Good morning, readers! How is everybody today. If you have been watching the news at all over the past week or so, you are well aware that the Philippines has been hit hard by a super typhoon. Yolanda, also known as Haiyan dealt a devastating blow to the Central Philippines. Many people were killed, and property was not only destroyed, it was pretty much wiped out in the affected areas.
If you have been a long time LiP reader, you might remember a fellow named Rusty Ferguson. Rusty used to write here on this site a number of years ago. He also has had a number of sites of his own as well. Rusty is an American who has been living in Bogo, in Northern Cebu. At one point, back in 2009 I believe, I made a trip up to Cebu, and I went to Bogo for a couple of days and visited Rusty. Rusty and I share a number of traits, and I felt like we hit it off during my visit and remain friends. We don’t always stay in contact as much as we probably should, but I consider Rusty a friend.
When Yolanda hit last week, I was concerned about Rusty, because I had heard that Bogo, and most of Northern Cebu took a big hit from Yolanda. After the storm hit, it took several days before Rusty was able to get online, and that raised my worry even more. But, finally he posted on some of the social networks and I knew he was OK. Well, physically he is OK, but the typhoon really played a number of lessons on him, and put him in a lot of inconvenience. For one thing, his area is without power, and it has been said that the area may have no electricity for up to 3 months (some are saying 1 month, but that is still a long time to live without electricity).
When Rusty posted on Google+ and Facebook over the weekend, he said that he had retreated from Bogo and was able to make it to Cebu City. He said he was staying at a Pension House in Cebu, but was not sure how long his finances would hold out and allow him to stay there. He said that he may have to go back to Bogo and rough it out there. Rusty has lupus, and has experienced numerous health issues over the years. I was pretty concerned about Rusty, his health and the possible living conditions he was facing.
I decided that I wanted to help Rusty out a bit, so I sent him some cash to help him stay a bit longer in Cebu, and I also made him an offer that would help him more. Rusty accepted my offer, and I want to lay it out for you too. My offer I made to Rusty was will allow you to extend a bit of assistance to Rusty as well, if you are so inclined. It will also allow you to extend support to the tens of thousands of victims of the typhoon who live in the Visayas region of the Philippines.
Here is what I am doing.
- During the coming weeks, as long as Rusty is in an “emergency situation” due to the affects of the storm, Rusty will be writing a few articles here on LiP to document his typhoon experience, the recovery, basically just what he sees and experiences living in the typhoon affected area of the Visayas.
- During this time, Rusty will be selling his book “Expat Training Manual” through my bookstore (in addition to his regular distribution channels). For any copies of Rusty’s book that you purchase through my bookstore, 100% of the revenues will go to Rusty. I will not take anything from the sale of his book through my bookstore. Thus, any purchases you make will go directly toward helping Rusty through this challenging time, the extra expenses he is facing, etc.
- Also, during the next few weeks, if you purchase any other items from my bookstore, regardless of who the author is, if you use the coupon code: “HelpRusty” (remove the quotation marks), Rusty will get 25% of the purchase price. So, even if you purchase my books or other materials, as long as you enter that coupon code, Rusty will get 25% of the sale.
- Alternatively, if you purchase any items from my bookstore, if you with the assistance to go to the typhoon victims instead of Rusty, enter the coupon code “Yolanda” (again, remove the quotation marks), 25% of the sale will be donated to the Philippine Red Cross for them to distribute to victims of Typhoon Yolanda.
I have personally already made donations to the cause from my personal funds. I am extending you an opportunity to get a book that you might want and also extend your assistance. This gives you a chance to help an American here in the Philippines, Rusty, or extend help to Filipino victims through the red cross.
Good luck to you, Rusty, and to all victims of Yolanda. My heart goes out to each and every one of them!
Good job Bob its times like this we all need to come together. My wifes dads side of the family has lost everything. A few of them were able to get on the C-130’s to Manila. I work in a office with mostly Filippinos. This friday they are having cook out and all the money made will go to the Philippines.
Hi Nathan – I hope that your co-workers raise a pile of money! The victims in the Visayas need help badly, as you already know. Very sorry to hear of the loss in your family!
Hi Bob,
Sorry to hear about Rusty. I remember reading his articles. I know if I make a donation through you or ” LIP “, it will get to where it is intended. All of it.
Thank you, Bob, I appreciate your assistance for Rusty. Several people have already purchased books with proceeds going to Rusty, so I am happy to see that the LiP community is supporting him in his time of need.
