In the midst of war, a small gesture of kindness to ease the pain of those who fled their homes and brought nothing but fear in their hearts, is what a family in the municipality of Balo-i in Lanao del Norte did to the hundreds of Marawi residents who moved to Iligan City due to the clashes between the government troops and a local terror group on May 23.
Offering free food and water to the hungry and weary civilians, H. Salahuddin “Abner” Lope Sulog recalled how he was in tears when he saw distraught people, prompting him to have his wife and 13 children prepare some food for the displaced civilians, Muslim and Christian alike.
At first, the family offered ice water and bread while waiting for the rice and eggs to be cooked. When they ran out of stocks, they resorted to sweet potato.
“Every time na may nabibigyan, umiiyak sila at nagpapasalamat kasi na trapped sila sa traffic ng 8-12 hours, hindi nakapaghapunan, breakfast at lunch. Wala silang mabilhan kasi lahat ng mga tao ay tumatakas palayo sa Marawi,” said Norjannah Sulog, Abner’s seventh daughter.
(Every time we get to give food, they cry and are thankful for what we have offered because they were trapped in a traffic for 8-12 hours without taking in dinner, breakfast and lunch. They could not buy food since all of the people are trying to get out of Marawi.)
Tapping helping hands
On the night of May 24, Norjannah said they called up some relatives in Saudi Arabia to send money for them to continue their relief efforts.
“We started as family lang tapos tumulong na ang mga kapitbahay sa distribution (We started the act as a family then the neighbors started to help in the distribution),” she said.
Abner’s nephew, Amer Riga, posted the family ‘s effort on social media. It became viral and many netizens reached out to the family and offered to donate.
“Sa Facebook post ko nagsimula ang pagdagsa ng tulong. We never expected it and we never ask for any donations. Wala akong ibang intensiyon dun sa post ko, pinakita ko lang na masaya kami na nakatulong ang pamilya namin kahit konti,” Amer said.
(It was in my Facebook post when the help started to pour. We never expected it and we never asked for any donations. I have no other intentions in my post but to show how happy our family is to provide help even in our own little way.)
Everyone can help
Amer travels to Iligan City to get the donations and purchase goods for their relief packs. One relief pack consists of sugar, coffee, noodles, sardines, 2 kilos of rice, 2 kilos of corn flour.
“We hand out our relief packs to evacuees staying with relatives in remote areas of Balo-i,” he said.
Amer further expressed that as long as they receive donations, they will continue extending relief good to the evacuees.
To date, the Sulog family has distributed 1,989 relief packs in six barangays in Balo-i.
“Every individual has the capacity to help others, you don’t have to be rich or poor, old or young, man or woman, you just have to feel in your heart the misery of others and aim to help without any desire of reward or praises from the public and the Almighty Creator will do the unexpected,” Abner said. (APB/PIA-10)
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