Tulong sa CDO at Iligan 2012

Around Christmastime, I found myself signing up for a Medical Mission/De-briefing for the Typhoon Sendong Victims in Cagayan de Oro (CDO) and Iligan City. For a segurista type of person like me, I was surprised with myself. I know that by mid-January (the scheduled trip for the project), I will still be hectic at work. And I will still have backlogs from my other previous little assignments and commitments. Normally, I’ll be having second thoughts of making my already complicated life be more complicated. But there, the team leader has told the others that I'm joining and they're buying our tickets soon. Since there seem to be no backing out, I started helping in the fundraising. That part is where I started getting my inspiration to continue with what I’ve found myself into. Thank you for responding to my call for help. Thank you for your encouragements and for the prayers you’ve said for our safety and for the good effects of the activity. Thank you too to those who sent financial assistance to the project. We were a total of 15 volunteers – 5 MDs, 8 RNs, a dentist and a pharmacist. This group was started by the staff of Mapua Institute of Technology Health Services. The rest of us were friends of theirs who got invited because of our past experiences to these types of projects. Because of your help, we were able to go to CDO and Iligan to extend quality help to a percentage of those affected by Sendong. We conducted free medical consultations with free full dose medicines including antibiotics, distributed relief goods (Thanks to the place called Divisoria, there was multiplication of bath towels, blankets, toothbrush and detergent bars. Thanks to generous donors, our food items were not limited to sardines and noodles and rice) and had de-briefing with those billeted at Camaman-an Evacuation Center in CDO and Tambo Shelter Box (Tent City) in Iligan City. There were 89 families in Camaman-an and 123 families in Tambo. We also left boxes of necessary medicines to the Parish Church of Camaman-an. There were at least 30 families sheltered in the parish social hall. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find time to service them like the other two centers so we decided to give them our excess medicines which was timely because they’ve ran out of supplies.

Faith, hope and love were very tangible in every step of this adventure. These and other insights from the project, I’d like to share to all of you.

Not to be ashamed to ask. Somehow, it’s in our human nature to feel it not so easy to beg. There’s that fear of being rejected, ignored or insulted. But I realized that asking people to help is giving them opportunity to be generous. Asking my friends for help is giving them opportunity to show how much they care and support me. I don’t measure help by money alone. Since you are my friends, somehow I also know your capacity. A like to my post, a line of encouragement and a promise of prayers weighed as much too. It’s amazing to witness how generosity can be infectious. Because people saw that we’ve gone out of our way to render service, they were encouraged to help us too. Our van driver didn’t charge us for van rental for our trip to the airport going back to Manila because he saw our work when he serviced us the day before. We asked permission from the Philippine Army rescue group in Tambo to be allowed to use their dining table for our lunch. Not only were we allowed to use their table, each of us was also served a bottle of ice cold drinking water.

Faith in God. So much for religion being opium of the people. I rather believe that being need, being at a loss leads people to the Omnipotent. Because of faith, many of these people are coping well enough from the trauma of having to flee from the raging waters of the flood and from the losses that they had. For example: There’s Fe who, because of the logs that hit her while in the floods, lost consciousness and as a consequence lost her child whom she was holding that time. She didn’t blame anyone for the loss of her child. She mourns for the loss, yes. But because of her faith, she’s able to accept what happened and comforts herself by looking at the picture of her child whenever she misses her. Another lady said she lost a comfortable home they’ve invested and sweated out for, for years. Because of faith, instead of mulling over the loss, she and her family are planning how to start all over again. Another lady was so grateful to St. Joseph. She salvaged his image among the junk several years back. Because of her devotion to the saint, she attributes their survival. She kept on speaking to the saint during their ordeal. She said their house was not as sturdy as that of the others, but it did not collapse during the floods and they were all saved.

