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Medical Mission
ROSA
MYSTICA V
organised
by ACIM ASIA
Manila, Philippines
July 25 - July 29, 2011
Mabuhay!
(Welcome in Tagalog)
Day One: July 25, 2011
Will
you help me please?
At 6.45am the army vehicle must come to pick the volunteers up, but
to our surprise it presents itself 25 minutes early, something never
seen before in the Philippines! It is the first miracle of the mission.
After a small luxurious breakfast (served with knives and eaten with
butter!), the serious tasks begin. All the volunteers were at the Barangay
Mariana by 8.00am. Some patients were already waiting for us at the
entrance: there was turmoil at the gymnasium, it being also the time
to complete the last installations. After the experience of four years,
the logistics flow more smoothly. The welcome and registration of the
patients are handled by the Bethanians; the taking of the body’s
vital signs by the nurses and the direction of the patients towards
the respective services (dentist, doctor, paediatrician and even barber!).
To finish, each patient passes through the pharmacy to obtain the necessary
medicine. Two patients were even taken to the hospital for the treatment
of more serious conditions.
One
of the joys of this mission is to be able to do good to the military.
Here they kneel to receive the scapular from Fr. Couture.
During this time, Fr. Onoda prays with the children in front of a pretty
little oratory that is decorated with flowers and candles. The Oblate
sisters teach the catechism while Fr. Castel goes about blessing houses.
Fr. Suelo imposes the brown scapular on the patients.
Fr. Suelo and Sister take care of the spiritual needs
Typhoon Juaning was also part of the Filipino welcome
Not surprising some did not dare leave their homes to come to the mission
Unlike the previous two years, we are right in the middle of the city
centre in a well-off area of Manila. We consequently have to transport
patients from more disadvantaged quarters with the help of the army
trucks. For this first day, there were nevertheless 320 patients from
the poorer areas. At the mission’s location many go to consult
the paediatrician but curiously the dentists were less frequently solicited;
perhaps because the brushing of teeth has become more of an occurrence
in the habits of city dwellers? Having said so, the nurses have nevertheless
observed that there were many children with teeth the colour of carbon.
We generously distributed vitamins, for all suffer from malnutrition.
A woman even became delighted at being hypoglycaemic because this earned
her a cake which she exhibited with a smile in front of all of her friends.
We were somewhat embarrassed to eat in front of them, by reason of the
hunger which gnaws inside of them more than it does in us.
Our faithful Dra Lagare, from General Santos is with us for the fifth year.
The first day of our mission concluded at 3.00pm. After a long process
of tidying up, the debriefing revealed a recurring problem: the distribution
of medicines from the pharmacy. For legal reasons we are obliged to
note all the medicines which were delivered and to sign off each patient.
Next, it was necessary to explain the dosage to each patient (in Tagalog,
certainly!) This is a long and fastidious work which we are going to
try to improve over the next few days.
Is Sister Maria Rosario helping or giving advice to Dra Nisperos, our untiring dentist?
We thank our assiduous readers for reading about the mission. You can
certainly continue to pray as the injections, the pulled-out teeth and
the healing of infected wounds have a great need of a spiritual work
for which we have left our own countries.
Paalam po ! (Farewell in Tagalog)
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