The large inflatable slide at the Christmas party was a big hit*
Even while sirens and warnings of a possible third eruption at the nearby restive Kanlaon Volcano continued, more than 200 children of families who have been evacuated to the lowlands in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, were treated to a party on Christmas Day.
The party was held at the La Castellana National High School evacuation center in two batches – one in the morning and another in the afternoon because of the huge number of evacuees, by the Bacolod-based Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation.
The children took turns romping and bouncing on a large inflatable slide, danced and played games directed by a party host and were treated to different food stations which served cotton candy, hotdogs on sticks, popcorn, pancakes and fries.
NVC’s signature Mingo Meals which are made of rice, monggo and malunggay that has become a convenient go-to for children in disaster relief situations, were also served and topped with marshmallows to complement the party atmosphere.
“We opted to serve party food from the quick-cook stations because the LGU does not allow pre-cooked food brought on site, like spaghetti which would have been great for a children’s party, for safety reasons. Thus we needed to be creative and find an interesting but safe solution to the party food requirements,” Millie Kilayko, NVC’s president, said.
“It ended up to be a happy solution because most of the food contractors were locals who needed added business. The person hired by the popcorn supplier, for example, was an evacuee himself”, she said.
The organizers entertained the children with games and later, when the mothers asked to join, too, the team obliged by crafting on the spot activities for them.
NVC had been, in the past, organizing children’s activities in disaster relief centers and these have included inviting skilled volunteers to conduct psycho-therapy for children who had undergone crisis challenges.
The foundation’s Christmas Day team was composed of employees and volunteers who gave up their personal celebrations
NVC Foundation has been active in the disaster relief operations during the volacano’s two eruptions this year.
“We were in the evacuation sites within a few hours of both explosions. In fact, there were occasions when we were ready to serve Mingo even while the evacuees were just on their way to the center,” Kilayko said.
“Mingo had been present for children in disaster relief areas as for north as Bicol and Taal and as far south as Zamboanga and Marawi, so it would have been unforgivable if we weren’t around for our home province”, she said.
NVC has innovated a “supermarket system” of distributing food and hygiene supplies in evacuation centers by bringing the wholesale cartons to the site and allowing the recipients to choose their requirements from the supply.
“This saves us at least a day of repacking at the same time, provides the recipient with the dignity of choice. Many people are surprised how orderly this system has turned out to be when the expected response could have been chaotic, but sometimes, all you need really is just to empower the recipients and they step up”, Kilayko said.
Kilayko said her organization intends to shift their focus to children now that the provincial government of Negros Occidental has commenced the operation of mobile kitchens to prepare food for the evacuees and the Department of Social Welfare’s provision of family food packs are sufficiently distributed.*