The year 2012 has been a year of blessings, joy and abundance for me and my friends.. so much so that we decided to start the new year by sharing our good fortune to those who are in need. We first planned to go to RSCC - an orphanage for abandoned infants- but about a couple of days before going, we changed our minds and decided to go to the Home for the Aged instead.
Wait.. let me correct that. We didn't just go to any regular home for the aged.. we went to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary Home for the Sick, Abandoned and Dying Destitute.
Quite a name right?
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| L-R Bret and fiance Ailyn, Lyndon and I, Nancy and husband Dennis |
Before going to the institution, we first stopped by G-Mall to buy some cookies, Milo, Milk and some other supplies that we packed into individual bags to distribute to the patients (the nuns call the lolos and lolas there patients and not residents). One of our friends, Ann, cooked pansit while Nancy brought some carbonara. With all these simple gifts in hand, we drove to Sarphil where the institution is located.
We were greeted by a Puerto Rican nun who readily introduced us to the Home's Mother Superior. They both instructed us what to and gave us some tips on how to communicate with the patients. The girls in our group were asked to go to the female ward while the boys went to the male ward where we would be serving the pansit and carbonara ourselves. The nun said it would be best that way so that we would feel exactly what we were doing and so that we could also mingle with the patients.
When all the patients were done eating, we spent some time talking to them and even singing them some songs.. Lolos and lolas surely love to sing! there was this one lola who was totally blind because of cataracts who sang "sa araw ng pasko" as a thank you for the food we gave them. it was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.. :(
After an hour, the nuns told us that the patients need to rest so we already had to say goodbye. On our way out, the patients kept on shouting "babay sa inyo," "balik kayo ulet," and "daghang salamat" that even the boys we were with left with tears in their eyes. The Puerto Rican nun who first welcomed us walked us out and gave us small prayer cards, thanking us one by one for what we did for the patients that day. i was overwhelmed by her gratitude that i was not able to answer.. if i could go back to that day, i would have thanked her as well.. i would have thanked her for teaching me, teaching all of us, the value of gratitude, of compassion and of contentment.
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| The other girls in our group (L-R) Creze, ann, arriane, joyce and xandy |