Personally, the experience also widened my understanding of faith. Before the actual trip to CDO/Iligan, I had several little and big requests from our Lord. A friend was teasing me because my little prayers were unanswered. In fact, my little fears started to become real. There were several inconveniences that happened before and on the first day of our trip.  But I was in awe with the answer to by big requests. I was bracing myself for the de-briefing assignment. Knowing my tendency to fall into melancholy and despite that, I hoped to achieve the aims for the participants of the de-briefing activities -- that they be able to tell their story, that I be able to detect unhealthy coping and make the necessary referrals, that I be able to synthesize what I’ve heard, that I be able to identify coping mechanisms so that the participants be able to find direction. I asked that I don’t get emotional, that my forgetfulness don’t attack, and that I be able to say the right words – the therapeutic technique in the nurse-patient interaction. I was able to achieve that. My gift for synthesis was at its best and I did not have to worry about how to respond! And my group mates where just great!

Hope. The people’s faith is helping them get up from the devastation of the recent calamity. I had to correct myself in how to refer to them. They are survivors, not victims of Sendong. You can feel their hope of being able to rebuild their lives again. Meanwhile, they need to be guided; they need more assistance in their little steps towards independence. For instance, they need new homes. Since acquiring a new house is not going to be soon, they need shelter boxes (tents) where they can have more privacy and security while the head of the family starts going back to work again.

Love. It’s so wonderful to confirm that, really, love conquers all! There’s a young couple in CDO who was expecting their first child last December. When the waters started to rise, the pregnant lady was awakened by mild contractions. She awakened her husband and they both discovered that water has started to enter the house they’re renting. The man called at a neighbour who’s a tricycle driver and instructed him bring his wife to the hospital while he put their belongings to a higher part of the house. But the waters were rising fast. The man eventually decided to leave the house to save himself, leaving behind the baby clothes and the money they’ve saved up for his wife’s hospitalization and everything they own. While he worried about whether his wife was able to make it to the hospital, his wife feared that she might soon be widowed because she saw how ravaging the floods were. I love happy endings and this one is.  The following day, the couple saw each other in the hospital. It was a few more days before their baby came. At the time that I met them, they are just awaiting the right time to start going back to work again. I didn’t notice any trace of trauma on the couple during our conversation. They shyly told me they’re celebrating their first wedding anniversary last January 22.

A fourteen year old girl’s story also caught my attention. She told me that during the floods, her father had to fish her out from the waters knowing that she cannot swim. Recalling the near death experience made her cry but it strengthened her trust on her father and was grateful to realize how much her father can do - endangering himself - for love of her. 

My Tagaytay Retreat

Once, Beethoven met a blind girl. He wanted to describe to her how the moon looks like. Using music, the language he knew best, he composed the Moonlight Sonata. Thanks to that desire, the blind girl, together with the entire world, can now appreciate the beauty, the mystery and the soothing effect of the moon even without using their sense of sight.  I also wish to describe a beautiful experience I recently had. But I cannot claim mastery in any language, so I hope you bear with me as I attempt to describe my experience with words. I had discovered a long time ago that I love writing but I am still trying to convince writing to love me 

Yearly, I go on a retreat to pause and do an overhaul of my soul and also my body. In this fast paced and frenzied world that we live in, I need this respite to see what has been happening in my life – both seen and unseen by others, the past year. This way, I understand myself more and get to synchronize my choices and decisions with the path that my Creator and Lord has called me to take.   

To make a good retreat, one cannot just take care of the spirit. The body has to be in it too. Ah, how I cherish those days when I had the luxury of an eight-hour sleep! Moving about in Metro Manila 24/7, if I’m not so organized (and I’m often not so organized), hardly gives me a six-hours sleep daily. So I welcomed the long nights and the cool temperature in Tagaytay. Oh, how I always looked forward to burrow and dream under the thick blanket each night! The right amount and quality of sleep kept me awake and alert during the day; enough to allow me to have a leisurely conversation with my God about my frustrations and hurts and doubts and dreams and loves. But it is not enough that I talk and talk and talk. I need a lot of listening too. An adequate sleep may not be enough to do that. So the other measure I took is to drink Batangas brewed coffee for breakfast and lunch together with the healthy and interesting meals served to us. I also took advantage of having a 30 minute jog every morning to facilitate better circulation of my usually languid anemic blood.

