A Dog Named Apocalypse

Many children here in the Philippines are afraid of dogs, and the children at the little children's home are no exception. And for some odd reason that lies beyond my capacity to explain, it seems like most of our forever families have dogs. I swear, we don't make dog ownership a criteria for choosing families, it just seems to work out that way.

It is our practice to have adoptive families over for supper at our house in Beverly with their new child. And we happen to be the proud pack of a beagle name Apocalypse (Paco to his friends and family). Fortunately, he happens to be a fairly calm dog who does not get overly excited by the presence of children. He does love to give kisses, however, so we put him on a leash when we have adoptive families over. We want the children to have a positive experience with a dog before they go home with their new family.

Last week, Nica's forever family came and we had two wonderful suppers with them. Going into it, though, Deborah and I had some concern about Nica and Paco. Nica wasn't merely frightened by dogs, she was terrified of them. She would start screaming if she saw a dog. Deborah wasn't sure that it would be enough to have Paco on a leash; it was possible he would have to be banished to the bedroom for the duration of the supper. But I wanted to give it a try, especially seeing as Nica was going to be going home to two dogs. Paco could be like sticking a toe in the water.

So Thursday night, Nica and her family are downstairs. Moment of truth. I leashed up Paco and we headed downstairs.

I took him into the lanai where everybody was sitting around talking. I sat down on the floor with him in Nika's line of sight, but not too close. Deborah encouraged Aubrey to come and pet Paco and Nica's kuya (big brother)followed suit. Nica watched the two boys pet Paco, and not a tear was seen nor whimper heard. A doggy miracle!

By the time Nica and her family left after supper on Friday night, Nica was running around without a glance at Paco. She even patted his tail. I must say, I was so proud of our beagle. He was the perfect dog to help Nica begin to overcome her fear.

Updating HELP's Website

A shameless plug for our website:

My older brother, Daniel, got me up and running this summer on the mission website. For any of you who might not have yet visited our website, please check it out. HELP International Ministries

I have been slaving away since we returned from our U.S. trip updating and creating new content for the website. I have added an Amazon store, or astore, to the site. We choose the books and stuff that are displayed in the store, as well and the colors and layout. It's been fun playing with it.

My main effort lately has been creating an international adoption page that provides information on the foreign adoption agencies and government departments that have been approved by the Philippines InterCountry Adoption Board. This has consisted in hours spent searching out the websites for these agencies, a trickier job than I anticipated.

Please, check out the efforts of my labor.

Sara

Rice Line

This is the scene every Wednesday morning at the bottom of the hill that leads to the little children's home and Shiphrah Birthing home. Early on Wednesday mornings hundreds of impoverished residents of Taytay, Rizal, Philippines grab the U.S. equivalent of 2.50 and line up for at least four city blocks, waiting patiently for the government rice distribution truck to appear. For their P100, they get 5.25 kilos of rice. That will last a family of five, two parents and three children, about 2 1/2 days. The quality of the rice varies, some being fairly decent, some being old and moldy. Word on the street has it that how good the rice is depends on which distribution point you go to. Folk at this particular one say the rice is acceptable. Better than none at all.

People are discouraged. One lady, referring to Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who had just made her State of the Nation address the day before these pictures were taken, and had told the people to "just work harder.." said, "She doesn't care about us. She only cares about herself. I don't pay any attention to her anymore."

We watch the U.S. stock market writhe and gasp, massive, powerful firms frantically scouring the terrain for bailouts and deals, scrabbling to stay alive. Welcome to the world of the poor. They do that every single day. The rice lines exist because of the corrupt greed of others. Financial well-being is not a sin. The amassing of wealth is.

The sign on the truck reads "From President Gloria. Rice of/for the town. Fighting Poverty". To bring this home...our careworker, Generosa...those of you who have adopted tlc children know her....is in the righthand corner of the picture, waiting to buy her rice. Even those who, like Generosa, have steady work, can no longer afford to buy all their rice in the markets anymore. She is but one of hundreds in the Wednesday rice line.

Some Teapot Teaching

Been awhile since we've posted. We said goodbye to our Camiguin Island midwife students about a month ago now, but would like to share with you some of the final teaching time we had. Years ago, we started calling our learning times together with all of us at Shiphrah, midwives and students "Teapot Teaching" because we always gather around the teapot. Or teapots.

This time, the Camiguin gals learned how to do infant resuscitation. We hope that they never need to use this new knowledge, but, just in case.....



They loved their time with us and really jumped into life at Shiphrah Birthing Home. Most of our teaching on nutrition was new to them, how to recognize and deal with excess bleeding, using prenatal exams to catch problems way before they become dangerous, our use of the birthing stool so the women can give birth sitting up if they choose and many other things.

They felt as though they had just begun to get a handle on so many of the new things they learned, when, suddenly their three months was over and it was time for them to return to their island home.They hope to return next year and learn more. We hope so, too!

One of the ways we care for our children at the little children's home is by providing an opportunity for caregiving students to do their practicum with us before they go overseas to work. This provides our children with extra love and attention. (This is Senon checking out the water from the walk way.)

One of these students, Alan, invited us to their family resort this week in Binangonan. All of the older children went, as well as a few of the neighborhood children and some of our staff's family.

It's so very important for our children to have these kinds of outings, exploring the larger world and learning to be comfortable in different kinds of surroundings. (Here Nika's just getting used to being in the water.)

