The Dental Mission, Nov,11,2012

The program was over.　The following is Liz’s report.

 

I arrived in the office at 8:00am. It was a very rainy Sunday. I took a taxi because

I had to be early to meet the dentists. I brought with me the toothpaste sachets to

be paired with toothbrushes to be given to the children as gifts after their checkups.

I also brought the snacks, bottled water and juice for the dentists. I brought with me

my blender to make the shakes.

 

Daniel, Sarah, and Eric were there already with Kayla, Lily, and Fortune. Chloe

arrived next to Andrew. Fortune’s mother and I had to go outside near the road

to wait for the dentist van to be parked inside the Tejero Elementary School.

 

 

At this time also, Yumiko and Deo, our Japanese guests arrived and handed over

to me some Japanese toothpastes for the children. I thanked them for their generosity. 

 

At exactly 8:30am, the van arrived with Dr. Phil and his dental assistant. The school

guard left his post hurriedly after they arrived. He told them that he will be back a

little later. Dr. Phil was asking where to plug in the van so that the mobile dental van

can get electricity for the air-conditioned and some equipment.

 

Around 9:30, the school guard arrived. So we hurriedly asked if he could help us

use the school’s electricity. He let us go to the gym and there was an outlet, so

they parked the van inside the gym.

 

At 9:35am, I brought Yumiko and Deo to the van so that they can witness the dental mission. I served peanut butter sandwiches with cold milk to Dr. Phil, Japanese guests,

and his assistant who were very busy setting up the mobile clinic, while children were

in the office.

 

At 10:00 am, all the children except Gabriel were in the office. It was very noisy now, children playing, talking, and just roaming around the office. Some children used

the floor to play the memory game.

 

I brought Sarah with her mother in the Tejero gym. Next was Hannah. From the office,

I brought Hannah to the van. The 2 little girls were very brave. They each had their

teeth cleaned, and one tooth was extracted. They didn’t even feel pain and they

never complained. They were so happy.

 

Dr. Jun arrived at 10:15am and set up outside the van so that the job will be faster.

He cleaned the children’s teeth before their teeth would be extracted. Then Dr. Phil

filled the cavities. The children took turns in the dental check up.

 

After the dental procedure, the children went back to the office to claim their prize.

They got new toothbrush, a sachet of toothpaste, and the mango ice candy milk shake. 

 

At 11:30 I had to receive the lunch for the dentists and visitors. So I had to go back

to the office and bring some food to the van. It was a tiresome experience but very

fulfilling.

 

At 12:30pm, 13 children were done. We had six children left. The doctors then had

to take a break for 45 minutes.

 

At 1:15pm, I brought the 6 children to take turns for their dental checkups. We

finished at 3:30pm but the doctors in the van had to finish their on-the-spot report,

so they left at 5:00pm.

 

Thank God it’s over and was a very successful one, Thank you to our sponsors.

I thank also our new cluster presidents, who were there to watch over the office.

They decorated with some Christmas decorations so that we will have Christmas

spirit in the office. I thank Lily’s mother, Nikky’s mother, and Dorothy’s mother who

were there to give moral support to their children.

 

 

From Lomi to Liz,

Thank you very much for your hard-working and mothers' support. Please tell them

that we couldn't do such a wonderful work without their support.

 In addition, I'm proud of our children who were brave to come to the dental mission,

even though they were so scared.

I'm sure that they will take care of their teeth to avoid making other cavities. Hopefully,

they won't have any cavities next dental mission.

 

Good job!!!!!

 

 

From Liz to Lomi,

Only 1 tooth was extracted because the child cannot bear the pain and trauma. All

teeth with decay were restored. All children got the oral prophylaxis, meaning their

teeth are cleaned, and they are free of tartar and plaque. Now they know that brushing

teeth after every meal is important. All the children admitted that they don't brush

their teeth during night time because they are lazy. They promised to brush their teeth before bedtime. I am so proud of them because they were all brave, especially Sarha

and Hannah who were smiling after their tooth extraction.

God bless you all and Mabuhay!

Thank you,

Lomi :)

 

The Day Before of the Dental Mission

Hi, I’m Lomi.

 

It is the first attempt for us to do dental treatment. The dentists will
come with their portable equipment. They have a lot of opportunities
to go to schools or children’s shelters. If we have water and light, they
can treat children’s teeth. They use regular chairs.

 

I’m so interested in their work, but I’m sorry to say that I’m too far away
to go to see the treatment. So, I’m waiting for Liz’s report.

 

From Liz,

I am so busy today preparing for the dental check up tomorrow. I will
ensure that every scholar should be given equal attention on this day.
Some of them are scared. Charles's mother asked me if it is okey if
Charles will be absent? I said no because Sapnay is spending a big
amount for this dental checkup. I told her that she should be thankful
because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that her son should not
miss because it could prevent many toothaches in the future. She is also scared of the dentist. That's why she understands why Charles is scared,
too.

