandmother in the catastrophe. Two of his children survived. Caring for his 3 year old daughter makes working nearly impossible. We spent some time encouraging this young man and we were able to pray with him and leaving a love offering.
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| Boarding the mother ship. This is the ferry we took to Negros. |
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| I took this shot off the stern. This is the view to east of Cebu as we were leaving for Negros. None of us noticed the cross reflection of the sun on the Philippines Sea. I thought this was stunning shot! |
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| I had hotcakes and coffee at Jolibee |
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| The team minus Steve Beevers at the Port of Dumaguete |
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| These bridge near the epicenter is still out. The other bridges have been "repaired" for one lane of traffic at a time. It was a rough trip physically. |
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| La Libertad land slide. The back side of these mountain sheared of just as the front side did. A church was destroyed on the back of the mountain and a village on the front. |
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| Martial law is in place by the Philippine Army to keep order in the tent city. |
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| Survivors have set up a make shift market place |
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| The man in yellow lost 6 family members in the disaster |
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| People are resilient and have begun growing small gardens next to their tents |
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| We went away sad that we could not do more to help the people here. |
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