Somewhere in Samar ~ Brain Farts Go Places

In Quinapondan, to be specific.

Volunteering is buffet for your soul and, boy, is my soul stuffed! Health Futures Foundations, Inc. recently launched Kalinaw Samar!, a program centered in providing psychosocial relief alongside the continuous rendering of medical missions to Yolanda survivors.

'Kalinaw' in Waray is 'peace of mind' (or something of that sort).
It's quite a deep word, that Kalinaw.

Ever heard of the municipalities of Giporlos, Marabut, Quinapondan, and Salcedo in the news? Nope? What sets this program - and other post-Haiyan rehabilitation programs by HFI - from other medical missions is that it caters to municipalities that media coverage fails to shed their saving light on. This only reflects the principle of the NGO's founder, Doc Jimmy Galvez-Tan (for passionate people who wan to serve in the community, this website is a must-read), which is to serve the poorest of the poor.

Aside from feeling fulfilled and perhaps checking an item off your bucket list, another pro of joining this mission is that you practically spend nothing and receive all the love and gratitude from the people you help. Feeling psyched (pun unitended. Promise.) to join? Here's how:

(c) healthfuturesfoundation.com
Check it out!

1. Inquire at HFI via their website (see link above) or thru their Facebook page regarding future dates of missions.
This is the first step and it only takes a minute or two from your busy life. Every second of these minutes will probably be worth it. Take the risk, enjoy what you might reap. Kalinaw Samar missions will deploy teams every two weeks until October or November so you have a lot of dates to choose from!

2. Attend a PAP training on the Katatagan module.

(c) pap.org.ph

Once you've cleared your sched for a Thurs-to-Sunday mission, you have to prepare for it. Being a psychocial mission at Kalinaw Samar's core, HFI partnered with the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP) to train volunteers on the Katatagan module. The module has been developed by PAP to help in facilitating the coping process and to provide psychosocial relief to disaster survivors. It's a half a day training, hopefully within Ateneo grounds again, where the module would be discussed and ran-through. The latest one was held last May 9 2014. Recent talks put the schedule of the next Katatagan module training sometime around June or July (will update this info).

3. Attend the pre-mission orientation.
Almost there! Scheduled a few days before you leave for Samar, this is just a meeting with your team, usually composed of six members - myself, DJ and Erika and Ma'am Beng, Claire and Chris, for last-minute reminders on what to bring, what to expect and what to do once you're in the field. Really brings the adrenaline level up, I assure you.

Le Team!
(L-R) DJ, Myself, Maam Claire, Maam Chris,
Maam Beng, Erika
(c) Lopez

Imagine yourself inside
that glorious piece of clothing!
(c) deviantart.com

4. Prepare for the mission.
Pack light for four days (see Puerto Galera post for a link to awesome packing). Bring the essentials: toiletries, water bottle, cap and sunblock if you don't want to get that golden crisp (haha), and of course, malong - the ultimate body gear (pardon my fascination and slight drooling over this piece of clothing).
And please, for the love of all that is good, sleep. It might be quite hard to suppress that excitement but you have to sleep so you will feel fresh the next day and, more importantly, won't be late for the group check-in.

5. Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
I'm too excited to fly. Our MNL-TAC flight was serviced by PAL so we met at NAIA Terminal 3 for the check-in. To get there, ride LRT1 up to EDSA station (15 pesos from Pedro Gil station), cross EDSA via the footbridge, and ride a Nichols/NAIA 3 jeepney for 8 pesos. Alight in the checkpoint, walk to Terminal 3 and ask your way inside. It's better to do a group check-in because the total check-in luggage can be maximized. After an hour in the air, we've reached Tacloban airport where we met with Doc Arne, a Samar-based community doctor who joined our medical mission team with Doc Cel. Did I mention I sat next to Doc Jimmy for our flight to Tacloban? I acted cool about it. Too cool that I fell asleep instead of hyperventilating with all the community fan-boy feels inside me.