Good luck to all of us and thank you for the support you gave to our
scholars. They are very, very lucky!

God bless,
Liz

Children's Teeth in Cebu

Hi, I’m Lomi.

 

I want to write about children’s teeth in Cebu.

There are so many people who have lost their teeth, because they
can not pay for the proper dental care. Some of them don’t have
their front teeth, so it is very striking. I was very sorry that one of
my friends didn’t have her front teeth, even though she was in her
teens. Fortunately, she could meet someone who paid for the treatment.

 
One of the parents also didn’t have front teeth, but her church member supported her to treat the teeth. After the treatment, she said, “I was
told that I looked younger than before.”

 

Usually, they live from day to day, so they can’t afford to go to dentist.
In addition, they are afraid of the dentist.


 

Some of them are not used to brushing their teeth everyday, so many
people have some cavities. If they go to the dentist as soon as possible,
it doesn’t take a long time to be treated.

Usually, they don’t go immediately, so their teeth are getting worse and
finally they lose them.

 

This school year, we have told the children to brush their teeth after
eating lunch in the office. They do very well. How about after breakfast
or supper in their houses? I don’t know.

 

We, the board members really want them to give a chance for a dental treatment. Luckily, we have gotten money for this, and one of the Filipina 
board members has asked her dentist friends to help us.

 

Children were not happy about this program. They really wanted to escape.
I can understand them, because I don’t like to go to the dentist, even
though I’m an adult now.

 

In spite of their fear, almost all of the children came and had their
cavities treated. I’m proud of them. I’m so happy to know that they are
so brave.

 
Lomi :)
 

after the educational tour

This is Lomi :)

Children in Cebu went back to school after the one week semestral break and the national holidays.
The following is Liz's report about the children in the office. 

The children were very happy about the educational tour. They still talk about it and I hang
their banner inside the office. I also had their pictures shown to them and they were laughing and reminiscing their experience in the tour. They look forward to the next educational tour and
the grade 3 scholars are very eager to join them next year. I told them yes you can come
if you will pass all your subjects. And they just smiled at me.

Liz




To Grade 3 boys,
You can do it! GOOD LUCK :)))))

I'm appreciate for those who supprt us. We couldn't hold such a wonderful educational tour
without your support!

Lomi

Educational Tour

October 27, 2012

 

Report

 

At 7:00 am the Presidents of the cluster arrived in the office to cook rice, boil bananas and sweet potatoes. I arrived in the office at 7:10am.

Some of the children were accompanied by their parents.
 S.S donated Fudgee Bar and juice while E.R donated a birthday cake in honor of James birthday on October 31 .

M.B on the other hand donated a loaf of slice bread.

I let Chloe borrow my Sapnay t-shirt because hers was stolen after she washed and hanged it to dry.

Since our game prizes were eaten by a big rat, Chloe and I went to 360 Pharmacy to buy some goodies as replacement. We buy also straw string to tie our banner in front of the bus.
Children were so happy to see their faces on the banner.

 

 I let the groups form 2 lines with the high school buddy as their leader. The grouping system was very effective. Whenever I call them, I just shout group 1, group 2 and so on. Catherine even bond with her group. She bought some chocolates to give to her groupmates.

We marched to Museo Sugbu. Then I presented our tickets to the guard.

We were sent to the room at the leftside to wait for our tour guide. Children then roam around and read fascinating stories about Filipinos which were on the wall and on the glass of the display glass showcase.


 

 

 After 15 minutes, Macy came in and announced that she will be our tour guide. She explained some of the artifacts that are displayed and what Filipinos looked like long time ago. Cebu is rich of gold long time ago. Some gold are put on their teeth to show art even grinding holes on every tooth to fill in gold.

But early Filipinos traded their gold with nails because they are very useful to build houses. Their gold is of no value at all.

 

 

 

 

  

It was almost 10:00am, the children were eating their snacks at the right side while I was talking with the tour guide. When we were on the last room, it was about different leaves of the trees that exist in the early days, the children were glad that the journey to the entire museum was over.
 I promised them that snacks will be served inside the bus. The bus arrived at 9:50am while all the children went up inside the bus, again they have seating arrangement according to their group. Snacks were then served, the fudgee bar and juice. While in the bus, I act as their tour guide.
When our bus pass by  known buildings and establishments, I say some few words about the building. We pass by Ayala, Mabolo, University of Cebu, Countrymall, Banilad Town Center, Gullas school of medicine, University of San Carlos and Family Park. Our travel was only 30 minutes.


