WHAT WE DO

Brent tells us that people ask about how we are and then ask what we do. And so this is a little overview of how are days are generally spent. I have been in the country 5 months and I feel like I am just barely learning how to do this. Our primary role is not to give out wheelchairs, though that is where we spend much of our time. Our most important roll is to find "Partners", groups that are involved with the disabled and would like to join with us in the process in their areas. The church has asked us to try and visit with our partners once a month. I wish we could actually go to all the places each month because they include:

Vigan

Belar

 Dagupan

 Bataan

And Biñan (had to "borrow" one of these pics)

We also have Akap-Pinoy which is just across the street from our office. but we just did a distribution there.

Back to the process. It begins with an assessor to "assess" the client. Takes 20 minutes or so. Sometimes the Partner does an outreach into "back country" and invites us along. That has taken my Area Service Missionaries to many places. There is a trip coming to the northern most island called Itbayat with Physicians for Peace. I have reserved that trip for Bruce and I. We will see if we actually can get free to go. The assessor takes the assessment form to the Partner. Partner "encodes" or puts in on an excel sheet designed for our computer. Partner emails the sheet to our office. We upload and review. Then we send back to the Partner the approved device notification, lovingly referred to as the "ADN". The computer looks for people who are trying to get a second chair, (when the value of a chair is $150 US it is a good source of income), it checks if we have the chair in stock, among other items. But once the Partner has the ADN they go to the warehouse, (some have their own, manned by one of our service missionaries and stocked by us. Other come into Manila each time) and pick up the chairs.

We like our Service Missionaries to be involved in the distribution of the chairs. It is often done in a big group session. But our service missionaries are most valuable to us as they do "follow up", which is a visit to the client in the following few months to make sure everything has been done right.

These are some of the Area Service Missionaries when we went out to Bataan to do a day of "follow up"

Our job is to sort of oversee that whole process. I am on the computer most days. Bruce is involved with our new project of importing through an in-country corporation. It has taken 6 months so far to try and get it set up. I mentioned the best part: traveling to visit the Partners.  We also run trainings for new assessors. We have a couple of those coming up. I also have taken on the challenge of some training guides for everything we do. Anyone know something about screen recording programs and how to use them?  It seems the best way to teach how to use a computer program.

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about Humanitarian Wheelchairs in the Philippines.

TRIP TO VIGAN

One of our Partners is the University of the Northern Philippines, situated in the northern portion of the island of Luzon.

 As we are in the process of re signing all of are agreements with partners, we had the opportunity to visit there.  Our friends and co-workers, the Morellos came with us, as Vigan is requesting our help in outfitting a mobile medical clinic. This is basically a small truck fitted with some basic equipment to do medical screening. UNP has a medical, nursing, and orthopedic rehabilitation department. Each student must complete a certain number of service hours in outreach clinics into the rural areas before they receive their degrees.
Our meeting with the University accomplished a lot of good. I can see why it is important for us to be out with the partners frequently. There are things you assume they understand and you find they do not. While we were in all visiting I meet these young ladies just outside the room.

I just love their school uniforms. Each school has a different skirt and they wear white blouses. I think that we should do this in Utah. These girls attend the "Edith Bowen" or laboratory school  of this University

After our meetings, Elder Rosario, who is obviously a member of the church and a teacher at the University and also serving as our liaison with the University, took us on a tour of Vigan. It is an old Spanish town and it was a very interesting place to see

This is the entrance to the University. No, it does not look like an American university but yes, it is a very good school.

We took a boat trip down the river. It was kind of like a  disneyland tour with 6 dioramas on each side explaining the history of Vigan.

 But even though that was silly, we got to see these:

These are fish farms. They have large netted areas out in the river in which they farm fish.

These guys saw me taking a picture and posed for the camera.

We visited the potters shop. I'll bet all of you potters use a Carabao to kneed your clay

They just drive him around and around to soften and blend the clay. I think it also may be responsible for some of the color of the clay.

But every potter recognizes this. The potter said he made 40 pots a day. Note that the wheel is run by foot power.

One of the pictures that I didn't get was the kiln. It was probably 50 yards long, ran up hill and was heated with a wood fire. I just can't imagine how hot it would be in summer - which starts in March - because it was hot during our visit during "winter".

We visited the weavers and of course I had to buy a little cloth. Didn't take a picture of my own so I borrowed this from the internet. I don't know why I bother to take a camera. Someone with a better camera has already taken the picture. 

Vigan is an old Spanish town and are very proud of their Spanish architecture. The pony drawn carts are very typical in any area where there has been a Spanish influence. 

It is great to be able to travel a bit and see the "real" Philippines and not just Manila. But mostly we like doing the Humanitarian Work we have been called to do. 

OBANDO AND ZOMBALES

De La Salle Universtiy is one of our wheelchair partners. They can prescribe both standard and supportive wheelchairs. We went with them to do what they call a "mission" into both Obando, just an hour or so (depends on traffic) to the west of Manila and then down 9 hours to the south to Zombales. Obando was the first such wheelchair distribution I had been to. I had a lot of fun and then later figured out that I needed to stop playing with the kids and start doing some work about keeping track of wheelchairs.

Here we are setting up. You can see Sis Casaol in the background. Those are our yellow LDS Charities shirts

This is Dra Licuan in the polo shirt. She is in the Dean at De La Salle.

We gave this gentlemen a Rough Rider. It is a chair mean to be for those move themselves around. It has a lot more maneuverability.

This is Sister Mercolita in her LDSC shirt

I played a lot with this happy young lady. It is hard for these kids when you first put them in a supportive chair because it feels uncomfortable to them.

This is me in a few more years.

You can see the big boxes that house our wheelchairs. 

Only our Elder and Sister Mercolita and Sisters Flores and DeGuzman accompanied the DeLaSalle team to Zombales. They left an a Saturday night and arrived there at about midnight. They worked all day Sunday after attending the local branch and finished their work on Monday morning.

Our "tarpaulin" as it is referred to by our missionaries

Elder Mercolita was asked to give a Sunday message about why the church gives chairs. Sorry about the smudge on Sister's camera

Sister Mercolita at work

I wanted to go badly to Zabales. You can tell it is beautiful.

Getting to work

PAGSANJAN FALLS

Some of you have seen these pictures in my web albums. I uploaded my pictures there so that they are reduced to a manageable size that transports easily. So even if you have seen the pictures, let me tell you about it.
This was the last day trip of the old Senior Zone. We do have a lot of fun together: I'm glad most live right here in Eastwood so we can still see each other to do dinner and such. But anything that gets one out of Metro Manila is a lot of fun. We traveled to the bottom of Laguana Bay into beautiful country. This is old Spanish terriority. All along the bottom of the bay are famous mineral baths popular with the old Spanish conquerors.. So you can see a lot of Spanish architecture in the small cities. Here are some maps of where we were, the first so you can see my "home" in Quezon City, the green balloon is the falls. . .

. . .and the second a tight shot of the area. As an aside, you can see Tanay where my Branch is in the upper picture at the top of the middle toe of the dinosaur footprint.

You can hike down to the falls from Cavinti, but the best way and the most fun is on the river. You load into a small dug-out boat (made of aluminum), and your2 boatmen paddle and pull to get you up the river. 

The  boat men, one at the front and one at the back, almost drag you through the rapids. But here you will notice, there are logs across the rapid and the boat men pull the boat along the top of the logs

Here it is just pulling and pushing. With 2 big, heavy Americans in the boat, it was a huge job. We gave this guys a good tip.

The sides of the canyon felt perfectly vertical but amazing trees were growing out of the sides. There were falls like this all the way along.

But sometimes it was quiet paddling.

Finally at the falls. Now we all get on that little raft you see being pulled along a rope. They pull you under the falls into Devil's cave, turn you around and bring you back out. You get plenty wet!

A CHAIR FOR BISHOP WILLIE

One of the people who works in our office is Willie. He is such a great guy. And he is also a Bishop. Bishop Willie needed a wheelchair for a woman in his ward. During the holidays we got our secretary, who is a certified wheelchair assessor (We are not yet and it is a problem) and we drove out to Taytay to take a chair. Actually we took several chairs so we would be sure to have the right one.

This is MeAnn measuring. She also has to assess balance and sensation. She has to teach the recipient how to live in a chair, how to keep moving to avoid pressure sores and how to keep the chair clean.

Our Group Photo. I surely look pasty white next to those beautiful brown faces. I am having second thoughts about the phrase "white and delightsome".