Hello From Jeane Aller

 What can I say — if this is what socialized medicine is about — you will all need to spend a day at a Health Clinic in Loboc before you vote next time.

 

300 plus Barrio residents lined up even before the doctors and nurses arrived. Everything from dental to meds to circumcisions. Would you believe that I was in charge of leading those adorable little boys to their ill-fated procedure. Yes, Virginia there is a universal gesture for comfort, caring and love.

 

By mid-morning it was pouring monsoonal rains and still no one left, not even those little boys. The dentist chair was set up behind a screen on stacked plastic chairs that were adjusted to fit the height of the patient. A Filipino lady, Larana, who I am working with at the Production center was to have all of what teeth she had left pulled today. But her blood pressure was too high. I would have said amen. But off she went to the pharmacy which was set up on a picnic table to get what they could give her to get it back down. Larena is 39 years old, less than 5 feet tall, less than 100 pounds, six daughters and her husband died last year from an asthma attack.

 

But you know what is amazing — they don’t know any differently and this was a free clinic that gave them a cure and hope. And that was more important than sterile.

 

We were served a magnificent lunch. A whole roasted pig, vegetables, a salad and of course rice. Again. The owner of the hospital, a 78 year old gentleman, brought a Ube cake for dessert. Ube is a purple root and unbelievably tasty. Of course, the cake was a beautiful bright purple. All the little girls back home would love it.

 

After lunch, it was back to the Production Center to meet with Vicky and Larena and plan our strategy for our buying trip to the island of Cebu.

We are buying wholesale supplies that we can put into kits for the women in the Barrio to take home and make gifts. These gifts can be sold at the River Hut. We need to find a way for women to generate an income. Vicky worked last night on the Flour Sack bag that I mentioned in my previous email. It is beautiful, She wants this idea to work. We think that we are going to call it Project Feed. Vicky, by the way, works 8 hours a day, 6 days a week for 92 pesos a day. That is $2.00.

Yup — TWO DOLLARS.

 

It was an amazing day . I am hooked. The rewards spring eternal faith in this mission.

 

Tomorrow is our day of rest. Fellowship and then off to a day at the beach.

  

XOXOX

Jeane

 

PS Check out Mery’s blog @ merydonald.blogspot.com