contents
May-June 2017 27 Diary of a Different Daddy By Antonio U. Bermejo
Living and loving in an orphanage
30 Disabling Disabilities By Nathanlie M. Baldoza
43
Six teens who defied limits
32 When God Made the Cranial Nerves By Rowena R. Antemano
6
9
The Pain of Paying
34 Magnetic Memories
When spending money should hurt
Smart Beach Eating
36 Rescue From Above
Aside from the usual barbecue and ice cream
By Rose Fres Fausto
By Sue Radd
10 Walking Hand in Hand With Jesus By Rene Derek Joseph “DJ” K. Inapan
Who helped him see
By Czarina V. Budayao
The most profound prayer in six words
16 Gracious Glutinous Rice
Surviving like the 33 Chilean miners
Happy helpers: mother, father, toddler
Ardyne Aye “AA” Abacan enjoys fun in the kitchen with Daddy Arnold, a pastor and high school teacher, and Mommy Ardjeza or Deza, an entrepreneur. Mom and Dad try to spend as much quality time as possible with their toddler to achieve “the ultimate purpose of parenting, which is to bring our child closer to God.” Photos in this issue are by rogeRGSabio unless credited otherwise.
43 Our Battle Against Breast Cancer By Janet R. Tolete
By Arlene May G. Corpus
A mother and her daughter’s fight of faith
Why it sticks
22 I Finally See You, Mom
46 Concepcion Islands
By Jessica Dimas
By John T. Baldwin, L. James Gibson, and Jerry D. Thomas
By Sheli M. Matias
By Marlo Schalesky
ABOUT THE COVER
Keeping keepsakes safe
41 The Family That Volunteers Together
14 Praying Like a 2-year-old
He made the face beautiful and functional
A mother’s heart opens
By Angel C. Juarez
24 Water for the Thirsty: Aid for the Agta of Aurora
Northern Iloilo’s version of paradise
6
By Kate B. Loyola
Your chance to make change happen
Columns 3 Passion and Purpose
By Lucile B. Tañalas
Positive Parenting in a Negative World
4
iContact
Compiled by Dexter O. Quiñones
13 Consult Your Lawyer
By Silvino L. Sumagaysay, Jr.
Reciprocity of Contract
18 Share a Thought
By Czarisse Andrea C. Santos
Marriage and College
19 Personal Answers
35 Food for the Family
By Arnold C. Serra
By Miriam R. Estrada
Falling for an Inmate
Eat With Your Eyes
20 Subscribers Section
By Joel S. Suarez
Reunited With Health & Home
21 Dear Doctor
38 Children’s Corner
By Linda L. Varona
By Janet R. Tolete
Where’s the Egg in Eggplant?
40 Word for the World
Embarrassing Facial Redness
By Petronio M. Genebago
How to Handle Life’s Burdens
Coming Up...
• Men’s Guide to Being Kind • Breadfruit vs. Breadnut • Dreading a High School Reunion • Food Safety: To Eat or Not to Eat • Three Angels Shouting • You’re Made to Fly • Where Does the Rain Fall?
14 Health & Home
May-June 2017
By Czarisse Andrea C. Santos
T
erm papers to write, book chapters to read,
new concepts to grasp, and dreaded exams to pass. A typical college student is usually preoccupied with these things. Some students, though, carry these burdens and more each day—soiled diapers to change, grocery items to buy, household expenses to shoulder, and wedding anniversaries to remember. Yes, some people still pursue their degrees after settling down into married life or having a baby. They surely have more things to mind, but they trudge forward in pursuit of their dreams or their careers. How does it feel like juggling studies and family life? How do you balance your duties as a student and a single mom? First, I enrolled in afternoon and night classes. Second, I took my time management to the next level to allow me more time for taking care of my children in the morning and my studies later in the day.—Ruchelle dela Cruz, 31, Governor Andres Pascual College, City of Navotas
______ Czarisse Andrea Cansino Santos will be graduating soon with an AB English degree at the University of Caloocan City (South).
