My week in pictures...

What started off as a boring week turned out to be one of the most devastating and memorable days of my life.

The first few days of the week, I was bored out of my skull. I was really happy to finally get out of the house and watch Prince Caspian with friends but they are busy with work. Guess I'm the only one with a lot of free time, huh? :(

Anyway, by Friday I was back in UP... not to enroll, mind you. I had to finish teaching those apprentices how to use the ISE with different settings. And I am just glad that I don't have to wait for long hours for the form 5 and other enrollment issues. Yay for being a graduate! Turns out that one of the apprentices had an emergency, one had to finish filing for student loans and I was left with only one apprentice to teach. Wow.

Friday night I watched MMK and cried buckets of tears because of their featured story. I surfed for a while and fell asleep while the laptop was turned on. I woke up around 4am because I suddenly remembered the laptop and quickly turned it off. Then there was a phone call...

It was the most heartbreaking news I've ever heard. Ate Lhet was crying and saying "My house... it's burning..." I was completely shocked. We went there last week and they were still renovating their house. Not only that, they were 6 families living side by side so my 4 other cousins and my uncle were left with nothing. Absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs.

I was so shocked for about 5 minutes and then I asked my mom what do we plan to do. I told her we should get the kids and keep them in the house for the meantime and then she said that those people need food and shelter. I was still in my sleeping attire (meaning tshirt and shorts) and I just changed my pants, got a taxi and rushed over there.

By the time we got there, the firefighters were still trying to control the fire. All their houses, all their things... everything... burned down to the ground. They were not even able to grab slippers because of panic. Thank God that no one was hurt. Some kids suffered a few scratches but nobody was hurt.

I'm super close to my cousins (on my Mom's side) because they've been taking care of me since I've been born. We even lived with them until I turned 1 year old because our house was under construction.

It was so painful to see all of them crying while sharing their stories on how they barely survived and got out of the big fire. The kids were terrified, I was so worried about them. I tried to make the kids eat, but they all refused. Genevel was throwing up because of shock and fear. They were wet and shivering because the firefighters were spraying water all over and they got soaked. Mom asked me to go with Ate Lyn to buy some food from the market for their lunch. Ate Lyn was still crying while we were on our way to the market. :(

After breakfast, Mom and I went back home to gather clothes that they could use. Then we stopped by the terminal because our cousins back in the province were able to send rice, clothes and pillows. Thank God for their speedy reply. As soon as I texted them, they called me and offered their help. :)

We brought the clothes and other supplies to my cousins. Then we gathered some of the kids and brought them home. Right now, they're all sound asleep... which is good because after the incident they were unable to sleep or think about anything else. :(

Another thing is... school starts in a few days. And all of their things... books, uniform, school supplies... everything... gone. :(

Please pray for my cousins... that they may be able to recover soon and get through this hardship together.