TooManyFlowers

You don’t need fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn. You just need people with the desire to better themselves.

Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, Accepted, 2006

This was one of my favourite classes……the ladies around here were so lovely and responsive

Gasungan is an area by the sea wall (River wall….ummmmm both!)

The houses are closely packed on sandy gritty soil with lots of water in wet season

They have an outdoor church, under a shelter that an Aussie team erected whilst we were there…..perfect for meetings, classes, even washing!!

The only downer was the flies……they were thick as there! Dunno why, just are.

Here are my ladies……….one of my ladies had 16 children and she looked a million bucks……amazing

Gasungan Church simple and humble…makes our churches seem gaudy

Built in benches and shelter from the sun and rain……..perfect for classes too

Classes range from formal to informal in a circle, I even play games with them!

This class was on breastfeeding, what is exciting is when the LIGHTS go on in the people’s eyes, when they understand what I am talking about.

This was very apparent as we talked about breastfeeding, especially the bans that they are NOT subject to in the Philippines…….they were amazed at the deception of the multinational companies and angered at the advocacy of infant formula. Rewarding indeed!!

Precy my faithful, gorgeous interpreter……in the begining the scary embarrassing words were too much for her, but by the end she was confident and secure!!

We were having a Brainstorming session on problems after birth, eg breastfeeding etc

Breastfeeding in action……………..

An informal fun photo of kids and mums in my class!

They LOVE my baby doll and pelvis…the kids just love the WHITE baby doll

Matilda’s son just loves baby doll!!

Sweet Matilda who is an upcoming leader in Gasungan

Don’t you love bulging bellies!!

A final goodbye photo!!

Classes were a drop in the ocean……but it was a start, the leaders were certainly impacted and learnt lots of things…this I think was a victory, but a small one……..

Education must result in change that is my prayer!

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.

Herbert Spencer
English philosopher (1820 – 1903)

I confess I am just in love

Manila did not help

Ever since I was a small child

A girl

A teen

A young women

A young mother

An older mother

I have loved “the baby”

Mine

Yours

Black

White

or

Chocolate.

My love affair is with the baby

It is who I am

It is what makes me tick

It is why I do what I do

Gorgeous Prince!

New baby Josiah

Sweet Kissable Delilah

Esther and I a few hours old

I am only just realising the power and impact a love affair can have on nations and individuals

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.

Sophocles
Greek tragic dramatist (496 BC – 406 BC)

What year and brand is your washing machine?

Mine is a Maytag, a front loader for up to 10kg of clothes

Here is Pring’s washing machine…………………………………………………………….

So you thought that your washing day was hard………………………….

Try to do this everyday………………………….

On your haunches, scrubbing by hand…………………………………………

It dries………………………….

The kids play in the mud and rubbish pile…………………………………..

You do it again……………………………….

Yet Pring always has a smile and good attitude…………………………..

She is content………………………………

She has peace in her heart…………………………………………………………….

We should look, listen and learn…………………………………………………………………….

Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.

Doris Mortman

Well sort of…….here it is Anne……

I have a story to go with it too, dear sweet Belinda is such a honey (you would love her) she has 2 children (miracle babies as she could not conceive) her youngest is Josh he is 2 years old now! She is a leader in the church and works with the chn’s ministry, she helps with Block 15 Church as it is very near her and more. She has been praying for her house to be fixed for over a year. In fact Pst Annie tells a story about them all praying for the same and as they sat in her house the floor caved in. The house has been flooded innumerable times and the wood was rotten especially the floors.

Belinda and Joshua!

There were complications too, her house was attached to the neighbours on two sides so you just cannot RIP IT DOWN and build another AND it was 2 stories high….kinda a pack of cards, you touch it much it would be a disaster. So the walls were a moot point, we could not do much with the outside so we concentrated on the inside!

Ben and Esther playing outside of Belinda’s house which is right next to the Block 15 Church, we used Belinda’s electricity when needed for church!

Feral buckled floor and a leaking roof………….we gotta do something!

Belinda is a mum of the highest calibre, she is soft gentle and firm……she loves her kids and her home. She truly is like us house proud but freaking out coz her floor boards were rotten and majorly warped, mozzies could come through them and spiders and worse!! So she was praying.

Belinda’s warped and twisted floor that tripped you and moved under your steps!

The rickety scary stairs to the tiny upsatirs bedroom! A 2 year old went up these everyday!

God really told us to help and bless the leaders so when you donated I KNEW WHAT IT WAS FOR!!!! I started to pray as this was a tricky renovation and God simply said concrete the floor in the bottom and the kitchen/washing area and a new roof (not tin this time but high density plastic much cheaper and less noisy in the rain)…..after consideration and discussion WE DID IT!!

The mighty Chris (known to lift 150 kg in the markets) heaving soil to fill Belinda’s floor to an even level

The strong church men cementing Belinda’s floor…….we had to remove the stairs and wall so we built new ones too!