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May-June 2017
Marriage and College Who inspired you to take up your studies again? My family. My daughter and wife inspired me to try again as I see studying as a requirement to create a better future for them.—Mac Canales, 21, University of Caloocan City (South) How did you conquer your back-to-school anxiety? I had to prepare myself mentally and, most of all, spiritually. I prayed to God for guidance throughout my married-student journey.—Russha Caboteja, 30, Governor Andres Pascual College, City of Navotas How does your married status affect your life as a student? My classmates treat me as an older sister. They ask advice and such. At times, I have to sacrifice some of my school requirements as I have to give way to my son’s financial needs.—Jackilou Dominguez, 36, Governor Andres Pascual College, City of Navotas
How do you finance your studies and household expenses? I receive financial help for my studies from my relatives, my older sister, and my mom, while my husband provides for the household expenses. We also established a small sari-sari store in our house to be managed by anyone left at home.—Rhizza Santos, 41, Governor Andres Pascual College, City of Navotas
What was the greatest challenge you had encountered as a married student? The heartbreaking day that I delivered my stillborn daughter and still had to enroll for the new semester a few weeks after.—Arlyn Joyce Suarez, 20, University of Caloocan City What do you advise parents who wish to continue their studies? Never ever think that your career stops the moment you become a parent. Your child is not a hindrance for you to continue your studies and be successful. Your child is actually a great motivation to finish your degree. The moment you become a parent, every decision you make will affect not only you but also your child and his future. So continue your career and set your goals with your little one in it. —Blessie dela Cruz, 19, Far Eastern University, City of Manila
photos/courtesy of respective interviewees
Share a Thought
Water for the Thirsty Aid for the Agta of Aurora
I
n the town of Casiguran, 358 kilometers north of Metro Manila, rain heralds transformation. After four days of relentless downpour, rice paddies turn into lakes, roads swirl into rivers, and unlucky residents find puddles on their floors. But ask the Dumagat Agta who live in the sitios (outskirts) of Barangay Cozo and many will tell you that rain brings welcome change: it gives them more than enough water to live by, a stark contrast to their frequent struggles with drought. “Usually around August, that’s the height of the dry season here,” says Larry Culidig, the tribal
24 Health & Home
May-June 2017
representative in the community council. “It gets so hot the ground cracks open. We don’t get any water then.”
DIFFICULT WATER SOURCES
Cozo’s Agta community collects water from distant and disparate sources. There’s the single pipe poking out from the hillside that rises behind the schoolhouse, though locals say it runs dry during the summer months. There’s the brook around five kilometers away, farther upland. There’s the shallow well where the community does laundry, washes plates, and even bathes
in common. Anybody who wants a ready supply of water at home will need to haul it down from these sources—tramping through mud, rocks, and foliage—and find safe containers for storage. Rain, they say, ensures their trips are worthwhile. “The only reason water is abundant these days is because the brook is running strong,” says Dina Prado, a volunteer teacher at the local school and the wife of the community chieftain. “But when the heat intensifies, when the dry season comes, the brook runs dry. We don’t have reliable sources here.”
photos/VJ Matias
By KATE B. LOYOLA
of a
Different Daddy photos/Joyce Pelagio
By ANTONIO U. BERMEJO
4
How does it feel like being a father to kids who have no parents to call their own? A house parent from International Children’s Care Philippines Foundation or ICC Philippines willingly offers us a glimpse into daily life in an orphanage in Floridablanca, Pampanga.
:00 a.m.
It’s time to wake up. The cold weather makes it more difficult to leave the warmth of our blanket, but I need to prepare food for my 12 kids. I have four biological children: two boys and two girls, but they don’t stay with us anymore. The first three are now all working, while the youngest is away in college. It’s been years since my wife, Nelsie, and I started becoming parents to orphans here at ICC Philippines. Yes, our 12 kids are abandoned, abused, or orphaned boys. They are James, Bryan, Jonel, Mark, Christian, Arkiel, Ceasar, Gerald, Jerien, Alfie, John Paul, and Noel. (Girls live in another bungalow with their own house parents.)
Some of them have parents who died and no relatives were available or willing to take them in. Others were left in hospitals when they were still babies. Why parents would do that to their kids I really don’t know. But who am I to judge them? What makes ICC different from other orphanages is that we take care of the kids in a family setting. We have several houses inside the compound and each house is headed by house parents like us. Our boys here at House No. 2 call us Papa Tony and Mama Nelsie.
5:30 a.m.
Time for worship or devotion. The kids are now awake. We sing songs about Jesus and His love. We read the Bible and then we pray.
I encourage them to be good despite their bad experiences. On Saturdays we go to church together and render songs for the Lord. I want to teach my boys to be responsible and become productive citizens. But most of all, I want them to learn to trust Jesus and pray to God.
6:00 a.m.
Each kid goes about doing household chores. Everyone has an assignment. My wife and I supervise and assist them.
6:30 a.m.
