by Frank Savadera, SJ
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October 25, 1999 (Monday) – URBAN POOR TRIALS
Prior to this exposure, Father Benny asked us to choose our preference for the urban poor exposure. Dot asked for a program to go to Palawan with the fisherfolk there. Karel was sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Center
I’ve passed by this area in Bagbag already before. I think this is very near Javier’s place. Days ago, I was already talking to Bro. Benedict on the phone for possible accommodations. The brothers were very glad to welcome me. Apparently, the sisters in Tayuman wouldn’t let me stay-in with them (understandably because they have a novitiate). They suggested that I go to the brothers firsts for the first two weeks and they’ll arrange for a room for me somewhere near the home in Tayuman. Bagbag seems an ideal place already, given that it’s very near the novitiate.
Brother Juan was in the ward when I first came in. He doesn’t appear to me as a brother at all. Short, dark and chubby, the good brother can pass for a cleaning boy with a Visayan accent. He was however very cordial, open in expressing his delight in welcoming a Jesuit. He showed me my room. The Indian brothers are also very kind and cheerful. The youngest is my partner Brother Alvinos who seems so innocent and childlike, traits that betray his huge physique. He stays with me in the house with the Filipino brothers. Brothers Sebastian and Dyoti come in the mornings from the other house near Commonwealth and leave in the afternoons. Between the two, Brother Sebastian is the formator type. Bro. Dyoti, on the other hand, is the ‘untypical‘ one. Alvinos teases him privately as ‘strange.’ The brothers live very simple lives. Yesterday, for lunch, we only had ‘adobong itlog’ and ampalaya for the main course. Whew! This life can be very Spartan. I’m seeing most closely how poverty is lived by these brothers. Mother Theresa, I’m sure had the remarkable hand behind all of these. I’m so edified.
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October 26, 1999 (Tuesday) – URBAN POOR TRIALS
The routine in the house is quite extraordinary. Brothers Sebastian and Dyoti arrive in the morning just in time for the clean-up. Everyone in the house helps out in the chores. For a start, Brother Sebastian gave me a mop and a pail. He instructed me to fill the container with water and add lysol and chlorox. I mopped the whole ward today. Looking at the others' tasks, however, my job seemed so simple. Brother Juan gives the lolos their bath. Brother Alvinos and Dyoti empty the ICU of their wards and pour pails and pails of water on the floor. The place was like a huge pig pen. From outside the ward, I can smell the foul odor of saliva, urine and human waste combined. It was unbearable. I’d easily puke. I’d settle with the mop. I’d settle with the mop anytime. The work, however doesn’t stop there. We dressed the old wards (their clothes are communal which we pick up from a big basket), changed their bedsheets, cut their nails and prepare them for lunch (at 11:00AM which is the exact time when all the chores have been done ... hopefully). For those who cannot manage to eat by themselves, we spoonfeed them. Some of the lolos can be so ‘masungit’ and grumpy. Some have no expression on their faces at all.
I particularly liked talking to Tatay Bien who stays at the end most portion of the main ward, closest to the ICU. He reads the Bible a lot and has even decorated his wall with all sorts of stampitas. He quotes the verses a lot from memory. He’s the wise guy among the lolos in the ward. His family, apparently already left him. According to the old man, he was an abusive father … perhaps a result of his being a former addict and a drug pusher. His prayer and learnings from the passages keep him hopeful about his diabetes. Boyet, on the other hand, was a victim of circumstance. While guarding his post, as a security guard in a bank … he was shot in the head during a heist. He survived but had since then become a vegetable. His family no longer can care for him. Deliquent teenagers Roger, Bryan, Nelson, Joel, Jerome, Edgar, Wilmer, Arwin, Jeric and Anthony also had their own share of disabilities. They kept the ward noisy and chaotic with their banters. The younger boys needed to be nursed because of their varying states of retardation. John Paul, Danny Boy, Francis, Fly-fly and Dino were kept in a special room … sometimes even tied to their beds much so that they don’t hurt themselves moving around. I feel sorry for these kids. It seems so early for them to suffer much at their very young age.
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Song of Saint Peter
Often have I asked my mind to speak for me
Words aptly chosen for each time
Never quite concerned how things may mean to you
All my phrases … all my lines.
A fool am I to sing of such an empty tune
And count on your assuring nod or smile
I’ve caused you trouble enough far more than I know
Like to say “I love you” and eat my words at certain times.
Yet from afar you’ve kept your loving gaze
Drawing me to you inspite my meanest ways
You’ve caught my hand and asked me to walk over the sea
And then I know you’ll be there calming every wind and storm for me.
As when you gave your light to those in darkness
As when you’ve set the poor man’s toes to touch the ground again.
I’d kiss the wood before they lift me from the earth …
Then I’ll hear your voice saying:
“Be still … be quiet for I’m with you. Soon you’ll see my face again.”
