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Medical Mission
ROSA
MYSTICA V
organised
by ACIM ASIA
Manila, Philippines
July 25 - July 29, 2011
Day Three: Wednesday 27 July
Thank God for the Philippine Army!
To the faithful who have been following our news, be rest assured that
we are all healthy and safe! It was upon reading the newspapers that
we realised the scale of an earthquake that had hit us. It measured
5.9 on the Richter scale. We similarly learned that a typhoon, by the
name of Nock-ten, had already killed 20 people in Manila and caused
the population to receive a warning not to leave their houses. Despite
of this, the influx of patients was dense throughout the whole day even
as the rain continued to pour generously.
Until presently the head of the Barangay had never accommodated a mission as important as ours. We are happy to have been warmly welcomed by the local leaders, and Fr. Couture even had to refuse to publicise the event in neighbouring churches in order to prevent us from being submerged with patients. On the other hand it is sad to state that some priests from the parishes surrounding our church had forbidden their faithful from having our priests come to bless their houses. At the same time however they won’t do the same themselves.
We even had an official visit of the Barangay Captain (center) and two of his councilors.
On arrival in the morning we found a person hunched up on a bench and
burning with fever, the same patient with tuberculosis that Dr. Dickès
had sent to the hospital earlier on. The staff however had only analysed
his sputum. For this poor man to survive it is necessary for the mission
to take charge of him. This would however be expensive. He will have
to be taken care of by the TB hospital.
Over the course of the day we admired on a number of occasions the devotion of the Filipinos. Two persons cleaned from top to bottom the comfort-rooms (toilets) all day long in order to make the patients comfortable; if we did not give them some lunchboxes they would have fasted the entire day. In addition we appreciated the efficacious aid rendered to us by some men; we had hardly filled a heavy carton before it found itself on their shoulders.
Dra
Elaine in her section had about 80 pair of eyes to examine
Delphine from Marseille handles the dressing of wounds
As a reward for a humid day of hard work, Dr. Dickès presided
over the traditional annual gathering of the society of balut eaters
(a balut is a duck embryo of 16 or 18 days – it hatches at 21
days!). Some recalcitrant refuse as always to enter but happily this
year the new volunteers showed themselves to be more valiant. They will
perhaps initiate you upon their return back home…
Till tomorrow if you will…
Everyone has to pass by the vigilant eye of St Joseph