We eat breakfast together. After saying grace, we share a fare of rice, vegetables, and sometimes fish and chicken. It’s good we have a garden here in the compound where we get fresh produce every day. Health & Home May-June 2017
27
The Family That Volunteers Together By SHELI M. MATIAS
“Project Lingap (registered as Voluntourism PH) aims to help in the development of unreached indigenous communities in the Philippines by engaging young professionals in meaningful travel experiences and various volunteering activities that will help address the pressing needs of the communities....” —projectlingap.org
photo/Jason Alacapa
photo/VJ Matias
W
aking up hours before dawn on a Saturday is how a Project Lingap weekend starts. Or sometimes, it’s in the late hours of Friday that we find ourselves in a van with some other people heading out of Manila. Yes, it is a travel weekend where we go to places and break the routine of city living but not just for a typical touristy place and neither with just the barkada. My husband, VJ, our 2-year-old baby, Joie, and I volunteer together to visit indigenous people in far-flung areas to help make a positive difference. Educational support for the Igorot We started joining Project Lingap early last year (2016). The first place we visited was a village up north called Ducligan, near the famous Banaue Rice Terraces. Here the organization sponsors the education of some of the poorest kids by giving them school supplies, uniforms, and allowances. We arrived there with a group of young professionals who were eager to take part in a mission trip that included free medical or dental checkups and a giftgiving program. To leverage ourselves for the long-distance drive, we came there on our own car along with my brotherin-law’s family. He also had a baby as old as my then 1-year-old daughter. The classroom of the town’s elementary school became our home for the next three days. We slept on a mattress lent by one of the townsfolk. Most of the volunteers slept on the students’ desks, on the floor, or in tents. Running water only flowed from the faucets outside. After meeting up with the kids and giving them gifts, we visited some of the scholars’ houses to spend time with their families. We felt how difficult it was to live in such a remote place with no access to amenities we usually enjoy in the city.
photo/GJ Esguerra Photography
By JANET R. TOLETE
How do you describe your mom to your friends?
A
s former Director IV of the Commission on Audit (COA), Aida Maria Ayaso-Talavera led the team behind the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA) program, which won for our country an international award for openness and transparency in governance in 2013. She had also testified in court against some powerful politicians who dipped their hands into public funds. In 2010, her group received the “Most Outstanding Public Servant” award handed by no less than then President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III. A consistent valedictorian, she did not stop with obtaining a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and master’s degree units in management and accounting. She also gained units in law, earned her Masters in National Security Administration, went through military school for her Command and General Staff Course, and was welcomed into the US Government Accountability Office - International Auditor Fellowship Program. Right after retirement, she was hired as a consultant by The World Bank. Most importantly, she is the matriarch to a family of five young adults (three daughters and two sons), one son-in-law, and three grandchildren. Indeed, Aida looks every inch a strong woman, even if she was diagnosed with breast cancer just last year. How has her life changed after that? How is her family coping with this enormous challenge? Aida and her second daughter, Adelle Isah “Ais” TalaveraUy, a sales and marketing specialist, willingly share to Health & Home readers their journey and battle against the dreaded C.
Ais: Intelligent, has a strong faith in God, very loving, selfless, and creative. What I admire most about her is her strength and faith. She has gone through very tough times but she has fought through all of these.
Any specific memorable experience that describes her uniqueness? Ais: I will never forget one story I was told about an accident she had at 5 years old. She was alone in the house and fell down the stairs from the second floor. She was gravely hurt and was bleeding all over, but their dog caught her and carried her on its back. Her family found her barely breathing. The dog miraculously saved my mother. God’s boundless provisions were and are always manifested in Nanay’s life.
How was life like before you had cancer? Aida: I was constantly travelling and going with family and friends to visit God’s beautiful creations. I love nature. Health & Home May-June 2017
43
Concepcion Islands
:
Iloilo’s Pristine Paradise
Text and photos by ANGEL C. JUAREZ
I
n the shadow of Gigantes Islands of Carles, Iloilo, is another island group dotted with picturesque island beaches and beautiful sandbars scattered in the vivid azure waters of Visayan Sea—quite offbeat yet equally sublime. Say hello to the group of islands off the coast of Concepcion in northern Iloilo! This quiet coastal town of Concepcion is starting to break out and make its own name. Imagine a chunk of El Nido’s backdrop, a slice of Caramoans’s vast sandbar, a bit of Anawangin’s grassy peak, some pieces of Sipalay’s cone islet, and a shade of Balabac’s water all rolled into one place. It could all be exaggerations, but just the same, Concepcion’s panoramic seascape and landscape is worthy of its own brand, of its own proud name. Bask under the sun in the white sand beaches of Agho, Bag-o Sipol, or Malangabang Islands; watch the breathtaking sunrise and sunset at Bulubadiangan sandbar; trek Pan de Azucar’s precipitous mountain peaks; swim on Agho’s azure waters; or go free diving into the islands’ vivid depths.
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May-June 2017
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