-
Sheila B. Catedral, 23 years
Iloilo City, PhilippinesSheila is from Dungon B, Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines. She is a registered nurse.
She has been actively engaged in environmental projects since her time in college. She is especially interested in climate change and wants to share the story of how climate change is affecting her country.
Global warming is a myth!
Or so I thought. A date - 21 June 2008 - is firmly etched on my mind, and my thinking has changed. It had been raining incessantly for almost two days and warnings of Storm Signal No. 3 had been announced over the crackling
radio. Telephone and electricity lines went down but still there was no cause for alarm. After all, the Philippines is no stranger to typhoons. After having lived in Iloilo my whole life, I am used to them.But this typhoon, known internationally as Fengshen, and locally as Frank, was different. At around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a torrent of water flowed down the road and into our house. We tried to move all our belongings, especially food, to higher ground, but the water moved faster than we could. We sat out the storm in the relative safety of the attic. Nervously, we prayed as we had never prayed before.
Next -
