Firemen Get Their Turn...

Submitted August 30, 2008

So, I realized that I left out a public safety component: The Firemen.

There are firetrucks parked near the Puerto Galera Municipal Offices. I have not seen them moved. And I have not seen the firemen out washing them incessantly, either.

But we do see fires. Little fires. Everywhere. Not just on burn days. Every day that it is not raining seems to be a burn day. By the side of the road. Behind the house. Burning trash--burning brush -- just burning.

Yesterday, we had some classroom time at the birth center. I smelled smoke. Looked outside and there was our back 10 on fire. Right next to the clinic. A control burn. I just closed the door. And we finished our studies until we got smoked out.

Sometimes, there are entire hillsides on fire. Slash and burn agriculture. Until the rains come. And the mud slides.

Out-of-control-burn.

Classroom Time!

Written 8/31/08

Kate is doing a good job supervising the Birth Center and training our full-time Midwives, alongside our short-time Midwife and Doula Interns.

It has been really busy with births this month - 23 at last count, plus a few transports we labored with and then regretfully, and with the request/consent of the families, sent to the hospital.

We learn something new with each birth. We talk about it alot.

In the between-birth times, Kate conducts great training classes. She is really good about offering herself as a training aid, and super good about bringing homemade cookies to class! We had an intense two hour plus lesson on shoulder dystocia's yesterday, until we were smoked out (see next blog entry).

Our doula intern Maria is a certified massage therapist, so she was very gracious to teach us some valuable techniques. Of course, we practiced on Kate! And our pregnant women will benefit too.

I hope I never quit learning. Pass it on.

No Shoes? Service!!

Written on 8/22/08

This is the thing about the rural Philippines. You take your shoes off before entering anyone's house.
Including, and especially, the House of God.
So you can get a good idea of how many people you have in church that day by the number of shoes outside being walked over. Then divide by two.

I could not get far back enough to get all the the shoes in the picture, but we had about 40 or 50 people in church. The kids get up in front and sing. And I have asked Pastor Toto to please only give the Scripture references in English so that I can follow along. Otherwise, out of courtesy, he does the whole service twice...once in Tagalog and then repeated in English...and the time spent is doubled!! So he tried, and only gave the sermon conclusions in both languages. Which was perfect. It was a great lesson about being a follower of Jesus, and that it requires taking up our cross. I good sermon always make you think. I know I have a cross to carry--but I need Him to help me bear it. That makes my burden light. When it gets heavy, instead of putting it down and avoiding it, I am learning to turn to Him for assistance.

Pastor Toto is a good man. He does the Baptist service, and then goes up to the Mangyan village and does a service for them. He is committed, along with his wife Ninfa, to serving the poor here. He is walking the walk. He also serves on the elementary school board, and is trying to sponsor five Mangyan children to be in the mainstream classroom. Otherwise, they are segregated because they are too shy to participate. He says these five want to learn and then help their relatives. But school is expensive, and so he prays. And has his motorcycle for sale. Pastor Toto has walked before. And he and his family have lived in a tent along the Mangyan. For years.
He has taken up the Cross and is following Jesus. It shows.

In fact, this picture was on a day that he was too sick with the flu to go to the mountains. So these Mangyan boys went a smoked out a beehive and brought the raw honey to him still in the combs. For medicine. And then he took us to the house of one of our new mothers for a postpartum visit, in the rain, because he did not want us to get lost....it is a good thing the honey worked! He is much better this week.

He is back in service.

For My Law Enforcement Friends

Written on 8/17/08

I realize that I should have written this one before the post on ambulance drivers....so please accept my apologies for not giving the "Pulis" their just due!

I have not taken any pictures of actual law enforcement officers, because a) I do not want to be a tourist, even if they DO have their own branch of service; b) I'm not sure if it is culturally correct; c) it may be against the Filipino Penal Code, or; d) if it is the guy in shorts and flip-flops on the beach with a pulis t-shirt, I would not want to make you too jealous!

There are traffic policemen on the one road through town. Sometimes. And there are no traffic signals at all. They wear yellow shirts and have whistles. It looks like a boring and dangerous assignment.

