PSHF

Sixteen days into the new year 2009, I found myself walking through the dirt roads of the hidden small communities of Cauayan. If it weren’t for the PSHF, I would most likely never find myself in such places.

I joined the PSHF field trip and was enthusiastically walking with Richard Foster, Bernie and Glitter as we went from house to house checking on the people and how they have progressed in their lives since they received their loans from PSHF.

Personally, I would say I’m a progressive thinker. I love to discover new things; I love to innovate; think outside of the box, so to speak. I always want to see things improve. I would always want to make good use of the available space that the ‘room for improvement’ provides. And so I thought that visiting the homes of the poor was not a ‘forward thinking’ activity for me. I thought there was nothing much for me to learn here for my development. I was afraid it would bore me, or much more depress me. So I looked closely into Richard’s mood as we went around. I wondered what keeps this man doing what he’s been doing with PSHF. In the course of a conversation while we were walking, he said, “It always makes me feel alive when I’m here.”. A bit shocked I said, “Oh, really? I wish to see things here the way you see them, Richard. I want to know what is it that makes you feel alive being here seeing all these mundane scenarios.”

Among the visits we made, I was struck most with Joshua, the 36-year old son of

Pepe Cervantes, a PSHF loan recipient. Joshua has been mentally ill since he was 17 years old. He has to be tied to his bed to keep him from hurting others as he gets to be violent at times. Richard requested me to take a photo of this young man as the plan is for PSHF to help the parents of this man cope more easily with the demands of having a mentally ill son. They have received a livelihood loan for fish vending but additional grant assistance is being considered. Having noted the openness of his mind, I got inspired to know that PSHF is not limiting itself to the same kind of projects all the time.

It was a moment of enlightenment for me, to see that forward thinking can be happening even in the vicinity of the inaccessible by modern technology and the latest lifestyle trend.

On another visit, there was this 13-year old girl who has suffered from an unknown mental illness. Unknown because she has never been brought to a doctor for a proper diagnosis as her parents could not afford the costs. She is very shy and not very communicative. She just looks to the ground all the time. She has noticeably big wounds on her feet. But because of PSHF, her situation was discovered.

What a joy it was for the mother to know that finally her daughter will be brought to a doctor for a check-up. What more joy it is for me also to witness such a thrust like this of PSHF’s. In the world of a competitive fast-paced lifestyle of technology and materialism, people in PSHF takes the precious time to look beyond themselves and pay sincere attention to lives of the poor to enable them to find ways out of their desperation.

It was a blessing indeed to have joined this PSHF field trip in Cauayan. Thank you all for the privilege.