Batulong with the new team

Our new social worker's first day at work is a bit chaotic and unsatisfactory. We all meet in town to go to the diabetes doctor with the caretaker Diana. We had some difficulty with the previous social worker regarding these doctor visits, but it wasn't really clear whether the doctor was uncooperative or the employee was incompetent. Now we want to clarify this, but first Diana has to have her 3-month average sugar value determined in a laboratory. After being told the day before that the result would be available an hour later, we are now being told to come back in three hours. So, after a visit to the bank, we sit down in our hotel and try to go through initial information to Aiza, while Diana sits next to her and Keno has to make a payment at a college. Finally it's one o'clock and we drive to the cinema. There we are told that only one accompanying person is allowed into the consultation room. Not ideal because either Mäge or I will go in with Diana, but the doctor will speak to her with Bisaya because Diana doesn't understand English. When I ask Diana to check which medication she takes and when, she answers: “No more”. We are shocked. So a month ago, when the tablets were gone, she simply said nothing and went back to taking her “leaves for diabetes”. Of course we are upset because all the effort with 3 months of sugar etc. was in vain. We immediately cancel the doctor's appointment and drive back to Calaanan. In a conversation afterwards we try once again to explain to Diana what diabetes is and why not taking the medication will cause long-term damage. The fact that she should think and decide for herself is probably too big a challenge for her. Although she is a good caretaker and takes care of the dogs, her actions are often incomprehensible to us.
Aiza makes a very good first impression and learns quickly. Working with her is easy and uncomplicated. On Tuesday afternoon we take her to Thata's to introduce her to Batulong's first manager. Thata is doing better under the circumstances because she is responding well to the cancer medication.
On the following two days we make home visits to families who have registered for support from Batulong. A family lives on top of a hill and when Aiza wants to take a group photo of the children, she notices that one girl always has her hand over her mouth. She has a cleft palate and lip, perhaps also a cleft jaw. We photograph her with the promise of enabling her to have an operation and of course she and her father are very happy. She owes the fact that she was at home at all to the wonderful coincidence that the semester exams don't take place until the afternoon. Despite limited speech, the girl has very good grades at school. After the semester break we will make initial clarifications.
Another family decided not to send their fifth child to kindergarten for financial reasons - the money simply wasn't enough, the mother said. Unfortunately, we can't simply enroll the 5-year-old in the existing class because they are already too advanced with the school material (they're already learning numbers and letters), but the boy is allowed to join in as a "sit in" and then probably has to Repeat again year. However, we believe that it is good for the child to be with peers.
When we walk down the street or, for example, are in the schoolyard doing an assessment for the boy, mothers always come up to us and ask whether they could perhaps be supported. Keno then distributes registration forms. Of course there are those who are hoping for cash payments or who are not eligible for us because of their income, but we are always happy when we see potential families and children who need help.
On the way back to the center we stop by Marivic's house: she sits alone in front of the house - something that would have been impossible in May - and we take a quick photo.
The week ends for us with a visit to our Camiguin friends Maiko and X at the Batulong Center, final office work and a first insight into accounting for Aiza. It's now time to leave our two employees alone for a bit. Next week there is nothing going on apart from the sports festival, the schools are closed and the second semester starts the week after. We are now back in Camiguin for a while.