PALO, Leyte, Oct. 25 (PNA) — Nearly a year after super typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) hit the Eastern Visayas region, residents of San Joaquin village in this town reminisced the 67 learners and a teacher who perished during the disaster.
Tacloban Korean Methodist Church Pastor Victor Sang Yong Choi built the Garden of Remembrance in honor of the 67 children and a teacher of San Joaquin Elementary School who died during the catastrophe.
According to Choi, the garden will serve as a comfort for the public to ease their agony.
“I want to share not only food, but also to comfort and mercy the families’ wounded heart,” he said.
Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin also extended his support and said that the garden is for everyone to summon up their loved ones.
“I believe that through prayers, we can move on and continue living as we look to them in this garden,” he added.
Parents, teachers, students and residents of the nearby town gathered to witness the recent unveiling of the landmark.
The project is supported by Bethel International School Founder Pastor Varberg together with the Korean Military engaged in rehabilitation works in Leyte, and Manila and Tacloban Korean Methodist Church.
Other guarantors were Christopher Vega and Saturnino Daga III, who extended their support by donating engraved stones and woods for the garden.
Meanwhile, Pedro Lacandazo, a father who lost a total of 22 members of his family expressed his heart-breaking testimony on how he struggled during the onslaught of the super typhoon.
“This great stones will signify that Yolanda came and claimed my loved ones but it’ll also somehow gives me hope to continue living,” he painfully cried.
The garden of remembrance with the great stones engraved with love and comfort is offered to the survivors who had lost their beloved family members.(PNA)