Stranded in the Philippines during COVID-19

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As Oakville resident, Ilke Geladi puts it, "this time was different." When she emerged from a seven day biological expedition in the forests of the Philippines, the COVID-19 pandemic had arrived. Things were hectic: "shops and streets were empty." It was March and she soon realized that she was stuck in another country across the world.

...shops and streets were empty - Ilke Geladi

Ilke Geladi is a 25 year old Canadian Masters student who studies the biology of birds. She studied at McGill University and her family has lived in Oakville for about six years. She has been in the Philippines since January, trying to find and observe an endangered species known as the Negros Bleeding-Heart Dove.

While on expeditions into the forests, Ilke and her teammates had no contact with the outside world. This means that as the news about COVID-19's spread became more dire, she remained unaware and leaving her unprepared. She returned to containment measures like closed borders and the grounding of almost all commercial airlines.

The area of the Philippines where Ilke is living is not prepared to handle a surge in COVID-19 cases. There is little hospital capacity and certainly no ventilators. The people are poor and were hit hard when businesses were shut-down. Furthermore, the amount of government relief is small. Ilke says the municipality has just begun receiving small amounts of rice, weeks later.

At first, rumours circulated in her village instead of reliable news. Different stories about how many cases existed on their island. There was uncertainty if there were any cases at all.

"Everyone had a different story," Ilke says. "We did not know what to believe."

All these uncertainties led to an overwhelming sense of tension and dread. As of Thursday, there were still no cases in Ilke's neighbourhood. Still, every time a new case is announced on the island everyone gets very worried.

That being said, Ilke is impressed on how well the situation is being handled by the local government, and the people. Information about new cases of COVID-19 is released transparently, usually on Facebook. She says this makes it easier to understand how to make herself safe and that it sometimes manages to cultivate a "feeling of calm and safety among the town."

"The health units of the province, they give updates on how many cases there are in a region or a province and then exactly which neighbourhood or town. The age, gender and information about the sick person and also where they contracted COVID-19. So it's really great because you are able to follow along on who got it from where," she says.

Ilke's prospects of finding a way home though is uncertain. Although the Canadian Federal government has taken steps to arrange for travellers to return, the situation is very complex. "Sweeper flights" can sometimes bring stranded travellers from airports on the Filipino islands to Manila. However, these have become less and less frequent as the pandemic continues.

You'd think there'd be more of an effort. But there's just silence.

Finding international flights can also now be challenging. Planes flying to and from the Philippines are often cancelled due to pandemic precautions or because there aren't enough people to fill the seats. This can sometimes leave prospective travellers holding a ticket with no refund. Even with that in mind, Ilke says that if she were able to get to Manila, she might be in the clear. She would likely be able to find a flight back to Canada through connecting flights.

Unfortunately, she has not been able to contact the Canadian Embassy and says that the information they provide about flights has been "unclear." The last Canadian sweeper flights Ilke heard about were in Mid-April, when she was still doing research in the forest. The flights were also quite expensive. The Canadian government makes general announcements to "Travellers Abroad" but according to Ilke are slow to answer emails, when they answer them at all. This makes an unreliable access to internet connection in her village even more frustrating.

"You'd think there'd be more of an effort," she says. "But there's just silence."

Oakvillenews.org tried to contact Oakville Members of Parliament Pam Damoff and Anita Anand but neither provided a statement.

When she realized she was basically stuck, Ilke attempted to continue doing her work. For a time she would still venture into the forest to do research on birds. Soon though, lockdown precautions eliminated that as a possibility. Now she fills her time by trying to help out, volunteering for the "barangay."

Small neighbourhoods or villages in the Philippines, known as "barangays" are partly in charge of the terms of the pandemic lockdowns. They also organize the village and the relief efforts for it. As the panic over the virus-spread became "extremely overwhelming," practically everything was shut down.

"Here they started the lockdown and it was very strict, very early on," Ilke says. "They basically restricted the movement between the barangays. I am not allowed to leave the barangay. We're not allowed to leave; they have a checkpoint. We can't really go out. If we need something from town like groceries or money transfers like the Western Union, we have to go through the barangay officials."

"I think that the Canadian government is doing a good job of supporting Canadians, from what I've read anyways," she says. "I think that the government here is trying to as well but they also just lack the resources."

Ilke says being stranded across the world has become very stressful for her family back in Oakville. They are all frustrated, wondering how much longer she will be in this situation.

"Some days I am thinking, it's fine and there's nothing to do. But then somedays, yes, it can be quite frustrating," Ilke says.

In the Philippines, like all over the world, the future is uncertain right now. When the lockdowns initially began, there were thousands of foreign tourists stranded in the country. Ilke says she has been using a Facebook page called "Canadians Stranded in Philippines" to communicate with other stranded foreigners. The page has over 1400 members as of May 8th. Keeping in mind some of these members are likely family members of those stranded, that number is still startling.

"In a few days they are going to announce if they're going to extend the lockdown until June 1, which I expect will happen. And after that, I don't know... I don't know if they will extend the lockdown again," Ilke says.

Despite her limited access to internet and news about her country, Ilke believes her isolated situation has given her a broader perspective.

"I think we can feel lucky how we live back in a country like Canada, because it's so different here. I'm in a pretty rural part of the Philippines and I was talking to the Vice-Mayor of the town, he was telling me that he was terrified. Because if Coronavirus hits here like it has in other places, there's nothing we can do. We don't have hospital capacity to deal with this. It's really opened my eyes."

Read Ilke's full letter below:

Out of the forest, into Coronavirus By- Ilke Geladi

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Ilke 6.5

Photo Credit Ilke Geladi

Ilke 6.5

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Ilke 4.5

Photo Credit Ilke Geladi

Ilke 4.5

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Mental Health

Thomas Desormeaux

Mental Health