I cannot do justice to describing the beauty of the people in the Philippines. Inside and out, these people were strong, stunning and authentic. They seemed to be hardworking and resilient. I am about to run out of words.
This was the long line of people, actually just the beginning of the line,
waiting for us every morning. Usually between 500 and 600 ultimately made the line. The worst part was having to turn people away when we ran out of hours in the day.
An awful feeling. But here are some of the wonderful patients...
More beauty.
I couldn't believe it when this gorgeous woman told me her age. Nearly -- well, no need to tell all the secrets. But you would be shocked. So sweet. I could have chatted with her all day.
Gorgeous. This little family reminds me of a person or two at home.
By this point, I am seriously starting to consider adoption. She made my heart melt.
This is Ethel. She was one of my favorite local girls in Angono. Looks like a nurse, doesn't she? Nope, she is a midwife. We really hit it off very well. We have been keeping in touch, and when I go back, I plan to meet up with her. Since she lives in the province of Rizal, she is close to Manila --
so we should have no trouble finding each other.
Vanessa and Samantha -- still all smiles on the bus at the end of the day. Have I told you about Vanessa? She is a hard working nurse who lives in the Philippines. This is only the second year for her to participate in the mission, and she is unbelievably helpful. Knowing the dialect is more than half the battle in treating all these patients. She is sweet, quiet, very smart -- and extremely hard working. And here is a daily detail about Samantha, she runs. She runs ultra marathons. I had to ask what that was. They are 50 miles long. I called her a name. Crazy.
Nandy has been coming on these trips for longer than I have; okay, I have no idea how long. But she clearly knew what was going on and what needed to happen. We should probably call her "The Organizer." She made things come together seamlessly, and we lost her to illness on the second half of the trip. She was missed.
This was upon arrival at the hospital one morning. Elvie, Luz, Neo and me. (Nurse, nurse, local volunteer and me.) Have you detected my selection of photos today which show my tallness? I'm telling you, I was a giant. Kinda fun, kinda awkward.
Dr. Yvonne went over the top to see this little girl one day. Her parents didn't want her to miss school, so they came and stood in line for her. When they were called up, the daughter still wasn't out of school They explained her symptoms, and Yvonne wanted to give them the help they needed. Yvonne waited while they literally ran to the school, scooped up this little punkin, and brought her back. Not sure of the diagnosis, but I know she was helped. Can you feel the preciousness? Just darling.
Going rogue here...
There were unwelcome visitors in our cabin at the water park resort. Dr. Christine was my roommate for the first half of the trip. It was all fun and games while the reptile was on MY side of the room and above MY bed. Yes, it was near the ceiling, but not tolerable if you think I am going to close my eyes until I know he is gone. I can be tough when I have to be tough. If there had been a man within 50 feet, you can bet I would have carried him into that room to help us. But I ran outside, and it was a ghost town. No one in sight. I found a big dead palm leaf branch that was about 5 feet long. I couldn't take pictures and perform the extraction of the reptile, and Christine was pretty helpful, over there standing on her bed -- so I slowly encouraged, with gentle nudges, the lizard toward the door. As the lizard moved, he fell down on the window. That was when Christine started screaming. When she started screaming, I couldn't help myself, and maybe I started screaming a little bit. Her sister, Yvonne, heard us next door, and knowing that two really tough women screaming and yelling couldn't be good, she did what any good sister would do, ran out of her own room, away from ours, found Ed, one of the local Rotarians helping the group, and she sent him towards all the commotion. (Excuse the run-on sentence, but it all happened very fast.) He came in, reached up and grabbed the lizard with his hand, took him outside and disposed of him for us. Our hero. Never a dull moment.
