Rain and rainbows I’ve come across,
But never as near, never as real:
For some reason I lay restless last night,
Not knowing across the miles G. was weeping.
Their main dryer had long broken down;
For months production had dwindled.
700 a day instead of 2000 kilos.
And bulk orders had now been cancelled.
Our means have always been limited.
Though our sense of solidarity knows no bound.
So I sat numb before my laptop screen,
As their list of needs scrolled down and down.
Some 1.6 million Filipino Pesos,
A good 270,000 HK or 35,000 US Dollars.
Where, oh where on earth, to get the money?
For the dynamo and generator and dryer chamber … ?
I have some mileage left over.
I could send Billy John over.
BJ is our good old neighbour,
A kindly engineer and Dried Mango lover.
I could fly him over
To see and check and look …
But now we know: machines are needed,
On top of technical support!
We could source them over here, JB said,
In second-hand market a lot cheaper.
We could appeal to fund-raisers, I said,
A ‘Save Fair Trader Campaign’?
But mangoes can’t wait to be harvested!
And dried fruit production has to go on!
First aid relief has to be found!
But where, but where, but where?
I woke up to further discussions.
Stephen came up with a bold idea.
‘Reach out to willing hands,’ he urged.
I picked up the phone and all my courage.
And believe it or believe it not:
100,000 HKD was my reward!
I rang up G.
She had been in tears she told me.
I told her about the anonymous donor.
She laughed and cried and laughed.
‘Are you in rainbow tears?’ I asked.
Across the miles I could see a rainbow
A rainbow over their mango trees,
Over their production site and office.
And over here a rainbow as well,
In Sweetheart Stephen’s moist eyes.
Tomorrow, or day after,
We’ll find the rest …
Courtesy of SPFTC
