2nd week

It's Saturday again! Last week, we made home visits to families in different settlements around Calaanan on three mornings. Except for one family, all meet our requirements: low income and children's interest in attending school. The different resettlement sites also have different atmospheres - from very dirty and run-down to poor but in nature. Especially on the first day, the dirt and neglect of the homes and children emotionally affect me strongly, and the very poor treatment of the pets adds to the overall feeling. There are many dogs in the resettlement sites, and while most of them roam freely and some of them are emaciated and almost hairless due to scabies (and will probably die soon because of it), the others are locked up in cages or chained up very short. For animal lovers like us, these are painful sights. Garbage is almost everywhere - on the street, in nature, in front of the house, and sometimes even inside the house. The worst is the house of a family with three children, the floor partly covered with puddles of water and littered with garbage - everywhere you look, things that should be thrown away. When the mother comes to the Batulong center with the children, the children keep scratching their matted hair - we have asked our staff to have a conversation with the mother about fleas and showers. Sometimes the huts are so small that we can't even go inside - maybe the smallest one I have seen so far with an open floor and a bed of 1.20 x 1.50 meters! The mother has 4 children from 3 different relationships, and two of them live with her and her third partner in this small shack. We ask about family planning / contraception, and she says they are using the calendar method. Since she had severe complications during the last birth and almost died, unfortunately losing the child in the process, her doctor warned her against another pregnancy. Therefore, we strongly urge the couple to consider sterilization, an IUD, or a hormone implant in the upper arm - it could save the mother's life!

On Friday morning, we visit families in Pagatpat - two villages further from Calaanan. The families are told that we will post the results - who is accepted - at the Batulong center in the afternoon. But we make an exception for a young man - he is already studying in his first semester and can barely afford the school fees. But his grades are excellent, and besides that, he takes care of his three siblings because the mother went to Illigan (about 8 bus hours away) with one of the children. We tell him he doesn't have to come all the way to Calaanan, he is accepted. He can hardly believe it at first, and when we leave, Mäge sees him dancing with joy in the house. Such experiences compensate many times over for the more negative feelings that one often has during such visits.

In round 3 on the bank, we finally manage to handle all the signatures and forms, so that we are less dependent on Thata's signature if she can't sign anymore. Our good relationship with the branch manager paves the way for us, and we are very grateful for her help.

Keno and I solve accounting puzzles 😊, while Cherry organizes the sports fest for the children up to 3rd grade, and Mäge creates a billing list for Thata's hospital expenses. I also made it my goal to tidy up / clean / organize the office a bit, and when I reach the third drawer in the safe cabinet, I find a folder filled with documents for our land purchase 10 years ago severely damaged by termites. The small yellow worms are happily eating through the papers, and luckily, the two original documents for the land purchase are still intact. Many things don't last long in the Philippines, be it appliances, buildings, or relationships. And because there is no government support for children after a separation, many children end up with relatives when the woman leaves the man, or they are accepted by a new partner, but not supported as much as the couple's own children. And that is where Batulong helps - so that these children have the same opportunities as the others.

One of our college students had such a strong accident with a borrowed bicycle that she suffered a severe arm fracture. Now the bones are aligned and fixed with metal, and Batulong covers the costs that the family could not afford themselves. We also finance the prescribed physiotherapy because although the wound has healed externally, the girl still cannot bend her arm. In two years, the screws and plates will be removed. The young student has tears of joy when she learns that she can start the physiotherapy!

Unfortunately, we couldn't visit Thata last week because she was not physically fit enough due to the chemotherapy. Now she has a two-week break from chemo, and of course, we want to see her again next week. There is still much to do, and our departure to Camiguin is planned for Friday.