Great thing you are doing Bob. I also have Lupus and it is an ugly condition that requires a good environment to keep it from rearing it’s ugly head. Stress also needs to be kept to a minimum with Lupus. Rusty is a trooper and I also wish him well. Today I am going shopping using the donations I have received on my site from overseas and will be sending those goods up to Tacloban hopefully by tomorrow.
Thanks, Corey, and good luck with your relief efforts. Any assistance that can be sent is badly needed for sure.
Bob,
I am also wondering what has happened to Reekay at Lifebeyondthesea.com and also Our friend from texas UJ over at Texaninthephilippines.com
Watching the news here in San Francisco this is STILL top of the broadcast stuff six days in, and they did show a flyover shot of Calbayog Samar where UJ lives that looks as bad or worse than the constant video of Tacloban. have you heard from ether of them?
As an FYI all of our relatives are accounted for and A-OK. I also got word that one of my nephews that is stationed at Okinawa is on site with the US Marines running supplies back and forth with V22 Ospreys.
Hi Joe, I saw Henry posting on Facebook, so it looks like he is OK. I have not heard anything from UJ, I hope he is alright.
Joe, Bob
Randy Landis who lives in Calbayog is doing alright. They just don’t have power, maybe for a month and parttime running water.
Bob:
Kudos for being a helping person.
I have sent to the family there as I could and also to a large organization but if I am able to do more I would rather do it through you because of the confidence I have that it will go where it is supposed to go.
I have seen a time of hardship and sorrow allow something stronger to emerge and I hope that can happen.
Also, if you get a time to let us know when you will be doing the Christmas project we were hoping to be able to participate in some way if work permits.
Best wishes, thoughts, and prayers to and for all there.
LeRoy
Hi LeRoy – I’ll be announcing something for Christmas pretty soon, it’s getting to be that time of year! If you can participate in that, it sure would be great!
Thanks for the updates Bob. I’ve been wondering how some of the LiP folks have fared.
Take care,
Pete
You are most welcome, Pete! It seems like the LiP family has ridden out this storm mostly intact.
Hi Bob. Good that you are trying to help. We are offering Rusty a place to stay inside our compound in Consolacion. Our gatehouse has a second floor when he can stay for free for 2 months. He has to pay for power and water, and get himself some simple furniture, that’s all. Let him email me if he is ready to leave Cebu City. There is a new SM nearby.
Hi Joop – I have passed this along to Rusty. Internet is spotty for him, so I hope he gets it tonight. He will contact you directly. What a wonderful and generous offer! You have shown great generosity!
Hi Bob,
I have also offered the main house to an International Disaster response team for a few months.
At this time we all have to do what we can.
Looking forward to hear from him. Is he alone or will he bring a wife/gf with him. There might be room for another desperate expat as well.
joop
Joop, you are a good man!
Rusty has a long time girlfriend, and I would expect that he would be with her.
They are both welcome. Good that he’s not alone. He will have good company in the Main house too. An NGO called Disaster TechLab has taken up my offer to set up HQ there. They have tons of portable communications and internet connectivity equipment with them. They will arrive next week. For the moment I keep the ground floor of the gatehouse free for my brod-in-law from Maya, in case he would want to come to the food rather than waiting for the food to come to him. These are testing times.
We must all do our part. I finally made my move to Cebu in October and it sure has been an awakening. I am living in the Movenpic on Mactan, a large concrete tower with back up generation. So I am OK, but that was scary for a guy from the Midwest. Much of Cebu lost power and water, so I ended up moving my girlfriend’s kids and family to my condo until power and water was restored in their home. There is some property damage, but small stuff to what we are seeing in the news with Tacloban and others. We decided to channel food and money through our church and school here. I see an incredible outpouring of help. No matter where you are folks, you can help; even a small amount is enough…
Hi John – What a welcome you got to Cebu! Earthquake followed by a super typhoon! Hang in there, things will normalize, I’m sure of that!
Bob,
You and Mrs Feyma and Family always step forward when there is a time of need. You are such a great example for other people to follow. I’m just so heartbroken as I watch the devastation and human suffering on TV. My father in Ohio said he donated through Catholic Relief Services there and they receiving a lot of donations at his church.
Hi PapaDuck – We always like to help when we can, it just makes us feel good, and helping others is always a good thing to do!
Bob,
My wife and I are within 5 years of moving the Legaspi City area and I have been waiting to pull the trigger on purchasing your books. But when I seen that you were helping a friend with the proceeds of you sales, I had to take advantage of that. So I just ordered your Ph-Pro All-in Package and put “HelpRusty”(without quotations) in the coupon, to help Rusty in this time of need.
I have also started a campaign to help families in Tacloban. We have several friends here in the States that still haven’t heard from their loved ones, but when they do, we want to eventually send them some money to help them or their neighbors rebuild. We are taking donations at http://gogetfunding.com/project/donations-for-tacloban to raise money to help the loved ones of our friends here.
So many people donate to the Red Cross, United Way or other organizations who have overhead within their organization and the people who deserve the donation only gets a small portion of each dollar you donate to them. It is sad that these organizations pay their CEOs large yearly bonuses with the money that was donated to help victims of tragedies.
My wife and I can not help everyone by ourselves, so we are asking for anyone who can help to donate to our page. We are not limiting our distributions to just our friends families, if enough donations come in, we are willing to help more families who also need help. We are not asking for nothing in return and the only cost is the cost of the site and money transfer to the Philippines.
Thanks,
Thom
Thom – Thank you for your purchase, I hope you enjoy the books! I have already sent along some money to Rusty. You and many others supported the cause in the past 24 hours by purchasing some books, and one person just sent money without buying anything. I thank you all, and I know that Rusty does too!
Good luck on your potential move, Thom. Any time that I can assist you, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Hi Folks, I’ve been trying to get by here for days. I’m okay but geesh, what a major pain it has been.
Yet every time I complain, I think I have no right. Jessie my girl is from Tacloban and for three or four days we couldn’t find out if her son of about 10 was alive or not. I will say that by the time we did finally found out he was okay, I had all but given up on him. My nerves were gone from that search and from all that is going on around me. What is going on in Tacloban is far worse than what is being reported on the news. Jessie did loose at least three family members and I think one is still missing. I’m not sure.
Jessie has returned home to Bogo City to get more things but I still don’t know if I can stay here. Someone has offered an unfurnished apartment and sleeping on the floor with a fan is far better than returning to Bogo City with no power at all.
I thought I’d tough it out there but the second night after the storm very difficult. If you know Filipinos they don’t complain much but even Jessie complained when she went home last night. Not even a fan makes it very hard.
Bogo is now saying that it will have power back in a month due to some manpower coming from Davao. I don’t think it will be done that fast. They do have power in Sogood now. Not sure I spelled that town right. Even that surprised me but they were on the edge of the impact area. Were not hit anything like Bogo City
I’m going to write a story soon here and on my site. Might start on it today. I have no right to complain. Maybe i have some minor form of survivors guilt going on. Some have said I do. I feel like I have it so easy compared to those in Tacloban or even the Filipinos in Bogo City that can do nothing but sit there and sweat. They are tough and strong people but even many of them are having some problems dealing with this.
Two or three very old people died in Bogo City with the official cause of death being hypothermia. That just broke my heart. I can’t offer much help to others but I could have helped them.
I better shut up for now or I’ll have nothing to write about. If you want to reach me, the best place is on Twitter at @Flirtilizer. So far I haven’t been able to get online as much. I’m at a cafe now.
Running out of cash, so I may be back in Bogo City soon with no hope of getting online.
Hi Rusty, did you get the information I sent you? Joop is offering you a free place to stay in Cebu for 2 months. I also sent you some money today for book dales and donations. Hopefully this will allow you to remain in Cebu.
One thing that has amazed me is that during this, a jerk has been attacking my websites. He likes to do it when I’m not home. I know who it is and I would name him but I don’t want to put Bob in a bad spot. As for me, I’m naming him now. I’ve tried for six years to ignore this psychopath but no more. When I get this mess cleared up, he will become my mission in life. He attacked my website on the wrong day and I can barely control my language. It was the same day I had given up Jermain, Jessie’s son for dead. Days later and my blood is still boiling over. I’ve been patient far too long.
He’s also been attacking me on G+ and that’s how I tracked him down. I had so long ago forgot about this jerk. RW get a shrink dude, you are seriously ill.
Rusty, I would truly prefer if you would reserve this part of the conservation for your own site. Thanks.
I’m in an internet cafe at the moment and my nerves are shot. The next kid that screams out my die. haha
Was about to start writing but have to meet Jessie at the hotel, she is returning from Bogo City
Rusty – Good to hear the you’re 10 year old relative survived. The devastation from the storm is wild.
Bob,
Your are so very kind and generous with your offer to help Rusty. You set an example for all of us and although we are giving help to people with cash and goods directly through our church, I will look at your products and services in the future with a new positive perspective.
Thank you from so many of us…..
Paul M
Thanks, Paul. Well, I don’t think that I am doing anything that most people wouldn’t do. I appreciate your kind words though.