Ricky
( This entry was written in November 2013 after Typhoon Yolanda sent the Visayas to its knees. I was not able to upload it on time as it is only now that internet connectivity in my place has been restored. To date, Ricky is still in Metro Manila, still without sponsor for his medication) T he boy in the photos is Ricky. I don’t know his true family name. His absent father has never acknowledged his paternity over him. He lives with his maternal grandparents in a house demolished by ST Yolanda (International Name: Haiyan) when it wrought havoc in Aranas, Balete, Aklan, Philippines on November 8, 2013. He was entrusted by his also absent mother to his grandparents when he was still a toddler. He is now 12 or 13 years old. He is in his 1st year High School in a public school in Aranas. Other than being without a loving parents to care for him as he deals with the trauma of surviving the monstrous typhoon, he is stricken with a skin ailment that dermatologists in Kalibo