In early November, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, leaving a path of pain and destruction in its wake. The official death toll currently stands at over 5,000, and countless homes, entire villages in fact, were leveled.
Often, when such disasters occur throughout the world, we in our little Fieldston bubble are removed from the travesty. Sure, we see the horrible pictures and videos, and maybe we even donate to the Red Cross in an effort to improve the situation, but our interest rarely goes further. However, the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan has been felt strongly at Fieldston, in large part due to the influence of Gina Apostol, whose hometown of Tacloban was one of the hardest hit by the Typhoon.
Although she only transferred to Fieldston last year, Ms. Apostol, a native Filipino, has had a profound effect on many both in the classroom and in the hallways. As Anya Chen (VI), a leader of the Asian club and a student of Ms. Apostol’s put it: “I love that she never teaches down to us. She believes we can understand difficult literature, and she teaches it in a fun, thought provoking way while simultaneously writing incredible novels. She is my hero. Basically, I want to be her. Also, her style rocks my world. She wins fashion. That is all.” Ms. Apostol’s remarkable ability to engage students has motivated the Fieldston community to rally behind her efforts to aid the Philippines. She has assisted in relief efforts through online work with Kusog Tacloban (Give Strength to Tacloban), an organization created by her sister, a labor consultant whose offices are in Taclobcan.
She also wrote a deeply moving op-ed in the New York Times detailing how it felt to search through the footage of the wreckage looking for familiar faces and places, which truly opened many eyes to the humanity of the typhoon victims.
The Asian Club has supported Ms. Apostol and her country, raising over $1,000 in its first fundraiser, with further fundraising efforts being planned. Currently in the works is a reading of Ms. Apostol’s acclaimed novel, The Gun Dealers’ Daughter. The book was honored with the 2013 PEN Open Book Award, a national award that goes to an author and book that celebrate racial and ethnic diversity. Proceeds of the reading will go to Kusog Tacloban. All students and faculty, those who know Gina Apostol and those who don’t, would learn much from attending and listening to her incredibly moving words.
Ms Apostol has another message for the student body of Fieldston about the changing climate of the world that we live in: “Climate change is a huge issue… the more work students do to be informed about the US government’s stance and programs to mitigate climate change disaster, the better the future might be for all of us, and for people in places like the Philippines. So I am hoping students will make a concerted effort to be aware of what our government is doing for climate change disaster mitigation.”
This sentiment is shared by many, including the Filipino negotiator to the United Nations summit on climate change, who went on a hunger strike in protest of the lack of efforts being made by first world nations to improve the global climate. While fundraising certainly goes a long way toward repairing the destruction of disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan, the only way to prevent them in the future is to educate people to repair the damage wrought by global warming.
Ms. Apostol urges any students or faculty interested in taking a more active role in relief efforts to contact her or work with Howie Waldman and the environmental club on global warming education initiatives.
