Naga City, Philippines hit by typhoon Nina!

In the midst of settling down to create a Blog post to thank our Seisen families for their generous donations during Carol Night and throughout the December Classroom Coin Drive...happily planning to post holiday greetings shared between St. Raphaela's and Seisen Elementary (below), we sadly learned...

On January 15th, when power and Wifi was restored, that St. Raphaela's had been hit by super typhoon Nina (Nock-ten) over the holidays.

Nina, a category 4 typhoon with wind speeds of 155 mph flattened the homes of 5 students and damaged walls and roofs of other families homes. The roof, ceiling and some windows in the school were damaged as well as the homes of some of the teachers.

Sr. Francia, Head of School shared:

"We were badly affected by the typhoon, it was terribly strong, our convent was flooded inside, some of the windows and part of the roof of the school was destroyed but worst was the destruction to the small houses of our children and also some of our teachers. We have 5 cases - homes totally damaged, nothing left for them and a number of them where roofs and walls are gone."

Ann, Curriculum Coordinator at St. Raphaela's wrote:

"I can't explain the experience, this was the worst typhoon. The wind was so strong and the rain so hard. In school, some of the ceilings were destroyed. But the homes of some of our pupils and teachers were really damaged. I've sent some photos..."

Devastated homes of students from the St. Raphaela Community

Happily, from Seisen's Social Justice Committee's reserve fund, we were able to make an immediate initial contribution which the sisters are using to begin reconstruction efforts. We would like to do much more to help rehouse these students and get the school up and running to full capacity again.

The Elementary House Captains are organising a whole school (K-12) fund-raising dress day on Friday, February 3rd. Students and teachers are encouraged to come to school dressed in red, blue, yellow and / or white, the colors of the the Philippine flag. Further information will be emailed directly to families from the House Captains on Monday, January 30th. The House Captains also plan to set-up iPads at locations throughout the school where members of the Seisen Community can send video greetings and messages solidarity to 

St. Raphaela's.

House Captains meet with Mr. Brittain, Seisen's Communications and Public Relations Coordinator to plan how to communicate the impact of typhoon Nina on St. Raphaela's with students and families at Seisen.