Questions from Mary's mom

Mary's mom emailed some questions to us, and we thought you might all like to hear the answers.

Do the kids there get sick from insect bites? They can get dengue fever if the mosquito bites someone else with it. But it’s not common.

Do they get malaria? Not here, but in the rural parts, they do and maybe by the city dump where it’s really dirty. We probably won’t end up going there because they said the health risks are too high.

I can't visualize what the days are like as far as what people are doing. We are getting up and eating breakfast at 7. (Two people get up and go to the home earlier to get the kids to school. We rotate that job.) Then we head out to work at the school or play with the kids at the home. Some people go and work at other clinics on various days to observe and help and learn. We switch off lots so it’s very confusing. We have learned to expect anything to change at any time with no notice! And this week there was no school, they had a break and had vacation bible school for the kids in the home and all the kids in the community that wanted to come(it can be like 500 kids). Another team came to do that. And hopefully our own clinic will be open next week so some of us will staff that. There will be a dentist, too next week or so and we have learned to assist her.

What is the children's home like? Are they separated by age? They are all together in a house like a very big family. They have two girls bedrooms and three boys bedrooms. And they are pretty much with kids their own age. But they all eat together and play together. Then they split up for school. They all seem like siblings and have fights like siblings, but they are really very good.

Are Siblings kept together? Yes. Not many are adoptable (in fact, since the home started two years ago, none have been adopted)because they are not free of family ties. Only five are adoptable I think.

How do they get food and clothing? Jeff Long, who started the home (and is starting another one in Mindinao) goes to the US pretty often and raises money for all the needs they have. They have their own clothes and then hand them down to the next person when they grow out of them. Jeff Long hires full time Philippino staff to cook, care for, and teach the kids at school.

Do the babies have pampers and pull-ups? ;) yup, but you see a lot of naked kids running around in the street outside the children’s home. Or taking a bath in a little round tub outside. Their houses are small and the weather always nice, so they spend most time outside. And it is lawful for men to pee anywhere they want here, so sometimes you see that (they are pretty discreet)!

So I take it that the screens (or lack of) was just an example of how
poor the people are. I mean, that is not the only house without screens. Right? It’s kind of hard to figure out what’s going on here. They all just built houses on someone else’s land and work in factories that either illegally pay below a living wage ($3 a day) or will only hire them for 5 months (after 6 months they have to be given benefits). They have enough to live day to day because they only have to pay for water, electricity, and food. Some even have cell phones. But there is no way to get heath care because transportation is impossible here and no good way to become educated, so they are just stuck at this level of living. They improve in some areas, but without education… People just die if they get sick. Even if they could get to a hospital, they wouldn’t get in unless they had cash.

Do they have fabric stores? Do they have any interesting fabrics?
Yes, in the mall, I haven’t been there yet, but I’ll check!

How did you fund the clinic? Did Navs have funds for it or was it all
funded by your little group or what? When you leave who is going to be
running the clinic? We got donations of medical equipment to bring and we raised extra money as part of the cost of our trip. Our money is worth more here so it goes a long way. We’ve been able to pay for two people to go to the hospital already.

How do you find the people there? Are they nice toward you? I guess I
am so used to the stand-offish nature of New Englanders that I just have
to ask. Do they ask you lots of questions about life in the US? They are soooo friendly. People wave and say hi to you as you walk down the street and tell you that you are beautiful or handsome. They love for you to stop and talk. They all assume we are super rich and sometimes ask for the clothes off our backs! But then some are so generous – a woman from the squatter village that we knew ended up on a trike with us and paid for our whole family. I think it depends on their state of mind. Some are satisfied with their life and work hard and try to stay healthy. Some are despairing and fall into drinking and not taking care of themselves or their families. Most people though are kind, very intelligent, loving people. It’s funny how little things surprise you and you realize you thought they were so different but they are not. A mom was playing with her little one year old at the clinic, just the way I play with Macy. She would gently poke her mom in the eyes and her mom would pretend to cry and she’d kiss her mom’s eyes and laugh. The mom caught me watching her and smiling, and she smiled at me and laughed and looked embarrassed.