Hope is unmeasurable

WHEW! The Bohol free children’s clinics are finally done. Please check out the photos below!

• July 13 – Pamilacan Island, Baclayon
• July 14 – Mantatao Island, Calape
• July 16 – Dasitam, Baclayon

The biggest challenge I see in helping my aunt’s free children’s clinic disseminate its cause to potential donors is showing donors that their money is not only contributing to a temporary improvement in children’s lives, but a lasting one.

It is hard to “sell” the idea that every dollar, euro, and piso is contributing to an end to malnourishment in my mom’s home province. With that said, i’ll be working on financial reports and begin displaying the birth rates and ligations of mothers here in Bohol. But as society veers down a road more and more dependent on facts, science, and technology rather than beliefs, religion, and old fashioned ways, I think the disconnect between human emotion and human logic grows ever more wider. And this is not a good thing.

My point is that when I met a woman whose child was wrinkled and gasping for air (I have yet to ask my aunt what his disorder was) I looked at his mother’s face and was able to see her sleepless nights watching her baby curl and twist. For some reason, her face told me her story. And for some reason I believe the free clinic she attended gave her just a bit more hope towards a cure for her son.

How? By reminding her that there are people out there in the world, whether thousands of miles away, or in her backyard, who are willing to take a chance to help parents like her, and children like hers.

I can show you where your money goes. I can show you how much the birthrates of each town has decreased. I can show you how many women have accepted ligations and how many men receive vasectomies. I can show you the numbers. We gave free consultations to more than 200 children. We passed out 210 bottles of paracetamol and amoxicillin. We gave away 150 bags of toys, 50 coloring books, and 40 newborn baby outfits.

But I can’t show you how much hope is distributed among these families. I wish I could share with you the memories we made with these children. For this data, not even photos and video can harness this impact.

In the end, taking logical steps, using intelligent ideas, and implementing smarter tools will help us end many of the world’s problems today and in the future. But hope is the initial motivation for us as staff members of this clinic, and hope is the best medicine these families could ever get. For free.

I very big thanks (I can’t thank him enough) to my family’s resident photographer, Allan Chatto. Check out his photos here on Flickr.

And last but not least a “dagkong salamat” to Tita Len, essentially a second mother to hundreds of children in Bohol.