There is a SWAT vehicle that is a mini-Toyota longbed with benches in the back open to the world and weather. But they all sit with their assault rifles at the ready. (Pointing at pedestrians as they drive by). I have seen them training in military formation. (Note: There are no pictures! You will have to believe me..)

I have met a deputy chief. He was here in Aninuan doing outreach to the community; asking the residents what their problems are. There was a rumor that there was a murder over a domestic dispute. Universal, eh?

Also, please note the phone number to call. It is a lot longer than 911, and looks like a cell phone number.

But they are friendly, as advertised: they let a young woman out of jail right before she was to give birth; drug sentence served. And then they drove her to us. The Deputy Chief had our emergency cell phone number - and Kate had been there at the municipal jail checking on her just a couple of days before. The baby was small but thankfully did not show signs of addiction.

There are rumors of corruption, of course. Our contacts thus far have been friendly.
But:
I would like the tourist police to be as hard on all of the sex-tourists and
families who rent their children to them, as they are on the poor who steal
purses and cameras from careless beach vacationers.
And:
See the good poster, with a cell number? I would like to know how many people call it.
I would like an International Megan's Law, and a Sexual Assault Unit to enforce it, but
I know that not going to happen here soon until people are more indignant and people are
not so so poor.

So, there is real crime here. I am not worried about us. The prey who are children break my heart. So we do little things to let the obvious perverts know that we see them. And we support local and international efforts:

Our website, as we help children in crisis as well as Maternal/Child Health:
http://www.mercyinaction.org

My son-in-law Chris is assisting at the local Stairway Foundation: http://www.stairwayfoundation.org
Working with child victims of sexual assault here in Aninuan, Puerto Galera

I am also a longtime financial supporter: of International Justice Mission
http://www.ijm.org
Former/current Law Enforcement & Lawyers RESCUING child victims and
human slaves around the world, including the Philippines. Consider it!

And, we recently helped a pregnant victim of rape give up her newborn to a reputable Christian adoption agency. Legally. She had been hoping a "rich person in Manila" would take the baby, but with our support and of other missionaries, was really glad about this option. Her family would not have accepted the baby and she had been living here in exile until time to deliver.
The wrong person here felt shame...also universal?

I wish we could do more. But we are helping one at a time. And when God brings someone to us instead of to a baby-buyer, then we act. We have trained to take care of children in crisis and Vicki over the years has developed many relationships with other missionaries as resources. Our mission is primarily to Maternal and Child Health, and there are many aspects to that, for sure. I wish she had time to tell her stories!

And please pray that the self-professed Christian deputy chief will just feel an overpowering urge to use his power to direct the Tourist Pulis to keep the children out of the hands of monsters.

That would help.

A First Second!

Written 8/17/08

We had a baby born at Mercy In Action Maternity Center last night. And we had a little party this morning before she went home with her family. They are the first to deliver a second baby with us. Her older brother was born in August of last year, attended by Vicki, Rose, Ian and DJ. We do not advocate such close birth spacing, but it happens....

So I made dessert and we had a party. The mom also reminded me that she was the first Muslim to give birth at Mercy In Action! So...she was the first but definitely not the last. There have been quite a few from that community during the past year.

I love that they know they are welcome. They know we are a Christian organization. It is their choice to come to prenatals and lessons, and they usually choose to stay respectfully during prayer. It is also their choice to come to prenatals later in the morning and some choose that.

We had a talk this morning about how we are the same. We love our children. We shared our hearts during this birth, which was not an easy one. I gave the baby the most beautiful handmade donated heart quilt (Bless You Janet!). They wanted me to give their thanks to Vicki for bringing the clinic to Puerto Galera, and they want her back here soon. And of course they wanted me to thank Kate for all that she and the staff did on their behalf. It was a nice celebration with lots of smiling and happiness.

I pray that they see Jesus in all of this too. Because I love them.

Part-Time Ambulance Driver

Written 8/7/08

Yes, there is an ambulance serving Puerto Galera, an area of over 22,000 people and about 100 square miles. It is the middle picture, parked at the municipal offices.
It is nice and new. There are no paramedics to staff it, but sometimes you can get a driver to come from his home at night to go to the hospital in Calapan, 1 1/2 to 2 hours away on curvy and rough dirt and asphalt roads. Sometimes it is already gone. Sometimes they do not answer the phone. And sometimes there is a van without a side door that shows up instead. It costs 1000 Philippine pesos or about $22, which is half the price of a private car if you can find one. That can be a month's income. Of course, in the USA it might cost you a month's pay for an ambulance ride, if you don't have insurance. But here, you pay in advance or you don't leave the hospital.
You buy your medicine and bring it to the doctor. If you have a hospital meal, your family brought it.

