Reach out!

Sister Eva Maamo, S.P.C., who is a nun, a doctor and a surgeon, led 30 doctors and nurses on a surgical and medical mission to seven T’Boli tribes around Lake Sebu, in Suralha, South Cotabato. They worked for six full days, 16 hours a day, among the tribal natives who have no way of getting to a hospital, to a doctor, or even to a nurse.

They treated 331 men, women and children, who have been in need of a doctor for a long, long time. They recorded the name, sex, age and address of every patient, with a detailed account of each one’s sickness, and how it was treated. This, so that they can follow up on the critical cases who are most in need.

They did 55 major operations, with four operating tables side by side, and with all the doctors helping each other. They did at least 19 thyroidectomies, 3 hysterectomies, and one mastectomy. I say "at least" because one page of their careful record, as it came to me, suffered from the lack of ink in the telefax machines.

I mention these three operations, because I know how major they are. But they have a long list of "EXCISION OF CYST." We have a vivid video of Sister Eva removing one of these cysts. It weighed more than ten kilos! The poor girl, who was living with it, had that cyst since she was 17 years old. But she had no money. She could not get to a hospital or a doctor, and the cyst grew within her. When Sister Eva came into her life, removing that "mass" was really a matter of life and death. When the doctor carried that cyst away from the operating table, you could see the muscles in his arms standing out – strong and clear.

They removed eight cataracts and treated 175 other T’Bolis who had serious trouble with their eyes. It is Doctor Felipe Tolentino, of the Asian Eye Center, who worries most about this ophthalmological team. He spends half of his time in Boston, where he is closely associated with the Harvard Medical School. He keeps searching for the best of the Filipino eye doctors, because his apostolate is working with the poor. He is looking for doctors who not only have brilliant intellects and skilled hands. He wants to find doctors with a heart, who are willing to work with the poor.

On this expedition to the T’Bolis, which was organized by Our Lady of Peace Mission, Lucio Tan granted a 50 percent discount on the round trip air fare of PAL, from Manila to General Santos. This helped a great deal.

But all of the 30 doctors and nurses gave their services, their time for the whole six days, and their expertise, gratis et amore as a public service to their country and to their people. You might think that this was a terrible burden for them – to work 16 hours a day, for a full week, for free. It was. But, strangely enough, they loved it!

After one of these missions, a young surgeon, on the way home in the plane, said to Sister Eva Maamo: "Sister, thank you! For the first time, I really feel like a doctor!" He was working for the destitute poor, who really needed him, and who could not give him anything back, and he felt: "For this was I born, for this came I into the world to save my people!"

All of the doctors learn, when they are serving the poor, gratis et amore. For those who do not understand Latin, gratis et amore means: "freely, out of good will, and of love!"

One excellent doctor was trying to explain to me, at one time, what he learned from serving the poor. He said: "Another doctor, a friend of mine, really saved the life of a little boy, on the operating table. He did this free of charge, on a medical mission. In the evening of that day, the father of the boy came to him, a farmer, very poor, bare foot, carrying a bottle of tuba.

He gave that to the doctor, in gratitude for saving the life of his son. The doctor, in all sincerity, said: "Ah, no! Please! You can not afford this! Please sell it, and use the money for your family!" The poor farmer walked away, hanging his head, with his bottle of tuba.

The doctor talking to me said: "Ah! That was a mistake! A terrible mistake! The doctor should have accepted the bottle of tuba. The poor farmer was trying to express his gratitude. He wanted that moment of dignity, of giving something, in thanks for the life of his son. The doctor should have accepted it! He should have accepted it!"

This doctor realized, suddenly, what the poor really needed. It was acceptance! For the rest of his life, whenever a poor family would offer him a chicken, or a basket of fruit, or a bottle of tuba, in gratitude for his work as a surgeon, he would take it. And he would take it with great gratitude as if it was a stipend of a million pesos.

Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, speaking to the clergy of the Archdiocese of Manila, told a beautiful story. A passenger in a taxi, when he reached his destination, looked carefully at the meter. Then he gave the taxi driver the exact amount, no tip, saying: "Thank you, sir."

The taxi driver straightened in his seat, opened the door of the cab beside him, ran around the car, and opened the taxi door for the passenger. He said: "Thank you for what you have done to me this day! Thank you! You are the only passenger I have ever had who called me: ‘Sir."

That is all you need to do. Archbishop Rosales explained to his parish priests that his "Pondo ng Pinoy" was not concerned principally with raising money for the poor. The main purpose was to persuade people to reach out to their neighbors, rich and poor, as their equals, their friends, their brothers.

He said: "You do not have to do anything big. Start small. Treat the maid with respect and with reverence. If you do that, she will serve you with all her heart, forever."

"Start with the little thing–the smile. The kind word. The compassionate gesture. The look. If you treat the common man as your friend, your equal, your brother, that is how this nation will come to unity and peace."

It was this thought that inspired Our Lady of Peace Mission to launch its training sessions for tribal natives, to make each tribe, in the distant mountains and rural areas, realize that they are the brothers and sisters of the sophisticated men and women of Manila.

First, training together, they realized that all of our indigenous people are human beings, flesh and blood, heart and soul, with the same needs, the same hopes and dreams. They realized that the tribal natives should stand together, shoulder to shoulder, back to back. And they realized that the ancient cultures of our country are really the treasures of the nation.

And then they understood that we are all Filipinos – different in culture, different in languages, different in religions – but all one people. Brothers and sisters. Children of God.

A voice is crying out to us from the mountains and valleys, from the cities and towns: "Reach out to each other!. . . . .Accept each other!. . . . .We are one people! Christian and Muslim, rich and poor!. . . . . .educated and illiterate!. . . . .We will rise out of this agony as a new, united nation!. . . . .God is with us!. . . . .We will become a model for Asia, and for the world!"

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