Final Workshop for Disaster Survivors: A 10 year old Student Council President Blows the Roof Off Our Last Workshop in Tacloban

On Saturday afternoon, our final workshop was for 16 members of the JCI Tacloban Chapter.  We held the workshop at their former headquarters that was not too far from the sea.  The headquarters building was now a roofless shell of a building.  We were told that the place was looted after the storm. There was no electricity, so we needed to make sure we got the workshop done before the 6PM sundown.  You could see where walls were and some interior rooms.  There was a rickety series of 2 by 4 boards that were holding up an interior ceiling.  One good shove or wind would bring the whole thing down.  We stayed away from that space for the workshop.  Luckily, there was still a working toilet.  JCI Chapter members brought in a cooler for cold drinks and plastic chairs for the workshop.

I felt it was the perfect place to do the workshop.  It was like the workshop would reclaim the destroyed place for the 20-40 year old business entrepreneurs -- symbolizing a better future beyond Typhoon Haiyan.

It was a Saturday and some of the JCI members who had children brought them along to the workshop.  Kids were going to school on Saturday in the area to make up for the time they missed because of the typhoon.  We had two 10 year old girls who jumped right into our workshop next to their parents.  

One girl was really notable.  Gabi introduced herself to the group in perfect English as the third-grade class president.  She played each exercise to the hilt.

So when we came to the final exercise of workshop she jumped right in.  She improvised a scene with Gabe about a shared memory of traveling to Disneyland together.  All in English! The story started with all the fun they had, a scared Mickey Mouse and then Gabi using a taser to keep the knights who were scaring Mickey Mouse and chasing her and Gabe away.  Gabi brought the house down!

Unfortunately for the workshop, Gabi set the performance bar so high that it frightened the adults to try.  Luckily, Gabe, Dingdong and I tried our persuasive best to encourage the adults to improvise.  One brave woman improvised with me in English, which was is a feat for these people who speak three languages:  Wahri, Tagalong and English.

Gabe tried one more time to get others to improvise.  Gabe told our participants that the number one fear in America is public speaking.  The second is death.  Then Gabe asked Gabi about her public speaking abilities.  She said, “I have been speaking in public my whole life, especially as class president.”  And then Gabe said, “What about the rest of you adults?”.   He got a laugh and no more volunteers.  And we made our point:  You can feel the fear and move into action anyway or not.  At least after the workshop, you know you can have a choice.

After sundown, we were taken to a local home for a home-cooked meal.  Our visiting group of 12 were fed, along with JCI Chapter members.  It was a crowd fed by one of the members who was a caterer.

They did not have electricity, so electric lamps powered by solar cells illuminated the home.  Also, there was no electric fans.  The matriarch instead walked around the house and fanned us with her hand fan.  How hospitable!

I had my first sticky coconut dessert, wrapped in coconut leaves and served with coconut jam.  Yum!  Gabe and Celene loved it so much, they commissioned more to be made for us to take back to Manila.

After the meal, Gabi found me again.  She very formally asked me -- as the third grade president -- if I would come back to the Philippines and visit her school.  The whole dinner party was enchanted by her speech to me, and of course I said yes.  I guess I will be back to the Philippines, at minimum to visit Gabi’s school in Tacloban.

During our Heroic Improvisation workshop, we ask participants to pick one word to summarize what they learned. I took on that challenge myself to describe what I learned in the Super-Typhoon Haiyan locations of Tacloban and Tanauan. On that Saturday night, I failed...I was so overwhelmed with feelings that I couldn't put it into one word. 

Now, I have found the word. And it is a word from the local Warhi language: Tingdog! It means Rise Up! Although the destruction is epic -- even after 112 days after the typhoon -- the people's spirit is strong and resilient. So inspiring to see people moving on in the wake of tragedy with high spirits!