Steadfast

Tonight, the entire Bermejo Clan came out to support a benefit concert organized by my very own nephew, Micah Hernando, age 17, who is currently a high school senior at Colton High School. He came up with the name Operation Benefiting Filipinos Overseas Response (BFOR) for the event which aimed to raise money for victims of Typhoon Ondoy, which devastated thousands of Filipinos with massive flooding in late September. He invited many young and talented Fil-Am musicians to perform. Most of these "kids" have a following on You-Tube, where they put out their own music for the entire world to see.

I remember when I heard about Micah's vision for this event months ago. I was still in Cebu and my immediate reaction when I heard of the January date of the event was "why so far away?" and "this disaster is going to be out of people's memory by then."

Which is exactly the point. I love that fact that this event was months after the media stopped reporting the disaster. I love that fact that in many ways, all other suffering has been overshadowed by what recently happened in Haiti. But you have a small band of kids who will not let us forget about those who still need help - even months later. This event wasn't about being caught up in a wave of fad humanitarianism, which usually is here today, gone tomorrow. Sure, the immediate wave does draw immediate and much needed help. But Ondoy victims and those in Haiti will need much more help over a longer period of time. Unfortunately, this is usually dependent on media exposure. Instead, we need people who have long memories, who are steadfast in their compassion, and grasp object relations theory - just because mama is not around does not mean she doesn't exist. It takes babies a while to understand this, while some adults never get it.

This event instead was about not forgetting those who still need us. I praise God for Micah and his pals for not forgetting. Tonight, Micah wore an awesome T-shirt - "Know Your Roots" with the Filipino flag as a backdrop design. So proud.

Micah and his friends raised over $1700 tonight, all of which will be donated to the Philippine Red Cross.

Here's a video of one of the performers - Luigi and Mary Seno, who are both high-schoolers and siblings. I liked the fact that they are both originally from Cebu City and they dedicated their music to their friends and family back home.