"True humanity lies not so much in protecting myself and my own from others, as in protecting others from myself." - Got this from one Red Cross reading..

Post 25th Bday Nyt @ Mugen

Thanks so much for everyone who greeted me on my 25th birthday. Salamat talaga. My whole year of being 24 was spectacular. With all the new people I’ve met, and everyone who inspired me and changed me into a better person, I guess there’s more to come in the coming years! Cheers everyone!

Pictures below: me and Willy at Mugen (Metrowalk) the night after my birthday. Great RnB club, great band playing (of course) RnB songs. Nice crowd as well. We didn’t stay long though, kase may liquor ban starting 12mn.

Additonal pix: flowers from Willy (for the first and last time, hehe, choclates na lang!)

Karaoke Night w/ Colleagues 16Sept2010

Lymphatic Filariasis

Its one of the good things why I'm starting to enjoy being assigned at OpCen, is that we receive different reports from Chapters regarding certain incidents/ accidents/ floods/ earthquake and even health bulletins from Chapters all over the country. And today, one thing that strikes me is a report from Sultan Kudarat province about a stakeholder's meeting regarding National Filariasis Elimination Program. They have 8 suspected cases of Lymphatic Filariasis plus 35 cases still to be validated in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.

 

Ate Jenny and I started googling about this disease, and here comes the unpleasant photos of this disfiguring disease. 76% of the population of affected individuals live in 4th - 6th class municipalities, which I believe are the most far-off and hardly inaccessible, poorest of the poor communities in the Philippines. Health personnel have high hopes, given that they will devote the whole month of November for the mass treatment of heavily affected communities, it is said that the main strategy to eliminate Filariasis is through Mass Drug Administration once a year for five years. The photos are awful, how much more the ostracism and psychological burdens these people suffer from?

 

On the lighter side, last week was good. Stayed again at my favorite hostel c/o Mam Ging together with my colleagues while Andy treated us for Dinner and some drinks at the pool after 3 days in the field. Friday night is Sergi's Farewell Party, and it's good that I got acquainted to some confederates, that before, they were just faces without names, or names without faces.

 

Also, I got my own camera last Saturday! Not too fancy though. I named him "Boris". It's the result of an advance cash bday gift from Willy and my Dad - the 2 most loved men of my life. Hehe. Ciao!