Volunteering in typhoon-ravaged Philippines
Rico Selga, in the Philippines town of Guiuan, arrives to help during Super Typhoon Haiyan.
Enrico “Rico” Selga is a well-known figure to many at Clark College. Either you recognize him from his time as a nursing student from the 1990s, or you saw him receive Clark College’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 2010, or you’ve ordered a latte from him at one of the two coffee kiosks he and his wife, Jennifer, run on Clark’s main campus.
However, not everyone knows what he does with his “off” hours. For years, Selga has volunteered with the church-based nonprofit Medical Teams International in areas pummeled by disaster or conflict. He’s done so much of this work that MTI now sends him as a “First-in Team” member, tasked with scouting the area and organizing resources before the rest of the medical team arrives.
When the Philippines were hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan on November 8, 2013–demolishing buildings and killing thousands of people–Selga, who is originally from the Philippines, was one of the first volunteers to land in the hard-hit town of Guiuan. We wrote about Selga’s trip to treat earthquake victims in Haiti in a previous issue of Clark 24/7; here, Selga describes his latest experience in his own words.