New floor new wall!! Cool

New Stairs, solid and safe!

I knew that as a mum if your floor is cleanable and tidy you feel happier about life…this is simply the truth everywhere, in India they use manure and mud which dries like a rock, but it is clean and sweepable, in Manila concrete is the same and when it floods it does not warp BARGAIN………so we fixed her floor, Belinda was so so so excited she wept and could not believe till it was happening ON THE DAY then she rejoiced and rejoiced and rejoiced and rejoiced!!

Anne and Gil you have made a difference to this little family over in Baseco!!

TRANSFORMED

From this kitchen floor………………………….

Too this new kitchen…………………..What a transformation!

A Grateful Happy Mother…..Bless you guys

“Cathy get up now, wake up!!!!”

“Get up now I have a baby I want you to check out”

Mark yelled rattling on our iron gate, unlocking the padlock and chain at the same time, making it impossible for me to ignore the 5.30am early morning wake up call. As  I scrambled up from James’ and mine makeshift bed on the floor which we methodically pack up everyday, I shook the sleep and fuzz out of my brain.

If it was not important Mark would not have come!

He is just like that!

I knew it I had to move no questions asked…..yet!

Working in Baseco has it’s moments and I knew this was  one as I  kept shaking my sleepy head to make it clear knowing I would need all of my faculties to be alert and happening. A baby born again in Baseco slums I thought, without a midwife or doctor (again) , it just came….as Mark filled me in on all of the details, scant as they were I kept my fears at bay. I raced into our tiny bathroom that doubled as a shower and laundry and threw on yesterdays clothes……I knew what could happen and what may be happening but kept pessimism (and medical mind) out and faith in. I had too. I immediately began to pray in tongues claiming life and thanking God for this life.

As we raced out the door, leaving James in a bemused fuzziness, I grabbed my bag and money and we raced out into the early morning light, Mark even turned the light off for James!

I knew it was really an emergency when Mark hailed a tricycle (motorbike with a side car) to go up the road, that takes about 8 min to walk, we never do that. The morning was quiet but people were bustling around as Baseco days start early……

Ignoring them we raced down to main road and I could hear Mark yelling directions at the driver on the outside, I was cocooned in the sidecar, we stopped near the High School I paid the driver and I followed as Mark raced through the houses and prepared me verbally for the scene ahead…………..the umbilical cord needed to be tied (now he tells me!!) so now I had to start thinking, looking desperately around for cord, twine or something (yes from the rubbish lying around-do not usually have an umbilical clamp in my handbag!!) that we could disinfect and use to no avail luckily you think. I thought “Well God will provide”….He did!

We wove through the slums for what seemed an eternity of unfamiliar houses  to me….. funny how diversion and adrenalin can alter reality, in fact it was a path we had traversed many times just behind Prayer House, but I had NO idea where I was. I walked out later and discovered where we actually were I was amazed at how close we were to “home”.

We were greeted and welcomed by neighbours as they made way for us as if we were the Knighted Cavalry…..well we were on a mission!!

The house from the outside was a poor one, even to my untrained eyes I knew……

The roof was so low even Mark had to crouch, I squeezed in and there they lay.

In the squalid kitchen dear “Istine” (her real name is Christine but nickname “Istine” ) had delivered a baby boy…..she was familiar to me as she faithfully attended all of my Birthing Classes…..I guess we were the first port of call in distress. She had attempted to transfer to hospital but got outside and felt the baby coming so reversed back and just HAD the baby in the kitchen……..probably the most dirtiest part of the house but OH WELL when you gotta birth it just happens!!!!!

A neighbour had raced to get Pst Annie and Annie raced to Prayer House and tapped (hmmmmm she said knocked) but Mark swears she tapped on the door asking for a First Aide Kit……then in the dark they raced off together to the house where the baby had been born and the placenta was on the way. After Mark made sure Annie was ok he came for me……so really God had already birthed the baby we just cleaned them up.

Baby was breathing, a little snuffly but ok,  the airways were clean, he was responsive……..AGPAR scores were applicable (except heartbeat) but in the next 10 min we watched him become more alert and his colour change….all the time I am telling Annie what I am doing…what to watch for the signs of distress etc.

Mark stepped back and hovered and took pictures (thanks GOP……I could not have)

Someone (God Bless em!!) found us cotton and Annie disinfected it diligently, doubled and tripled it over and we began to tie the cord. (the placenta had been born so there was no imminent bleeding danger so it was not rushed either) we tied it on two sides and I got Annie to cut the cord so she could feel the tough blood vessels and slippery covering for herself (no good me doing it…….she needs the experience so that if she ever faces it again she can do it without panic)….what a blessing we did it. I checked Istine for bleeding, we washed the baby and Muma a little and they were ready for the first breastfeed.

