“YOLANDA” is a beautiful name. People who are given that name are usually called “Yoly”, and I know a few who are jolly and happy persons.
But after November 8, 2013, almost anyone in the Philippines who hears the name “Yolanda” would think of the shattering super typhoon that wrought devastation and death to the province of Leyte.
During our McDonald’s benchmarking and awards meeting held in Tacloban this week, each local person we spoke to had their story to tell about the calamity and tragedy that struck their city.
It was difficult to imagine that the beautiful waters in the sea that surrounded the islands had at one time been furious and rose up to more than two floors of houses and buildings, and destroyed everything in its path. Its tremendous force pushed and swept everything and everyone in its path and then pulled them into the sea. It was the first time I had heard and read about the effects of storm surges.
Thus, tens of thousands of people lost their lives during those few hours of the storm.
Practically every family lost someone they loved or knew dearly.
My friend, Caroline Andrade, suffered great loss and is still very emotional when sharing about her experience.
However, she has passed with flying colors the test that God put her to.
Her resiliency, persistence and perseverance have shown through in the face of the disaster. In spite of her own losses and the total destruction of the first and her only McDonald’s store on the island of Leyte, she moved on helping her province mates, reaching out to those who had lost loved ones and homes, and had no food to eat.
She also harnessed the support of her fellow franchisees and Ronald McDonald House of Charities during those challenging times.
Within a year of the destruction, she reopened a bright new McDonald’s.
It was the first major business to reinvest and reopen after the catastrophe, and it served as a beacon of hope during the city’s darkest moments.
Last Thursday, she was awarded the George T. Yang award by the founder of McDonald’s Philippines, for her leadership, persistence and perseverance.
Within a span of less than four years from November 2013, she now serves the people of Tacloban with four new well-managed McDonald’s stores.
My Dearest Caroline,
Thank you for welcoming to your city, my wife, my daughter, and me, together with more than 60 McDonald’s franchisees and around 50 executives of McDonald’s Philippines.
We have seen how your people display their warm hospitality and natural kindness.
Your smiles do not reveal the pain and loss that you have gone through.
May we learn from you and apply the learnings in our lives.
You have passed the test of character under the most challenging circumstances and have given thanks through it all.
You can proudly proclaim what St. Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”
And when I reflected on what you went through, I thought of this bible phrase:
Psalm 46: 1- 3, “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way, and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah.”