Medina Devis is a 54 year-old mother to five children. She lives in Purok 5, Barangay San Pedro, Rizal, Occidental Mindoro together with her husband and two children who are still studying.

Both she and her husband are tenant farmers in a farm, planting rice, onion and other crops. During the onslaught of TY Quinta, their crops were damaged by the strong winds and heavy rains.

As an alternative source of income, she sells her collection of various plants to provide for her children’s education. Aside from putting food on their table, a huge part of her worries is the mobile [cellphone] data budget for her children’s online classes. Her children are in college and in senior high school.

Moreover, she is deeply concerned about their safety because they live near a creek. Heavy rains always cause flooding in the area, and their house is not spared. Medina recalls that during the TY Quinta, the water in the creek rapidly increased and reached their house prompting them to evacuate to her child’s house which was relatively the highest place they can stay at the time. After the flood subsided, many of their belongings were damaged. Even their harvested rice was swept away by the flood.

Medina said that their immediate need is food, a flashlight, and maintenance medicine for her hypertension. She is very grateful for projects like the Emergency Relief Assistance by the Southern Tagalog People’s Response Center, Inc. (STPRC) and Citizen’s Disaster Response Center Foundation, Inc. (CDRC) with support from Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH).

“I am very thankful for the relief pack we received. This will tide us over for the next two weeks.”