Jogging everyday is a taste of heaven. What with the fresh air and the relaxing environment. While jogging along the paved running lane, I was welcomed by the scent of the freshly cut grass on my first day. Also, I observed that the formerly baby pine trees I appreciated the last time I was in Tagaytay have grown tall enough to offer one some shade from the sun. Daily, my eyes also relished the different shades of the mayana plant, the Australian bush and the violet, pink, white, red and yellow colors of the tiny flowers along the way that breaks the different hues of green that dominates the huge garden. It was very enjoyable to jog while being kissed by the pleasant heat of the sun and end it with a flushed face and a skin shining with perspiration without smelling like Grade one pupils after their play.

With lots of water and physical exercises, I had a good cleansing of my body. The general confession I made on my first day of the retreat, on the other hand, cleansed my spirit. All throughout, I also did a lot of spiritual exercises – daily Mass, Holy Rosary, meditations, spiritual reading, listening to talks, contemplating Christ’s Passion and Death during the Way of the Cross and a more prodding during the examination of my conscience. These spiritual exercises left my spirit looking forward to the challenges of the coming year. I still have the same concerns at work, the same body to discipline everyday and the same swings of emotions on certain moments but the retreat brought with it new hope, new drive to struggle, and a renewed love for life.  

Care for a retreat too?

Quiet Time

Nothing is permanent in this world but CHANGE. Who said that?... Anyway, control freak that I am, even if I know this is true, I try to control the major changes that happen in my life. One of which is my recent transfer back to Manila. Much as I love nature tripping in Negros, I thought a change of environment will do me good. So last year, I requested that my job assignment be in Manila again. This will facilitate some plans that I have in the near future. Even if I requested for the change and even if I am used to life in a big city, still, I found myself not so prepared when the change happened. I had everything calculated. But I was called back two weeks earlier than I expected. And my job assignment is in Makati – a city quite different from Manila and Quezon City that used to be my workplace and home respectively. Since the transfer was two weeks earlier, I literally just threw my basic personal things in my luggage on the day of my flight. (I couldn’t pack earlier because I still had a long list of pending things to do.) The not so urgent things, I left behind in boxes to be shipped at a later day.
My first week was filled with daily little mishaps. On my way to find that best route commuting from Taft to Makati, I got lost almost everyday. I don’t know my way around in Makati. It didn’t help that I didn’t take time to study a road map and I just always felt my way through and relied on other people’s directions. This is very much different from my ten minute walk to work in Bacolod or my ten to fifteen minute jeepney ride to my other part-time job in the same city. By the end of the week, I found a term to describe Makati – a huge maze.
I describe my reaction to my new job set-up as a mixture of “in awe” and overwhelmed. Although it’s basically the same job description with supposedly the same standards as my previous workplace, the needs of the people I need to cater to are a lot more demanding. Being new and being aware that my staff is trying to measure me up added to my discomposure. Discoveries and adjustments happened so fast in the first days. There’s just so much organizing and planning and actions that need to be done. As I go home each day, I found myself dead tired. I felt I was a headless chicken running around and just going with the current. By the end of the week, I had enough. My being was clamouring for a quiet time. And quiet time I tried to have on my 2nd Sunday in Manila and the next Sundays onwards.
Thanks to a seminar I attended last summer, I am aware of the wonders of having a quiet time. As the speaker in that seminar said, we need a quiet time to acquaint, know and refine our inner world. To have intimacy with one’s self is necessary to have an authentic human life. In this world where one can have things at a click of a button, we can get used to living a superficial life and, even virtual life, devoid of interactions and intimacies that make us human beings far superior from our “Smart” gadgets.
After trying to strictly have my “quiet time”, I became more patient with myself and hopeful that in the near future, these changes and disorder caused by the changes will fall into place. Below are some questions that can help us live a “quiet time”:
Do I keep work hours to a certain number so that I can have quiet time?
Am I able to focus on my task at hand without interruptions from the use of mobile phone, internet, music, etc.?
Do I reserve quiet time to read literature or humanistic essays?
Do I seek the company of others to feel at ease?
Am I uneasy with just reading without conversing?
Do my conversations revolve around things and people?
Do my conversations remain at the level of just on the surface, what appears to the senses?
Am I at ease being alone to reflect (not alone to do things, such as to surf the web, to work)?
To rest my mind in my free time, do I surf the TV or news, the web, or check facebook and similar sites?

