(Reported
by Sr. Maryanne Terrenal, RGS)
When in Welcome House, a t
1641 West Zamora, Paco, Manila, Sr. Maryanne Terrenal had a group of lay friends that came every weekend to do social services for the children living “along the Riles”. They took on the name “Welcome House
Assisting Riles families” [WHARF]. At one day of Recollection, then PLT Sr. Maureen Catabian advised them to expand their help to other
needy people. They found a Benedictine Sister working with the Mangyans in
Mindoro, so they organized a medical
mission for them. When Sr. Maryanne was assigned (for the third time) to Buhi,
having been one of the pioneers in 1963, every other year the WHARF group comes to Buhi for a medical-dental
mission, a reason for R & R around
Sister’s birthday.
This year they asked to hold the mission in a small barrio away from the
“poblacion” . So on May 2, 2014, the
medical-dental-surgical mission was held in Igbak Elementary School, fifteen
minutes away by tricycle or motorbike from the center of the town. Among the 17 lay persons comprising the WHARF group, were a medical doctor, two
dentists and two nurses. Alumni
of the 50-yr-old St. Bridget School, were two medical doctors, a neuro-surgeon
trained in the USA, two dentists, ten
nurses, and more than a dozen volunteers .
It was an actual case of lay
partnership . The WHARF volunteers and the Buhi volunteers worked side by side
harmoniously and peacefully, with Sr. Maryanne, 81, monitoring things from the
RGS convent , by text.
There were more than 320 poor families registered from 7 different barangays of Buhi, majority of them
indigenous. The WHARF group had brought
medicines for a thousand patients: multivitamins for the children, cold and
cough medicines, etc. The prescriptions were aptly supplied by the pharmacy department,
because the medicines had been sorted earlier. Each dentist pulled at least 90
teeth each. One local dentist could not leave her patients in her own clinic so
she was late. By the time she came, the dentists had pulled the teeth of those
who were there.
The neuro-surgeon came all the way from Sorsogon to help in the mission.
The WHARF team were not ready with any surgical supplies. Having brought his own anesthesia and medical
supplies, he circumcised more than 10 boys.
Photo: Dr. Breandovin Saez interviews a patien.
A Manila benefactor gave P100,000 to buy 1 whole pig weighing 80 kilos. The
local volunteers butchered the pig and cooked it for more than 1200 people.
Local donors donated the rice for the lunch. The families were told to bring their own
dishes. And many went again and again for replenishment.
Many families got tired of waiting for their turn. These families skipped the doctors’ interviews and just
asked for multivitamins for their children. They they went to the food department to claim their portions. Then went to the
give away department to receive their red bag filled with groceries and
household supplies, 3 kilos of rice, and one big toy. Then they went to the “ukay ukay “room where
each individual was allowed to bring home a piece of clothing or shoes or
school bag. With that they went home
happily. About 50 families who were not even registered came when they heard there
was food, and give-aways. Which of course they received. No
one went home empty-handed, and many
would have wanted more.
Lay partners, when empowered with
trust and responsibility, can indeed achieve great things for the Lord. Thank
you, Wharf and Local friends, for showing such an admirable accomplishment.