6. Get to work.

A literal 'uncanny valley' of matchstick-like coconut trees. Sad reality is that they wil
never bear fruit again even if they regrow their lush fronds.
(c) Lopez

Doc Arne doing magic:
Health Teaching + Screening

On our way to our accommodations in Giporlos, we witnessed kilometers after kilometers of devastated land, matchstick-like coconut trees dotting the brownish-green hillside, roof-less houses and even wooden foundation columns jutting out of the mud serving as grim reminders to the coastal houses that once stood there.

Our first day was supposed to be a community immersion through house visits but we ended up helping with the medical mission because we're kinda short with nurses and, lo and behold, half of the psych team - including myself - was composed of hyperactive, selfless (ehem) nurses so we were assigned in the triage area. Tiring but really fulfilling (and it switched my 'nursing mode' on).

Tita Evelyn, a nurse-midwife and a graduate of UP SHS, was very kind to accommodate the whole team in her house for the next four days. She did not only lend her place but her whole heart to the rest of the team. And she served the best dishes and merienda (special mention to tinitim)! Thank you, Tita!

Lead faci leading a PMR session.
Hi Ma'am Claire!

Nights were spent discussing the activities and preparing the materials for the modules to be discussed the next day. Mornings were spent for last-minute dry-runs. To be a lead facilitator is to manage the team right and effectively and we were lucky to have Ma'am Claire to be our team's lead facilitator. Alongside her good friend, Ma'am Chris, and Ma'am Beng, they helped us nurses to refresh our psychology concepts and to add new ones, as well.

My dear seniors working together. Awwww.

Our first day had a relatively good turn-out rate of almost 30 participants from the targeted 49 survivors. I had six members for my team, Team Tangkod (tangkod is 'loyalty' in Waray) and all of them were very warm in welcoming me to their place. Sharing had its pangs but one particular member was a warm fuzzy optimist that helped in uplifting the group spirit. Another helped in improving group dynamics to involve the silent ones. You really get a spectrum of attitude and to facilitate the group is a challenge, but a fun and hearty one at that. We finished the scheduled modules on time so we went home earlier than scheduled and had our own relaxation technique session by the beach.

Facilitators need to relax, too, y'know

Drop-out from the program is an inevitable fact: from six participants, my team shrunk to a mere four-woman team but these remaining women were boundless in their energy and are very open with their feelings. Cheering and other team building activities only strengthened their dynamics and improved their coping skills. In the end, they left in better and higher spirits than they were when the program started. Seeing them change from semi-fragile spirits to better-suited ones after being their guide throughout the program never fails to give you that sought-after warm fuzzy feeling inside despite the sweltering heat outside.

The team with Ate Jhe, our hard-working program coordinator, and Kuya Ernie, our tireless driver on our second and last day for our psych mission. Good job, Team!
(c) Lopez

Tita Evelyn (in pink), our very welcoming host and
Doc Cel (in blue), one of our doctors for the
medical mission aspect of Kalinaw Samar
(c) Lopez

Good things have to come to an end, so they say. After four days of spending time and helping people in a disaster-stricken land, you see that the people has the capacity to rebuild themselves but in a rather delayed rate. In this crevice is where we swoop in and help them develop skills and adopt behaviors that will facilitate their coping and recovery, and hopefully, help others in their own coping process.

Candle of Hope (and Gratitude, in my case)
(c) Crisostomo

7. Face reality.
It's the community and you are expected to be flexible:
We shared the whole second floor and even shared mattresses instead of staying in a hostel.
We rode a government-issued shuttle instead of an air-conditioned van.
We used the church as our venue instead of a more conducive auditorium.
We make use of the available resources instead of asking for everything.

But, again, this is the community where resourcefulness is tested and one is placed at wit's end. And all these and more are what I love about the community.

Hoping to join another mission this October! How about you?

P.S. Aside from feeling wonderful inside because of the experience, you get to see some equally wonderful sights (relatively) spared from the disaster.