Camiguin Island is five hours off the far, northern coast of Luzon (the main island of the Philippines, where we live), on a little banca--a dugout boat with outriggers. From September through February you watch the skies carefully for maybe one day in a week when it's safe enough to make the crossing. And it's from there that three courageous community healthcare workers have come to learn midwifery at Shiphrah (Exodus 1) Birthing Home.

At six o'clock this morning, Jing (seen above), Helen, and Carol attended a birth with Lornie, who was their midwife instructor. Alathea is the first girl in a family of four boys. Her parents had promised their good friends, who have been married for 15 years and have no children, that if they gave birth to another boy they would gift him to them.

Jovina was divided during the birth: truly, she wanted to bless her friends with a child, but she did not want to give up her child either. She had come think they wouldn't have another girl because their second child had been a girl, and then died after three months.

When Alathea was born, it was sheer wonder. They had not even prepared a name, and had only a few clothes on hand -- because in their minds, this was not their child. Amazingly to me, along with being delighted to receive the gift of a daughter, Jovina was also sad for her friends. We had the wonderful opportunity to talk to them about the possibility of adoption for their friends. The Philippine government is developing an excellent program to help local families adopt.

What Carol, Jing and Helen will learn about midwifery here will only be written on the margins a textbook. But they will go back to their island much better equipped to serve the surprising needs of the families there.

Brian Zimmerman is well on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout. He contacted us a while ago asking if there was a project he could undertake to help Shiphrah (Exodus 1) Birthing Home.

One of the things we do a lot of is receiving donations and supplies that will be distributed to people in need. But we often struggle to store them safely and in an orderly manner. We suggested he could build a shelving space that would help us better meet the needs of the families we serve.

He headed it up, coordinating cooperation by other scouts, and his dad, Daryl, came out with him today to finish the assembly at the home. It looks great, and it's going to be a really big help. Good job, Brian.

Rey

Rey Cunanan served as HELP Mission Driver for 11 years. He died from liver cancer on Thursday, April 17. He would have still been our driver had
he not lost a foot to diabetes.

He began his driving career driving the
family jeepney in Manila when fares were measured in centavos rather than pesos. There was not an inch of the city he didn't know. When on an emergency transport, facing blocked traffic, he found open side streets and alleys that boggled the mind. The midwives trusted him implicitly and
knew when Rey was at the wheel, everything was going to be OK.

Rey was well-known to our tlc families. Speaking excellent English and comfortable with foreigners, he helped squire many a family to InterCountry Adoption Board, various Embassies, and on sightseeing trips around Antipolo and Manila. He had a wonderful way of welcoming people and making them feel at home. If he wasn't helping new families, driving birthing home transports, Rey was taking tlc kids to schools, to doctor appointments, to embassies for visas, to immunizations, and a whole host of other day-to-day
things that one does in the day of a life of a mission.

He loved both people and animals. He was the life of any party; screamingly funny, outrageously ribald on occasion. He graced one of the mission Christmas parties dolled up as a hip-swinging, belly undulating exotic dancer. Dennis introduced him as Miss Rizalia, or something crazy like that. Brought the house down. Give him a karaoke and he was set for the duration.

Rey's home was a veritable zoo. In the entrance was a huge fish tank,
sporting several varieties of very big fish. Hanging from the
trees were a number cages of birds. He had the usual
compliment of dogs and cats, but, also a couple
of most interesting chickens that were more dog than
chicken. They would toddle after Rey, waiting at the door
patiently until he came out of the house.

He had a special friendship with tlc washlady, Lucy. And, it was particularly Lucy that he asked to see in, what turned out to be his final moments. The photo of he and Lucy was the occasion of Lucy's 20th anniversary as a HELP mission worker. She is weeping as she has just looked at the artificial foot that Rey had as a result of the amputation. They were dear friends.

Rey is survived by his wife of many, many years, Gennie, three daughters, two sons, and several grandchildren as well as siblings.

Even after he retired, Rey stayed in touch with the mission. We were always guests at his birthday parties, his children's and grandchildren's birthdays and baptisms.

We will miss you, Rey. Neither heaven nor earth will be quite the same.

Orienting to Serve at Shiphrah

For the past two years Shiphrah Birthing Home has joined with
St. Paul University's School of Nursing to provide a place where
their students could gain real, hands-on maternal care experience.
It has been and continues to be a thoroughly delightful relationship.

St. Paul's students come from a far higher social strata than
do the women we serve at Shiphrah. To orient them to
consider how they will need to relate to the women we serve,
to accord the women the dignity and respect of real
personhood in an environment of sheer hospitality, we've
created a learning session that is not unlike our learning
sessions with our "buntis"(expectant moms).

Learning needs to be fun and so we begin to build relationships with a game called "Fruit Salad", a variation of Musical Chairs. Students were scrambling fast to not be done out of a chair.


Next, we move into a more serious vein, working with an image we call "The Paanakan Woman". We ask the students to simply describe what they see, reflect on what her struggles might be, the meaning of what they have described, and most importantly, what they have in common with her. It is always a revealing discussion, both for the students and for us.


We wrap up the orientation with the students creating and then sharing a skit in which they are to show us how they will welcome a woman who comes to the Birthing Home. It's a lot of laughter interlaced with just a wee bit of seriousness and often an amazing amount of speedily developed creativity.