The RH Bill: A Legislation with good-sounding objectives

George W. Bush once said: "It is a sad fact of political life today that bad legislation sometimes becomes law because of politics. No one wants to be the bad guy who vetoes a bill with a good-sounding name... Even worse, this bill not only sounded good, it did have some good as well... The legislation had a great name . How noble. How sound. How difficult to veto."
As Congress debates on the RH Bill these days, our undecided congressmen might also be having the same dilemma as then Texas Governor Bush when he was deciding to veto a legislation on Patient Protection against HMO's.
In our case, who would want to go against a law that will protect and promote the basic right of parents to freely and responsibly plan the number and spacing of their children? Who would want to go against a law that will help lower the incidence of abortion? Who would want to go against a law which want to reduce infant deaths, promote safe motherhood and prevent the spread of the dreaded HIV and AIDS? Who in her right mind want her people to die in poverty?
I am a woman and a nurse by profession. I think womanhood is fascinating. And I take every opportunity to promote the cause of the women. I believe that parents should be responsible in matters that affect their children. And I also believe that we should fight the woes the RH bill wishes to fight. But I am NOT for the passage of the RH Bill and I hope our respected congresswomen and congressmen will NOT make this into a law.
Much as the objectives mean very well for the people, especially the women, its means to achieve the objectives are simply not right - many are even offensive. Yes, there are noble provisions in it, but the offensive parts outweigh the good ones. Although the RH Bill proponents believe that population is the cause of poverty, many studies by note-worthy economists also state that there is no co-relation between population and development. Some even believe that the more young population there is, the more possibilities there will be for progress. Many RH Bill proponents also believe that human life begins at implantation. That is why they do not believe that IUDs and many hormonal contraceptives can cause abortion. But what about many of us who believe that human life begins at fertilization? These above mentioned modern means of family planning render the uterus hostile for implantation - thus human life can be aborted. Our consciences will not allow us from cooperating with evil. This bill will force us to give up our hard earned money through taxes to fund the purchase of these evil means. This is government stifling our right to practice our faith. Mandatory sex-education. Have you read their module? It teaches that religion is an obstacle to one's freedom. Condoms. Thanks to the false security condoms gives, Thailand, where the condom king lives, has now one of the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world. As to maternal health, my direct exposure to the community as a nurse taught me that it’s not the number of children that makes a family healthy. It’s having love, education and work. Do you want to ensure safe pregnancy and delivery? Hire government health workers that do not threaten mothers giving birth that they won't be accommodated again if they get pregnant soon. One poor mother because of the threat, gave birth the following year to her home without medical help. We had to bring her to the hospital...
The bill, for all its good-sounding objectives, would like to change the Filipino culture. With the passage of this bill, we are opening our doors wide to licentiousness and immorality where there is no place for a Provident God. The future generation, those who will be allowed by their parents who are playing God, to be born (because many will not have a chance) will live in a world where values like chastity, fidelity and self-control are unknown. With the passage of this bill, soon we will witness mothers, when their teenage daughters go to parties, instead of saying: “Be careful, dear. Enjoy but behave. Know your limits” We will hear: “Be careful, dear. Enjoy, don’t forget to bring condoms.” (By the way, this line was heard some years back from a mother in New York where the contraceptive mentality is very much alive). This implies that having sex even if you're not married, is okay as long as you don't get pregnant. Will the contraceptives be available for free only for married couples? No. It will be available for everyone. It will be available for children without their parents' knowledge. It will be available to BPO workers who want to have free sex/casual sex after a few drinks. "Safe sex" without love, without commitments... Have you read this line some months ago:"Keep your rosaries away from our ovaries!" Is this Filipino culture? It sounds like coming from Margaret Sanger's world. But I read it here in our country. This bill will encourage this oh so un-Filipino mentality.
I hope our respected congresswomen and congressmen will be brave enough to say No to this bill with good-sounding objectives. I hope you realize that this is bad legislation. We are behind you. We will show our appreciation in the next elections. Please do not exchange our future to pressures from outside, the same people whom they say are ready to pay you 10 million pesos each just to have this bill approved. They will gain back these millions in a short time because the government will be buying millions of modern family planning devices from them.
To close, I'd again like to borrow former US Pres. George W. Bush's words: "You see, the strength of a society should not be measured only in the wealth it accumulates or the technology it develops. The strength of a society should be measured in the values its people share." We're not even sure that this bill will bring in wealth to our people. I know the Philippines is a place where people hold fast to basic values. "People can improve their lives through hard work and education. All must know they have a chance to succeed. It does not happen when they are at the mercy of outside forces; it happens when they realize they have a worth, a dignity, and a free will given by God, not by government. "
"Government cannot solve all our problems. The real answer to improving people’s lives is found in the hearts of decent, caring people who have heard the call to love their neighbours as they would like to be loved themselves. "
"Children must be educated in right from wrong. They must learn to say yes to responsibility, yes to family, yes to honesty and work... And no to drugs, no to violence, no to promiscuity or having babies out of wedlock. "
Our dear congresswomen and congressmen. Please say NO to the RH Bill.