Bro. Algie noticed that the children are not familiar with the saints he mentioned. He found out that they don’t respect the house of God. They lack Catholic manners and practice. He suggested that I should incorporate on my lectures about our religion. All the children were listening to him and learned so many lessons about saints. He even talked about the San Pedro Calungsod who was canonized. Jack on the other hand was turning white and he said he is hungry because he didn’t ate his breakfast. I raised my hand and told Bro. Algie about it and he hurriedly finished his lecture to the children.

 I let the children proceed to the bus because snacks will be served there. Boiled bananas and sweet potatoes are distributed and we shared softdrinks. I promised them when we arrived at the beach resort, we shall eat first our lunch before they go to swim in the swimming pool. I let my brother broil 21vslices of porkchop as our lunch and I let him buy also 3 lechon manok and 20 pcs of ice. 

 During our journey,  I let group 1 sing their song they prepared for the journey to Green Lagoon. Then followed by group 2 and etc. It is like having a radio during a trip. I distributed 1 pc. of junkfood for every group as their reward. They had so much fun during the trip.

Children in the resprt pool

When we arrived at the resort, the children were then busy changing their beach attire while I was paying for the entrance and pool fees. I told them that we will eat lunch first before going to the pool. It rained before we arrived but during lunchtime, it was steamingly hot.
There were plenty of flies flying around like thousands of them!
When you open the container of food, you have to be fast so that the flies could not enter. We hurriedly distributed the rice, porkchop, lechon manok and spaghetti.
 Mr. Kazu ate only spaghetti and lechon manok. After the children were “busog” they asked permission if they can go to the swimming pool. I accompanied them with their tickets to the pool. The in-charge tied a yarn string around their wrist so that they can go inside and out anytime.
Peach string for the children and green string for the adult. Since I was so tired, I decided not to swim because I have to travel after the tour. I let the cluster presidents take some pictures and held games inside the pool. Group 2 and group 4 won the games. The prizes are distributed inside the bus.

 The children stayed on the pool around 2 ½ hours. During that time, some would go back to the cottage to eat and went back again to the pool. Almost all our food was eaten by the children.
They enjoyed very much playing with the beach ball that Mr. Kazu provided and enjoyed the slide into the pool. The cluster presidents had also a wonderful time.
It was 3:30pm, we called all the children that it is time to go and change their attire. We have our pictures taken. Afterwhich the children went back to the pool again. I have to shout at them that it is time to go. Ava was the last to change, she had a wonderful shower at the side of the pool. I told everyone if they are not finish changing, we will leave them. So at exactly 4pm they were all loaded in the bus.
Around 5:30pm they arrived and some parents are waiting already to fetch their children. It was a successful educational tour, thank God!!.

 

 

Livelihood Program

Hello,

I’m Lomi :)



We are supporting not only children, but also their families. If the families have some problems, it is too hard for children to live peacefully.



This school year, one of our targets is to teach some skills to mothers to make them independent.



We taught them how to make "puso", hanging rice in the first session.



This is a very typical local food. At first, weave small baskets using coconut　leaves. Then, put rice into them, and tie them. Put them into boiling water until the rice is cooked.　Many Filipinos eat them for their lunch or dinner.



In the second session, we made “binangkal” which are donuts sprinkled with sesame seeds.

In the third session, we made “yema”, milk candies. The following is a report of Liz, about how to make these candies.

I told the parents to wash their hands before we start making the “yema”. “Yema” is a milk candy. Two mothers were busy preparing the packaging for the candies. They cut the cellophane into 2.5inches by 2.5inches squares. I heat the frying pan, put in margarine and pour condensed milk into the pan. I put in egg yolks, then crushed peanuts. I let one of the mothers cook the yema by constantly stirring the mixture until it makes a fold when it is scooped. Then, let it flow into the mixture.



The frying pan was then put on the table to cool. One young mother is just observing because she carries her youngest son while breastfeeding. The yema mixture is now ready for packing, so everybody got spoons and scooped the mixture. I taught them how to make a neat packaging. They divided the yema candies equally to everybody. They were all happy that they learned how to make Yema candies.



We made 119 candies. Our cost was only 139.00pesos (3dollars 50cents). If we sell at 2.00pesos (5cents) each, the total sales will be 238.00pesos (about 6dollars), so they will have a profit of 99.00pesos (2dollars 50cents). Not bad at all.

This is a nutritious candy for their children. They are now planning to make them so that they can earn money later for additional income. They plan to sell them around their neighborhood. They were very happy that they learned a lot during livelihood class. They are so thankful for the lessons.



They then washed all the utensils that they used and went home.

Liz



I used to buy yema which was small rounded shapes covered with granulated sugar. According to Liz, they made a ball of yema by hands, so sometimes they are not so clean. In addition, if we wrap yema with cellophanes, they look bigger than they are. It is very important to show the products attractively. I agree with her.



Actually, I really like yema, so I always buy it, when I go to Cebu. Once I start eating them, it is too hard for me to stop, because It is so yummy!

Lomi :)

Newsletter Fall season 2012