Love…Without Borders style.
Oct 24th, 2008 by rean
IIts official. I’m now a legit user to this site. Teys has been quite engaged in various projects such as those for The Daily Scrapper. So she asked me to write here more often.
Last Sunday, the family went to the office of “Ministries without Borders” in Gen. Trias, Cavite. Having lived in Trece Martires before, we took the Tagaytay route from Sta. Rosa then the Tagaytay-Amadeo road. We thought the place was close to the town proper. When we couldn’t find the building, we rendezvoused with a friend and followed them through the Tierra Nevada road.
When we got to the mission house, we were pleasantly surprised to find an excellently built facility in the middle of rice fields. The orientation of the buildings allowed for daylighting without heat coming in. High ceilings allowed for heat to dissipate in the interior. The look and feel was minimalist and functional, yet grand in everyway. As we got to meet our hosts and the other occupants of the house, we find that this organization is predominantly Norwegian. That explains the IKEA-ish feel to the place.
After lunch, we got a tour of the facility. We went to their maternity clinic which was cleaner than what you typically see in our hospital wards. We went to the children’s area where they take care of infants, toddlers and young kids referred to by the Social Welfare Dept. Here you find little folks in clean, new crib bedding. It was an emotional experience for us as we felt the kids respond when we carried them. Our son even carried a baby in his arms while sitting down.
At the end of the day, we had an encouraging experience seeing these foreigners taking care of the poor citizenry of our country. The organization also works with the Mangyans of Mindoro and with communities in Mindanao. You can check their website at www.ministrieswithoutbordersphil.com for any involvement opportunties.
Rean
I left the Philippines in 2000, but had I stayed, I would have surely visited and volunteered at Ministries Without Borders. I often commuted and drove through this area while going home from Dasmarinas, where I studied at De La Salle University. At DLSU-D there was a university wide YES program, that sent the students out into the community. I know a few professors/friends that still work at DLSU-D and I will definitely spread the word to them about Ministries Without Borders, to get more youth involved in volunteering there.
Thanks for sharing your story about your trip there. I would love to scrapbook pix from your trip if you have any. And I will look into how to donate to this org via another charity collaboration with MabuhayProject.blogspot.com
[Reply]
Thanks for your comment! I’m from DLSU too. DLSU taft nga lang. I guess were really “LaSallians” as shown in our social commitment.
We do have some pictures but we’ll have to ask permission if we can share them in the web. Without Borders is quite careful about the children’s privacy.
thanks,
Rean
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