Newsletter – Family to Family, Inc.

This section of our website is updated quarterly.

Winter 2024

Address: Barrio Anito, 9100 Mambajao
Camiguin Province, Philippines
Web address: http://family2family1975.org
E-mail: family.1975@yahoo.com

Dear Friends,

SPED

Eleven year-old Kurt is autistic and his speech is sometimes hard to understand. He lives in a barrio about 4 kilometers from the central school in Mambajao which is the nearest school that has SPED classes. His mother had been bringing him to the Kinder SPED class by motorella. But now she found work as a cook at a small eatery, so she can no longer bring him to school. The teacher sends modules for him to work on at home. But we know he needs to be in a face-to-face class. We are trying to figure out some way to get him back in the classroom. He can write and read the letters of the alphabet and is eager to learn.

Arjel is now ten years old. He has cerebral palsy and walks slowly. He started at the SPED in Mambajao when he was five. We started helping the family with his carfare to and from school in 2022. He has been mainstreamed and is now in the regular Grade II. His teacher reports that he is doing very well in his studies. Most of his grades are in the 80s.

Seven year-old Mary Grace has congenital hypothyroidism, which was diagnosed through newborn screening. Her parents had to bring her to a specialist in Cagayan de Oro at one month old to get started on thyroid medicine and then again a month later for follow-up. After that, the parents couldn’t afford the transportation to get to Cagayan anymore. And then Covid came. Lea only heard about Mary Grace in 2023 when the SPED teacher asked Lea if we could sponsor her carfare to school and also the transportation to Cagayan for follow-up check-ups. So, she was not receiving the medicine for a period of five years. She has only grown a little bit in height since starting the thyroid medication again in 2023. However, her teacher in the SPED Kinder has noticed a big improvement. She is still quite shy and doesn’t talk at school, although she does talk with her mother. But she now responds to her teacher and follows the teacher’s instructions. Since the laboratory in Mambajao can now do the test to check her thyroid levels, her mother brings the results to the pediatrician at the hospital, who then contacts the specialist in Cagayan to see if any changes are needed in the dosage of the medication.

HANDICAPPED

So far, we have had only two newborns with clefts this year. Kierra was born in May and Savior Tyler in July. They both have cleft palates as well as cleft lip. It is very difficult to breast a baby with a cleft palate. So, we are supplying their families with powdered infant formula every month up to the age of two years.

Only Jhaniya, whom we mentioned in the last newsletter, had surgery this year. Her lip was repaired in July when she was 8 months old. She still needs palate surgery. We have seven others whose lips were repaired several years ago, but who need surgery on their palates. And eleven others have had no surgery at all yet. This is the largest group we have ever had at one time awaiting surgery.

There are many reasons for the delays. First and foremost was the Covid pandemic. But also, the child is sometimes underweight or has frequent respiratory infections. Some parents are afraid of having their child operated on. The parent who will stay in the hospital with the child is required to show proof of Covid vaccine, and some parents don’t want the vaccine. And in some cases, once the lip is repaired and the child looks so much better they seem to think the cleft palate can’t really be seen so why bother having the child go through another operation. We try to explain how important the palate surgery is for the child to have normal speech. In the past, there were “missions” of surgeons who came to Camiguin to do cleft lip surgeries on six or more children at a time but this has not happened in a long time. We hope next year we will be able to get many more of the children to their long overdue surgery.

SCHOOL SPONSORSHIP

Lea and Jesse made a trip around the island in mid-November to give out the second stipend for this school year to each of the 240 high school students whom we sponsor in eight public high schools. It is a long day. Lea sends messages ahead to the Principals to inform them of the date they will come and the principals inform the students to be sure to come to school on that date.

Then, on the scheduled day Jesse picks Lea up at 7:00 am and they head to Mambajao, where they stop at Jolibee (a fast food chain in the Philippines similar to McDonalds) to get some food for lunch, which they eat, sitting in the jeep wherever they happen to be at lunchtime.

Then, they head for two schools in Catarman. Both of the schools are some distance up in the hills. Lea texts the Principals at each school when they are nearly there and the students are usually gathered together in a room to receive their stipends by the time Jesse and Lea arrive. Next, they go to two schools in Sagay. One of them is up in the hills, below Mt. Hibok-hibok, which last erupted 70 years ago. And then, on to two schools in Guinsiliban and one school each in Mahinog and Mambajao. Finally, it is just a short ride back to their starting point. They arrive around 5:30 pm., having circled the whole island passing through all 5 Municipalities – 64 kilometers, not counting the jaunts up into the hills. As I said, it’s a long day, but also a happy day for the 240 students.

We leave you with this by Sigrid Undset:

“And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and the oceans – and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused – and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself.”

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Feliz Navidad! Maayong Pasko! Maligayang Pasko! Happy Kwanza!

Grace & Peace,

PS: Our 2024 Annual Financial Report is now available in our website.

Contributions are IRS tax deductible (ID#42-1087104 and eligible for matching by employers. They should be made Payable to Family To Family, Inc. If in U.S. $, Canadian $ or European currencies, they should be sent to:

Family to Family, Inc.
c/o Availa Bank
126 W 6th St.
Carroll IA 51401-2341

Electronic donations can also be made with the Donate button in our website.

Letters should be sent to:

Diane Palmeri
3903 Pearl Avenue
Sophia, NC 27350
United States