Another Drop of Hope

Last January I shared about our visit to the Aeta Community in the province of Pampanga.  This is a community of indigenous people who were relocated from where they used to live after Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991 (the second largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century).  Unfortunately, the relocation site in Nabuklod, Pampanga (around 2 1/2 hours away from where I live) doesn't have running water.  They have to walk at least an hour to fetch water, and sometimes in the summer, around 3 to 4 hours!  And since the people are so poor, they don't even have good water containers to fetch water in.  Visiting them reminds me to be grateful for everything we take for granted, like running water.

Last March 20, we visited again and distributed a hundred water containers, taking part in the Patak ng Pagasa (Drop of Hope) project...

We had a medical mission where doctors prescribed and gave them medicine, as well as vitamins...

We had an eye doctor who gave them eyeglasses...

a dental mission...

and even surgery for two cleft lip patients.  Here is my wonderful hubby doing one of those operations.  He was one of those who planned the whole mission...

 We gave some gift bags to the children...

and gifts of food, slippers and clothes to the families...

Some people from our community provide English lessons and spiritual nourishment once a week (as well as water delivery) and we are also trying to look for livelihood opportunities for them.

Sometimes, if we are so comfortable with our lives, we can forget that there are so many people in need.  But I remind myself that I could have been born in that place, I could be in their shoes (or rather, in their slippers, since many of them don't have shoes).  Or I could have been born in one of those badly affected areas in Japan, so comfortable one moment, and heartbroken the next.

There is a joy in being able to help make this world a better place even in just a little way, a joy in being able to share with the less fortunate even for just a day.  Every little thing we do counts.  "Our deeds are like a stone cast into the pool of time.  Though they themselves disappear, their ripples extend to eternity".

And for Christians, there is also the added encouragement in the words of Jesus...

There is so much we can do to share our blessings, even from the comfort of our homes.  One click in the Hunger Site gives food to the hungry, play a game in Free Rice and each correct answer gets 10 grains of rice donated, or there are so many charities we can find through sites like Just Give or Charity Navigator.  Do you have a favorite way to share your blessings?