Aussie provides home, care for displaced Tacloban family

John Dirckze and the Peñala couple, answer questions from the media on how they ended up at his home in Cordova town. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)

With no place to stay after her family’s home was destroyed by supertyphoon “Yolanda”, Germae Peñala of Tacloban City took a chance and called up John Dirckze, an Australian   resident of Cordova town, Cebu.

“I was so shy to text or call him at first, but what he offered was  a big help for us financially and I was worried about my kids’ schooling,” Peñala said while fighting back tears.

“When we got to talk, it seemed like he was very enthusiastic about us moving. So I decided to check out the place and went for it,” she said.

More than a month later, Peñala said she was glad with her decision.

Peñala and her husband Ramonsito, their three children, her parents and two siblings now share living space with Dirckze, his 51-year-old wife Marisa and their three kids in his three-story house in barangay Gabi, Cordova town.

ALL FREE

The area was divided into two spacious rooms, a kitchen, bathroom and living room.

“The first floor used to hold my coffee shop business and Internet café…I said to myself, why not offer it to the homeless?,” Dirckze told Cebu Daily News.

“Iya gyud mi gitagaan sa halos tanan namo nga kinahanglan. Balay, mahigdaan, pagkaon, tanan libre. Wa mi nagtuo ani (He gave us almost everything we need. A house, a bed to sleep on and food, all for free. Never did we expect this),” Peñala said.

“Amazing lang because we are Filipino and he’s a foreigner but siya pa ang ning-offer (We are very blessed. It’s amazing considering that we’re Filipino and he’s a foreigner but it was he who made the offer),” she added.

Peñala, who works in Cebu City as a call center agent, learned about the vacant space in Dirckze’s home through a friend who heard the radio advertisement that the Australian aired over a local Christian FM radio station.

WORTH IT

She first hesitated to call Dirckze since he was a “complete stranger” and the place was far from her former boarding house in barangay Apas.

But with not enough money to pay for a new room, Peñala called up Dirckze. She said the risk later turned out to be worth it.

When news about the devastation caused by Yolanda reached Dirckze, he urged his friends abroad and co-members of the Rotary Club in Melbourne, Australia to provide assistance.

He then used the donations and his personal money to renovate the first floor of his house and take in typhoon survivors.

When the town’s local cable provider learned about Dirckze’s endeavor, it offered to provide free cable TV service.

NOT TO WORRY

Dirckze also shouldered the education of the Peñala’s two kids during their temporary stay in the house.

Rolf Gabriel, 9, now studies in Indiana Space University with Dirckze’s two children while 6-year-old Rahjan Gavin goes to a nearby private school.

“I’m a Christian and how I look at it, whatever we have we must  share. The bills are not so much to worry about,” said Dirckze, a member of the Bible Baptist Church.

“They can stay here as long as they want until they can get back on their feet and settle down on their own,” he said.

The two families celebrated Christmas and  New Year together at the house last year. Dirckze hosted  lunch last Dec. 25 for the visitors, whom he now considers “family.”

“We did not expect Christmas to be like this after the tragedy. We cannot even imagine us here. His family gave us gifts, it was a lot of fun,” Peñala said.