Moving Istine and then unamed Josiah to the wooden floor (that was scary that floor could hardly take my weight it was so rickety- no fat jokes ANYONE!!)

Not as quickly as I would have liked but HEY it was our first time, and considering our circumstances!!!!! He fed and sniffed and all was happy!

The baby was great, Istine was fine, Annie had done it basically alone I was only moral support!!

Oh and Mark procured buns and coffee for Istine from somewhere

…Praise God.

A good ending to this story in the slum………………..

Mark had an unbelievable response on his blog…over 1000 hits (a record breaker)

We raised money to build a new house for the family WHAT A CHRISTMAS!! They received a Christmas Food Hamper and more!!

So that is my Christmas story about a Christmas baby born in humble home with humble birth attendants.

The miracle of birth never ceases to amaze me!

Same feeling and  atmosphere  in the sanitized room or slum kitchen

Holy awe……electric with life and hope

Every new born baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.

The buzz and high of birth in all circumstances!! Poor or rich!

OH WAIT THERE IS MORE!!!!

In the glorious “after baby glow” that shone through the dirt and grime of this humble home, I asked Istine what was the baby’s name, she told me she did not know yet………not thinking and just being comfy I said “Ohhhh that is ok with one of my babies it took me a week to name him Josiah”……..she sat up and smiled at me and rattled something in Tagalog…everyone oooooohhhhhhedddd and aaaaahhhhheddddd and they told me that she had called him “JOSIAH” how cute is that!!!!!!!!!!!!! A legacy in Baseco!!!

A good ending to this story!

But on a serious note…..

One story with a happy ending can in reality mask many stories that do not have happy endings….I personally was involved with two babies and newborn’s dying in the short time I was there……………….SO stay tuned for my ideas of how to be a REAL help in this harsh birthing world……………….It is good to DO something!!!

I have just finished reading a short blog of Pst Mark Pedder’s on a little girl sleeping on a street…….

http://markpedder.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/if-you-are-really-tired-sleep-anywhere-will-do-cute/#respond

He mentioned dreaming of a better life. I began to think and compare the childhood of my children ( and my own childhood for that matter) compared to the poor children here  in the Philippines, what a stark contrast!! My kids just live, they have no worries, they have food and drink everyday, they have a fantastic house, pets, a swing out the back, a cubby house……their biggest concern is the kind of snacks they eat, or there next birthday present, or party……

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life’s seasons.  ~Author Unknown

I remember my childhood, I floated through life with no dramatic or devastating events, and I was genuinely happy content and free to be a kid…..I played in the streets, rode bikes, had plenty of great toys, played in sandpits, on swings, enjoyed clean and sparkling beaches, travelled, had holidays to fine places. I never appreciated my childhood till now.

Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
~William Wordsworth, “To a Butterfly”

The children here have no toys (the ones they have get dirty and broken very quickly) they play in muddy sewarge strewn patches of unclaimed land, with no fences, they have a playground that has dogs scabbied and worm ridden playing nearby, the beach is filled with litter rubbish and raw sewerage, they do not travel beyond their suburb, they know only their own neighbourhood….they have no bikes, no electric games, some have no electricity, no lights  or TV…….what a contrast.

Yet these kids are happy and content, their demeanours are not sad, they know NO difference…..

But their faces are etched with something that you only see when you really look hard…their innocence and childhood has been stolen.

I believe kids should be free of worries and concerns, that is CHILDHOOD……the parent should carry this heavy weight until a child is strong enough to bear that weight alone……..not before,

Here there is sometimes little or no choice, parents die, husbands leave wives with 6 chn to feed, siblings are forced to care to many children when they themselves are only children, even mothers deliberately leave children and lead a life of sin and no responsibility. These children are forced to GROW up and take on a burden that God never intended them to have.

This mother Gemma has been alone for 2 years, her husband left her and her five children for another women,

Gemma was forced to work to support her chn and the oldest boy who is 7 I think was left to take care of the others, little Princess (2 years) in the photo had just survived a bout of measles and was malnourished and very very weak, we found her this week and the Pastors worked quickly to improve her life…..in 2 days she was eating and drinking and yesterday she walked again for the first time in weeks, her mother was being supported and no longer pressured to work, her brother was released from a burden too heavy for a 7 year old and became a child and brother not a father and mother to his siblings anymore. In a sense we gave him his childhood back!

Sometimes sickness and malnourishment has a toll on the child……it steals the joy and freedom good health gives. They are harassed and oppressed continually with small and great disease ranging from worms, lbm, dehydration, scabies, boils and even knits to more serious aliments such as TB, severe malnourishment,  eye problems, chest infection and pneumonia……just to name a few

Poverty and sin and disease steals from these children childhood and freedom……

What a contrast and what a tragedy

Sweet friends, Essie and Bening Ning. There is a sharp contrast between the childhoods of these two gorgeous girls…..