Staying Fit in the Bacolod Heat

When I arrived in Bacolod more than a year ago, one of the things I first noticed is the intense heat, especially during the day. Manila can be hot but the weather here is worse. I sometimes feel like the sun is so enraged that it wishes to burn all that’s under it. While suffering the heat, I was reminded of the time when I joined a group of friends hike towards the Taal crater. On our way to the crater, we observed fumes coming out of the rocks. I just finished reading Dante’s Purgatorio then, and I imagined that’s how it must be like in purgatory. The heat of Bacolod sometimes also feels like you’re in purgatory.
Being a person who loves the cool weather of Baguio and Tagaytay, my initial reaction to the heat was to get cooped in an air-conditioned room most of the time. But it hindered my movements, it affected my mood and it limited my productivity. Fears of dehydration, heat stroke and sunburn also came into my hyperactive mind. I didn’t like it at all. So soon, I decided the heat should not enslave me. I needed to go out to work and I want to live a normal, happy and healthy life.
I know my fears were real. The sun can really burn your skin and can cause the appearance of premature age spots and wrinkles. Heat can make you dehydrated. Dehydration brings discomforts like headache, parched lips, dry and itchy skin, drowsiness and tiredness. Also, we should not to forget, the sweating and the possible smell. Morbid though it seems, but to top it all, I also heard of someone who came here to attend a funeral only to be brought to the emergency room and die of heart attack.
So how am I coping with the Bacolod heat? How do I stay fit and happy and live my life to the full? First, I had to face the fact that we only have a sunny and rainy season here. Either it’s sunny and terribly hot, or it’s uncomfortably raining outside. Nothing in between. With this fact accepted, I have to change my habits a bit. Whenever I go out, I always bring an umbrella. I told myself that using an umbrella isn’t “uncool”. It is rather uncool and foolish to suffer the consequences of the scorching heat of the sun. Since I cannot live without a bag, it was not so hard to make sure that it has in it, my three-fold UV protect umbrella. I also use a 100% UV protect sunglasses. Having astigmatism is bad enough. Migraine due to the sun’s glare is worse. To avoid dehydration, I make sure I drink lots of fluids. At least eight glasses of water per day. So as not to be bored, I also take fresh juices. Bacolod is blessed with a supply of a variety of fruits the whole year. Lastly, to keep life happy, I regularly go out with friends to explore the many refreshing and invigorating sites Negros possesses – waterfalls, mountains, lakes and beaches. I just make sure I have enough water, sunblock and sunglasses and a mood for adventure. 

