“Invitation of Ode to Odette” COPYRIGHT BY HALO-HALO
GERMANY
An Ode to Odette
T
Text by John Rüth, Kerstin Dopp-Rexrodt and Ralph Chan
he ninth typhoon “Odette”, also known as “Rai”, hit the Philippines on December 16, 2021. The natural disaster had an enormous impact: around 2.5-3.5 million Kababayans were affected. The most devastated areas were Siargao Island, Dinagat, Surigao City, Southern Leyte, Eastern Bohol, Cebu, Negros, Palawan and other parts of the Visayas and Mindanao. Many Filipinos outside the country were not able to get in touch with their families and friends for days, since the local infrastructure, including electricity and phone lines, had been destroyed. Images and videos showing the devastation and destruction were only slowly appearing on social media. Many of us Filipinos abroad tried to get in touch with our families and friends on the different islands but couldn’t. We were concerned about the situation! This was also true for the members of Halo-Halo, Henerasyon 2.0 and NOI-P who have families and friends in the Philippines. Halo-Halo is a network of people with predominantly German-Filipino, Austrian-Filipino and Swiss-Filipino background who meet regularly and deal with various topics relating to Filipinos, the Philippines and Filipino culture and society. Halo-Halo emerged in early 2021
Roots&Wings
Public Service
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