Julita Nuñez, 62 years old, is an elderly living in Barangay Maguiting in the municipality of San Narciso in Quezon Province. She lives with her two grandchildren and makes a living from tingting (broom made from palm leaf midribs) and a kaingin (slash-and-burn) farm. She makes tingting until two to three in the morning and sells five pieces a day for only PhP16 each. She uses the money to buy food and other needs.

Sadly, however, the consecutive typhoons caused flooding that swept their kaingin and left them with no harvest. Worse, Julita’s son, could not go to his work at a construction site because he is afraid he might catch COVID-19. When asked about their situation, she replied that it would be nice if someone could help them with their livelihood because they are at a very challenging time of their life. Julita admits their life at present is isang kahig, isang tuka (hand to mouth). They could no longer buy fish and can only afford vegetables.

Julita expresses her warm thanks for being selected as one of the recipients of the emergency relief assistance. She said it came at a time when they were already short on food and supplies and desperate for external help.

“I could not thank you enough. This is a tremendous help for me and my family,” Julita tearfully said.

A total of six barangays from two municipalities benefited from this project. The recipients were from the vulnerable sectors: senior citizens, farmers, fishermen, and those with partially and totally damaged houses. The project is an emergency response assistance to Typhoon Rolly-affected communities in Quezon Province. This was made possible by the generous support of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH), a German humanitarian organization.