Fire Devastation: Cries of Hope

But, what happens when your home is burned down to ashes? For many of us, one of the most important and comfortable places that we can think of is ultimately our home–the house that we lived in. Just like how we are able to do more, do less, or rest well when we are home, we feel happy and calm when we are in our home. It’s a physical place but at the same time, it's the feeling that the home gives to us. With all of the memories you’ve had in your home, what would you feel if your home would be burned down to ashes? What would you do when fire devastation occurs in that one place you call home?

It was supposed to be just another simple and mundane day for me, and just like any other day, I was busy with my assignments in school. Little did I know that on that last day of January, the supposed good morning would turn into devastation for my beloved neighbors. It was a different kind of feeling of sadness and gloom that loomed over my heart when I looked up at the sky that morning. It was dark and the smoke was like a ghost of fire that was determined to engulf everything it can hold off to. The morning was indeed full of dejection and grief for many of us.

In our place, Barangay Linao, in the City of Talisay, many of our close neighbors and relatives suffered from one of the worst devastations that have ever happened in our place. Their homes were burned down: ashes were what they have come to be. They were barely able to save anything, they lost most of their belongings like clothes, appliances, food, and money. They were hopeless and sad because their home–the place where they are most comfortable and at peace is now gone. The fire devastation that happened was something that no one can forget, it will remain in your memory.

I was a witness to their cries. I witness their sorrowful faces. I witness my beloved neighbors as they try their best to save every ounce of clothes, papers, and money they have inside their homes. I can see their sadness take over as they try to mask a brave face in front of the fire that was already eating up their hard-earned houses. Even when I didn’t lose my home, it was as if I could hear them and I could feel the emotions that were taking over their hearts. Some of our neighbors were already crying, and while I was watching them, I too shed some tears. No one is brave enough to mask off the sadness within each other’s hearts. It was too much for us. It was too much for them.

It was not long before Typhoon Odette affected our lives yet here comes another devastation in the face of fire. Some of their houses were recently renovated and fixed because of the typhoon, they spent some of their hard-earned savings yet in just one snap, it was all lost. The beloved place they called home was now over and done with. Gone with the fire, and gone with the wind.

Hope is still there. Despite all of the bad things, what amazes me more is that despite all of this, they still have that hope visible in their eyes. They do not lose hope, they too will get past this challenge in life.

Like what they always say, a home is a place you love till the end, it might not be a physical place, but rather a feeling that the people give: the family that you have. Your family, my family, those people that we love immensely and immeasurably, that is our true home.