But I don't want to talk about the hospital. Let's just say that the midwives and staff do everything in their power to avoid having anyone take the trip. Even in normal, natural births there are times that medical intervention is necessary. Poverty increases the risk of birth. We can consider all of our women high-risk, but our midwives are training in advanced midwifery skills as per the World Health Organization. So yes, a lot of the trips are prevented just because Mercy In Action is here.


And sometimes--those times that hospital doctors ARE necessary--sometimes Mercy In Action IS the ambulance service. The old ambulance (top photo) we had here had to be scrapped (top picture) because it had made one too many trips to Calapan City. It had been fixed and fixed and fixed again until it had no life left and could never be depended upon. So now our ambulance is Vicki and Scott's car. A little old green Highlander that is starting to meet the same fate as the prior ambulance. It rattles and bangs and has been in for a few fixes (one pending, in fact!) but it has been making the trips when needed. We try to wisely limit those times, but when you are in the Mercy Business, you use the resources you have.

So, last night, there was a young woman who delivered her first baby. It was a nice, relaxed, normal slow birth. The baby was big and his shoulder got stuck. We turned her in the proscribed maneuver to free the baby and he was then born. He was fine but there was damage at some point and the mother was bleeding from a severe tear deep inside. Kate and the clinic doctor worked in tandem to clamp the bleeding, but this was a true emergency and she needed a transfusion. We had an IV in and had called the ambulance. It was gone.

There was not time for the family to arrange any other transport. They had come in a tricy that morning. It was after 8:30 pm. I brought Scott and Vicki's car around and drove like mad. I was remembering how my Dad taught me to drive fast on the dirt ranch roads where I grew up. He told me "Now, I don't condone driving fast, but if you ever have to, you should know how." (I think he was having fun too...) Anyway, we got to the provincial hospital with the mother still awake and breastfeeding her baby. There was room for 3 relatives and Mildred, our senior Filipina midwife. Plus the mom and baby.

Bet you ambulance drivers in the States are jealous. Because dodging people and dogs and goats in the road are just a bonus. There was not much vehicle traffic, but we did meet the ambulance on their way back. On a blind curve. They corrected at the last minute, and we still have an ambulance in Puerto Galara and a Mercy In Action back-up...

We got there. Then the hospital takes them in, and do not tell us anything. It is hard.

At 11:00 pm went to a private hospital to visit one of our local pastor's young sons who was hospitalized with low platelets and a fever. They feared dengue fever, which has increased in the Philippines this year. The reason the ambulance had been gone earlier was because the local clinic doctor recommended that the boy be hospitalized just in case. The pastor has put his motorcycle up for sale already to cover the ambulance and hospital costs.

We are hoping and praying. We have done what we can.

And we are waiting to hear.

Maia Turns One Year Old

Written 8/4/08

It is official. Maia turned one year old 2 days ago. Sigh. They grow up so fast!

She even looks grown up! Her hair will now go into little ponies, and she has little earrings that match her beautiful green eyes . And today, she took 2 steps.
In a row.

In the Philippines, a first birthday is major stuff. If a baby survives that long,then she is more likely to live. And it is cause for the family to celebrate. Celebrate Big. Invite all the neighbors over and feed them. Have games for the children, and personalized balloons for them to take home. And in this case, a Videoke machine.

Chris and Kate hosted the party at the house they are renting. As the Lola, I made the cakes and ordered the balloons. We bought the food and the neighbors all generously offered to make and bring the Filipino pancit, sweet spaghetti, and lumpia. All amazingly delicious. And even though it rained and poured, around 40 people showed up to celebrate with Maia.

Maia was a happy child all day. She was good with all of the people, and attention--and with the presents of course! People were very generous to her. She is famous around these parts--the locals call to her by name. Her parents bought her a baby goat for a pet.

Happy Birthday Maia!