There's much that actor Mig Macario loves about the Philippines: the heat, the food, the joyful spirit of the people.
It's a passion that has remained strong in the 43-year-old Vancouverite (who portrays Bashful on ABC's hit fantasy series Once Upon a Time) ever since he emigrated from the Philippines in 1974 — and the reason why he spent a large chunk of his summer hiatus volunteering in Tacloban.
If Tacloban sounds familiar, that could be the lingering result of news headlines: it was one of the cities hit hardest by Typhoon Haiyan. The powerful tropical storm killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands more grieving and displaced when it made landfall in November.
"There are no supplies, there's no electricity, and everything's ruined," says Macario during a recent interview in a West Broadway Filipino bakery. "If you survived the storm, you're dying of starvation."
But many are determined to rejuvenate Tacloban, including Macario. Later this month, Macario — who previously volunteered in a Tacloban orphanage and led a group of local sponsorship girls in a theatre workshop — will return to Tacloban to assist in the recovery and rebuilding efforts.
The decision to return to Tacloban wasn't difficult to make — "If something happens to your family, you've got to go be with them. Macario watched Typhoon Haiyans path of destruction in real-time, via web streams of Filipino news networks as well as on Facebook, where friends and volunteer alumni converged to share stories and seek updates.
Four days passed before Macario received any kind of update on the orphanage where he'd once played with babies as well as young children battling tuberculosis of the bones. The news relayed second-hand was heart wrenching: at the height of the storm, the nuns and volunteer moms stacked the cribs to the ceiling and slid the children to the top in a valiant effort to keep them out of harm's way. "They're near the water, in a single-storey building, and these women of character just instinctively did something to save these children," says Macario. And their efforts were successful: every child at that particular orphanage survived.
Macario embarks on this return journey with the blessing of Once Upon a Time's creators. His time on the ground will be coordinated by Volunteer for the Visayans (Visayans.org), the organization that facilitated his initial Tacloban experience, and will be spent providing art and drama therapy to children.
Such therapies are essential in an area where families are struggling to meet basic needs and few resources are available to help children overcome their psychological and emotional traumas.
"I want to give the kids some sort of confidence through the trauma, and leave them with something that can have a long-lasting effect and move them towards their future." He'll teach the youth to work with masks, and create art using found items. "This is an opportunity to be able to say to them, 'You can change things, and you have a voice, so let's keep strengthening your voice.'"
Macario will be back in Vancouver in late January to resume taping Once Upon a Time, but wherever he is on the planet, he's invested in Tacloban for the long haul. "This isn't about being Filipino," he says. "This is about being human."
Macario will blog about his experiences at Migarrific.blogspot.ca. Donate to relief efforts at RedCross.ca.
