Ian Lozada: Images and Words

Here’s the first in a series of video podcasts I’ve been putting together for the medical missionary group that my Dad heads up:



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Yesterday, we conducted a medical clinic here on the island of Bohol, a two hour ferry ride from Cebu. The local pastor whose church is affiliated with our visit met us in his jeepney, which is basically a mini truck that’s modified to carry about 10 passengers in the back. Jeepneys, incidentally, are everywhere. The vast majority of them are brightly decorated because they act like private buses that run regular routes. (It’s advertising to have them brightly/garishly decorated.)

Unfortunately, this jeepney broke down in the town center, about 2 miles away from where we were supposed to conduct the clinic. Our lead doctor quickly hired three tricycles—not the kid’s toy that you and I think of, but rather a light motorcycle with a lightweight sidecar frame that holds two people facing forward in a canopy, and either their baggage or two people in the back. For those of you scoring at home, that means we’ve got a total of 5 people, including the driver on board.

In a related story, the tricycles ended up having to stop about 100 yards away from our destination because the hill was too steep for them to carry that type of load. Still, after the hikes the last two days, this was nothing. We saw about 120 people—I’m told the clinic this weekend ended up serving 170 people—mainly children. Our optometrist saw one adult, however, who needed a level of care beyond what we could provide onsite. This woman had an advanced cataract problem that will require surgery. The missions organization will foot the bill for her transportation to Cebu and the cost of the surgery, which works out to about $200 USD, but in this rural region of the Philippines, that’s nearly three times what the average worker makes in a year, according to our lead doctor.

After our clinic, we stayed here in Bohol, getting rooms in a local boarding house, and eating across the street at one of the local grilling stands. And if you know how I feel about grilling, you know I was in heaven. Some of our younger team members spent the time asking me about the various sports Americans enjoy, and we had a great time.

Afterwards, as my Dad and I went back to our room, I got my first chance to watch Filipino TV. First off, let me say that the state of Filipino acting is far better in their commercials than it is in their telenovelas, which make the Mexican soap operas on Telemundo look like the Royal Shakespeare Company. Especially when you consider that they incessantly switch between Tagolog and English, which is not too far from normal around here anyway.

The thing is, the Philippines I’m seeing on the TV shows and especially in the commercials has absolutely nothing in common with what I’ve seen here in my four days, whether it be the rural areas, where you expect it, or the urban areas. And I’m realizing that I’d forgotten is that the major industry of the Philippines is what they call balikbayan—which basically means returning workers, but actually denotes Filipinos who take jobs (most often as nurses and also as doctors) in other countries like the US and Dubai, and send money back home. Their economic impact is so great that they keep the right to vote even after becoming citizens elsewhere.

I wonder if I’ll see the same discrepancies next week when I finally get to Manila.