USEC Bazaar

Two times a year we have the entirely delightful opportunity to not only make a little money through the sale of Carmencita Cards and the items we've developed, but importantly, to share our passion for what we do with a whole host of people. Saturday was the bazaar.

This year, we added stick horses! We'd talked of doing them for a long time, remembering the fun the kids had with their stick horses when they were younger. Sara drew the pattern, we all shopped for fabric, and the horses were made for us by Norma and Carding, an older couple who live in the First Avenue Barrio. Norma sews the bags and aprons as well. While Norma does the horse heads, Carding peels, sands, and varnishes the bamboo used for the stick.

We had an outstanding day!

Moving Forward

Once the immediate emergency of the floodwaters had subsided, the next question was, "Where do we go from here?" The "where we went", was back into the community with whole new sets of questions. The faster families can regain some sense of normalcy, some sense of being together as a family, the better. So the question was, "Ok", what does that take. What it took was providing things to cook with (rice being already provided by World Vision). The happy fellow you see is holding a kalan a small charcoal cooker, and a bag of uling (charcoal). It also took providing woven sleeping mats called banigs and temporary beds of marine plywood and five hollow blocks. We'd given out blankets sheets and towels earlier just so people could keep warm.

Next was getting kids back to school. School uniforms and shoes, book bags and notebooks had been either washed away or ruined beyond redemption. It is just this sort of interruption that can curtail a child's education forever. The need was urgent. A number of incredible donor volunteers rose to the task. Back into the community. What school needs did you lose?" "What do you need so your kids can go back to school?" The result was more than 70 new uniforms, book bags and pairs of shoes along with countless notebooks. Each child needs at least 8 notebooks starting from pre-school on up. We're not done yet, but well on the way to getting everyone back into school.


Yesterday was witness to the fruit of a five -year partnership between Shiphrah Birthing Home and Family Planning of the Philippines (FPOP). Partnering with the UN FPOP brought out more than 200 buckets filled with very smart supplies for our pregnant moms. Each bucket contained a towel, a flashlight, personal hygiene and laundry supplies, flip-flops, several pairs of new underwear, a duster (our moms most often wear a loose garment like this when giving birth), and a tabo (dipper). We had taken names during our classes so knew exactly who needed the supplies. Yesterday was the great giveaway. It turned into an all-day event lasting into the late afternoon.

The motto for Shiphrah Birthing Home is from the story of Moses. The heroic midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who defied the edict of the Pharaoh, 'saved the children alive' (Exodus 1:18).




Our situation is different, of course; but we've thought a lot about the story of Moses in the floodwater this week. Saving children and whole families from the river is not the typical job of a midwife, but our staff have shown a hebrewesque resilience in the face of disaster.

When the river just down the road from our birthing home

This is raw, but we'll try to get it edited throughout the day as we have time and internet.


Here's the video of a woman describing their improbable escape: