Andi Eigenmann and her children Ellie, Lilo, and Koa were supposed to fly back home to Siargao after spending some time in Metro Manila to attend her best friends' wedding in Batangas on December 14, 2021.
But flights were cancelled as Typhoon Odette, which was classified as Signal No. 4, hit the country on December 16. One of the hardest hit were Siargao, its neighboring islands, and all the way to Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and even Palawan.
Andi, through her fiancé Philmar Alipayo and their relatives and friends in Siargao, found out about the great devastation to the island. She said in one of her Instagram stories she "burst onto tears" upon learning the extent of damage to properties, particularly to those owned by people close to them.
Andi and Philmar then started giving updates on the situation in their place and asking for help not only for Siargao but also in other affected areas.
In one of her latest IG stories, the actress-vlogger said food, petro, and building supplies are urgently needed, thus encouraged her followers to "fill it up." The champion surfer, on the other hand, shared an IG sotry capturing the typhoon's grim aftermath as his "first photo back home."
Andi also gave an update on how she and her children are doing: "Lilo has been asking to come home to our 'upstairs house' near 'greamhouse', and this makes me feel the need to prioritise their well-being by being strong and not pass on the heavy feeling onto them."
She added, "Please keep our island home, and the neighboring islands and provinces and all its people in your prayers. And thank you too for all the help! Just waiting to hear from my fiancé and then we will also post more information on sending out help to our island slowly get back on its feet again."
She also pointed out, "Our home there isn’t just our house. Our home is the island itself. Slowly we will rebuild. Slowly we will get back up again.
"It is their people that taught me the importance of working together as a community, how kindness and generosity goes a long way. How we don’t really need to have much to be so happy."
Read here how Andi and her family, a.k.a. the Happy Islanders, lived their lives pre-Odette.
What other parents are reading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod
