back to the field September 15, 2010

September 15, 2010

Okay, so I’ve finally returned “home” and am working in the field again. Yesterday I spent the day with one district while they went house to house vaccinating. If feels like forever since I’ve done that… all went smoothly… they had 87 defaulters to vaccinate and got 57. Pretty good. It was good to be back in the field… even if the patrol had to be pushed down the road to get it started a few times… the fun of being in the field. There was one family we visited that reminded me why I’m doing what I’m doing… the family consisted of the 2 parents and the 7 children. Their home? A crumbling 8 foot long wall marked one side of the house… tarps hanging down the other three sides completed the house. The inside space of maybe 8×12 feet had two twin sized platforms in the middle, a shelf built along one of the tarp walls and an old counter, with cabinets, on the other side. A baby basket was swinging from the corrugated tin roof in the middle of the home, inside was the youngest – no bottoms since he’d been suffering from diarrhea for 2 days. The other children ran about… dad was chopping up small chunks of wood, mom was taking clothes down from drying… the thing that stuck out to me about this family was how clean they were. And all the children were dressed in clean clothes… maybe it was laundry/washing day, I’m not sure… the oldest child, a girl of 13ish, even had in cute earrings. Most kids I encounter are dirty and often only wear shirts, or maybe just pants, but hardly both. They were a kind family, thanked the nurses several times for coming by. I rarely hear that now that I think about it. I’ve encountered many families since working here, but this once stuck out to me… their small home tucked back into the field off a main road, along a creek/barangay boundary… I can’t even imagine what their life is like. I feel as though my little hotel room is small and it is just me and a few geckos living in here… but them? I have two twin beds; they just have the platforms, no mattresses. I don’t know what in life took them along this path…brought them to this place in life. It still makes me sad to think of them… but they smiled, the children laughed, they were grateful for vaccines for their babies… the human spirit never ceases to amaze me.

Yesterday I also watched a little girl carry a duckling around with her. She obviously loved this little creature… even though it was as dirty as she was. It was hard sight to watch… a half naked, dirty child carrying a muddy duckling around by its neck. When she would drop it, it would gasp for air and try to waddle away. But her dirty little hands would snatch it back up again. At one point, I saw this child carrying a cage, but the duckling only had a short respite, for the child grabbed it by the neck and pulled it out… duckling in one hand, empty cage in the other. But when this child was being vaccinated, she wanted to hold onto her duckling for comfort… mom just threw the duckling down on the ground, near my feet. I watched its little body struggle for life while its child owner cried from a vaccination… and my feet were intensely itching from being bitten by ants or mites or something else mean… yes, just another day in the field.

Today I accompanied another district in the field. This was a new barangay for me, just down the road from where I live, so that was nice. The councilors were the volunteers… good timing to go house to house since elections are coming up in October… survey for children under 5 and campaign. Perfect. The folks were super nice and fed us well… kind of funny I had sweet and sour tilapia at 10am, but it was delicious – masarap! And it was strange that a funeral procession started at the house next to the brgy hall while we were meeting… again, just another typical day in the field.

I was sent home with two small bags of a rice desert. I shared this with the hotel staff… we stood around eating this while they taught me new words/phrases in Tagalog. I’m really grateful for the staff here. It is kind of tough being here on my own, so it is nice having them… I enjoy talking with them and laughing because there is always a lot of laughing in the Philippines. Yesterday I came home to a planggana waiting for me outside my door. Loy knew that I wanted one to wash my clothes in because my sink is so small. He bought one at some market because the prices at the stores where I looked were way too much… so now I have a planggana to wash my clothes in… which I should do now.  I think I will hug my washer and dryer when I return home to my casita. What a luxury.

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