By Amy Rhoades, IOM

Angels we have heard on high,
Sweetly singing o'er the plains...

There aren't any plains in the town of Tacloban except those left in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda. But there are many angels, especially this holiday season. Over a month after the super typhoon hit, stories continue to unfold each day of people who risked their lives to save another, others who took in complete strangers, first responders who worked tirelessly day and night bringing life-saving aid during those critical early hours. The stories are endless.

And so the community came together to celebrate. Despite the pain and the long road to recovery looming ahead, the spirit of the season could be felt, and heard, and seen on the faces of all who gathered for Christmas Carols and Dance on Friday evening, 20 December at Leyte Park.

The Leyte Dance Theater of Tacloban performed a Christmas presentation “Pastores de Belen” (Shepherds of Bethlehem), sharing both song and dance as the motley local, national and international community assembled together watched and remembered. Radiant smiles and laughter mixed with tears waiting to be shed. It was both a memorial and a tribute: to loved ones lost who will be dearly missed this holiday season, and to all who survived and are picking up the pieces to rebuild and carry on.

“Tonight is an opportunity to express ourselves as a community… our sorrows, our hopes, our fears and our dreams. Working together, we will rebuild those dreams. Indeed we’ve already begun,” shared Erlinda Olivia Tiu of Philippine Information Agency with the gathered crowd.

She couldn’t be more right. Each day the sounds of hammers and saws ring out across the town. The IOM is playing an active role in the process of rebuilding Tacloban. In recent days, the Organization has distributed a total of 18,000 corrugated iron sheets, accompanied by tool kits comprised of hammers, saws, crowbars, shovels and fixing kits, to over 1,700 families. An additional 100,000 sheets and kits will be distributed in the coming weeks. For many families, these materials mean the first time they have a solid roof over their heads since the typhoon hit on 8 November.

And so life goes on. Piles of debris are removed. Children return to school. Handmade Christmas decorations line the streets and remind all that the holidays are upon us.

The spirit of the season is the spirit of this community: to care, to share, to take care of one another. Christmas will look different in Tacloban this year, but the spirit of Tacloban is stronger than ever - and that is worth celebrating.

Amy Rhoades in Tacloban City, Central Philippines
Arhoades@iom.int