Loving One’s Body

I love my body! I came to this conclusion again after I was down with acute gastroenteritis two weeks ago. I had to be in bed the whole day and I also experienced fever and chills. I had a difficult time accepting my predicament because first, I seldom get really sick so I don’t know how to play the role of a sick person and second, I’m scheduled to take the first flight to Manila the following day for my much awaited break. Missing my flight was inconceivable.
As I lay on my bed trying to analyze which nutrient my GIT is not able to absorb, I also started asking why this had to happen to me. Soon, it seems that my body started to answer me: “Well, you were not careful. You were not feeling well yesterday yet you didn’t slow down. Worse, you ate a lot during supper. I was telling you to stop but you insisted on finishing the oysters on the table…”
Considerations:
Often times, illness comes because we have not been listening to our body. Even if there’s pain, even if there’s a lump, even if the weighing scale registers an alarming reading, we remain bull headed and we continue with our unhealthy routines. It’s time to listen to our body and show that we also love it.
If ever illness comes, we should welcome it because we can in fact get something good out of our illness. Illness can tell a truth about us – we can get to know our self deeper. We get to realize that we do have limitations. Before my AGE, I never thought my GIT cannot handle a combination of oysters, ginataang tambo (bamboo shoots with coconut milk and corn and okra), chicken inasal (grilled) with sinamak and white chocolate cheesecake. Now, I can here Pacman’s favourite line: “Now, you know.”
Illness is not only bearable but in a way, it is also a completion of a person especially when fully undergone for a purpose. Illness has a place in our life because it gives us time to reflect.
We have to be warned, though, that something in illness is innately introspective. Thus, to be sick is dangerously self-centering. We need to remember that this body can possess us, especially when it is ill. We can be at our worst behaviour. We can also fall into self-pity and depression. Before these negative things happen, we have to keep in mind that illness is not a circumstance, a situation nor a determination of who we are. When we think we are sick, let us try to go out of ourself, think of the others and rise above self-centering. Then, we will see that it can also be a fulfilment of our lives.

Education of Sentiments and Human Integrity

A good friend once sent me a quote from John Knowles' The Paragon: "...I may be only a 'partial person' for the rest of my life... But partial people do the great things in the world, don't they? So many of the scientists, and artists, and innovators did great work to make up for the inner knowledge that they were condemned all their lives to be - incomplete people.
Why be a 'partial person' when we can be complete? Nurses are trained to care for their patients in a holistic way. For us to be quite effective, we need to take care of ourselves in a holistic way too.
Considerations:
Each person is unique. What she is now is a product of her biological make up and learnings from life experiences. Because of this multifactors that make up a person,she has certain tendencies which may be positive or negative that it may lead her closer or farther from self-perfection. To have human integrity means to be able to act/react according to what is appropriate to a given reality. On the long-term, to act in such a way as to lead to the end. Because of one’s unique make up – temperament, character and personality, it may not be easy for a person to react appropriately to any given situation. That is why, she must educate her sentiments to reach a level of maturity/human integrity that she is meant to have.
To achieve human integrity, a person must:
* first know herself. It would be good for her to know and understand her temperament – both her positive and negative tendencies. Once she starts knowing herself, she will realize that she is different from the others. Thus, she could not expect the same reactions when she deals with different people.
* acknowledge her different tendencies so she can start to control emotions/ sentiments that may not be apt for a given situation.
* not stop on self-knowledge. It is not enough. She also needs to think through situations and events that have provoked her to show her emotions. This way, she'll see facts about herself and the others behind these situations and events.

Self-control and self-possession must be practiced constantly. By constant practice of self-control,that is, by exerting efforts to react according to what reality demands despite her opposing tendencies, she will be lead nearer to self-mastery – human integrity.