LittleFish, continued (buying Diapers)

April 15, 2007: Bantayan Island, Cebu Philippines

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/125s f/5.6 at 54.0mm iso40

One of the most simple ways I chose to help LittleFish's son Kalle was to commit to buying his diapers every week, as nearly all the poor Families there on the Island (and in Philippines as a whole) simply can not afford these things for their children, and most kids simply have to go without them daily.

If there's a little extra money available to Families, they have to buy food - diapers simply do not fit into these Families budgets, or are reserved for rare occasions when the children accompany Parents into town, etc.

Here in the USA, diapers are available by the dozen, or in multi-dozen packs - while at the Pharmacies on the Island it always struck me to see mothers who needed diapers for their children buying 1, maybe 2 at a time and that's it....at 20cents per diaper, it's all they could possibly spend.

So I always made it a point that before I went over to LittleFish's Family - while I was out getting a load for my phone, or buying myself bread, etc. - I'd always canvass the small General store and buy Kalle's diapers in the few dozen packs available there - and if the store didn't have any stock, I'd go to every small sari-sari store in town, until I found Happy Brand, size medium - and if they didn't have a 12 pack available I'd buy as many as I could find, then I'd hit the next store, and so on.

And it had to be HAPPY brand, size medium - as the Pampers brand in medium was too large to fit properly, and their size small was too small, so it was sometimes quite the quest going from store to store to get what they needed.

Matter of fact, two of the longest Diaper Runs I ever went on happened right after Holy Week, after all the Filipino tourists & their Families had left the Island and most store shelves were picked clean.
...I had Rosa on the back of my motorcycle while her Family was looking after the children, and we went into Ste. Fe for diapers only to find absolutely none in medium size.

If I can't find what I need for them, I just smile and tell Rosa "no problem - we're on a Mission", and I said we'd just ride into Bantayan Town, 20 minutes away - and that's what we did...only to find NOTHING available in Bantayan Town!

I remember turning to her, smiling - and saying "no big deal - we're going all the way up to Madridejos then".
...Madridejos is the town at the top of the Island, about 40 minutes ride from Ste. Fe, and she smiled with her eyes opened wide, and said "Thank you Kuya - let's go!"

The ride up to Madridejos on the highway is always a pleasant one, we both enjoy the cool breeze (aside from being in the water, it's the only other way for you to cool off from the hot temps there), and we DID find our Happy brand diapers at a small Pharmacy in town, right next to the Okie-Okie market where you get used clothing for cheap prices - so I turned it into a double-play and bought all the diapers I could find, while I had Rose hit the Okie Market to find baby clothes for Kalle & Kuji, and since we were already there in Madridejos it only made sense to pick up baby clothes we needed and clothing for her younger sisters also (the entire Family's only able to afford hand-me-downs), so those two trips to Madridejos were very important & satisfying to me personally.

I'd go on 'diaper runs' at least twice a week there - and I'd also buy for LittleFish's sister Jen, as she has a 5 month old son Kuji, and I couldn't just buy for Kalle and not for Kuji also.

To see the smiles of appreciation on both sisters faces when I would stop by to drop off the diapers for their children, was satisfying to me beyond words - and to know that just for a while, their kids could run around and stay a bit cleaner, like "normal" kids from Families of means, also reminded me that 'giving' was just the right thing to do.

Thanks for reading today, and Good Saturday Afternoon to you all.

And a very special thanks to Concha in Spain from the TULAY website (TULAY is linked on this blog page), for donating resources used for LittleFish's Family in March/April 2007 - LittleFish & Family are deeply thankful to you & yours.

PJAMES

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/320s f/5.6 at 54.0mm iso400

LittleFish's neighbor Maddy looks after Kalle when I had the children over to BN's house I was staying at.