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On November 8th, 2013
a category 5 typhoon forever changed the history and people
of Tacloban, a city in the Philippines of 240,000
Even before the actual storm hit, the mayor reported
that there was no more land, everything was water
and bodies were all over
There were no roads
with winds up to 200 miles per hour Typhoon Yolanda
affected over 2.18 million people
in 44 provinces in the Philippines
The devastation is indescribable.
Although the landscape of destruction will eventually be altered
thanks to the efforts thousands of volunteers and funding
from all around the world, the toll on the survivors
what they experienced, their memories their losses
their psyches will ache on for generations
On December 5th Sebastiaan van der Schrier
a 29 year-old Dutch trauma relief expert
joined forces with volunteers to help
Over a period of five days Sebastiaan worked with the local people
to help relieve the devastation and psychological trauma
This is his story
When I first heard about the death and destruction in the Philippines
I wanted to help. I've lived in the Philippines myself
I've got a lovely daughter there and a lot of my friends are Filipinos.
Now I've just returned from one of the worst hit islands in the Philippines and I heard many of the horror stories of the kids
They saw roofs flying off houses, tree being cut down by the wind
people in panic, people wounded
and they lost their houses
and many of them told me that they feared it was their last day, and the storm really broke their hearts
Now while the actual storm is over, many of them remain haunted by nightmares
and whenever the wind picks up, or it starts to rain
they can't help but re-live the trauma
as they remember the fury of the storm
Now in just one week I was able to help over 200 kids release the fear
the sadness and the emotional trauma of the storm
I want to show you some of the incredible footage that I shot of children
releasing their fears and sadness using EFT
Now these videos were my first trip in the Philippines. I'm now on Tacloban Island
and it's 10 weeks after the storm
and people are still massively traumatized, understandably
if you look at destruction that's been going on
I've heard of a man who lost 22 relatives
I've heard of a kid who got stuck in the house and when she came out
her whole family was dead
I heard of a man who walked into the sea to kill himself because he was just done with everything
People need help and we can help them out
In March I'm coming back with a group of therapists
to release the traumas of 10,000 children and to train 100 Filipino psychologists in EFT
I've also partnered with my friends Volunteer in Cebu
as well as the international volunteer team
Young Pioneer Disaster Response
and we'll further empower the Philippines by re-building houses and building storm proof schools
For this this mission we need your help
We need $150,000 or more
We're not a big organization, were we're doing this all by ourselves so
when you send money to this cause, it goes directly
to healing and empowering the Filipinos
so here's how you can help, Please Donate
and Support us in our Mission to Heal and Empower the Filipinos
even just $5 will make a difference
You can donate at www.empoweringthephilippines.com/donate
and secondly please share this video
with your friends, your family, your co-workers anyone
so this important message reaches as many people as possible
Thank you so much for your support