PSHF

Richard and Alfreda in PSHF Bacolod.

Two months ago, we were happy to be reunited with two of the PSHF grant recipients in the past. 

Alfreda Roylan was suffering from multiple organ malfunction - rheumatic heart disease, thrombosis, kidney failure and high blood pressure when she was found by Richard and company in the paediatric ward of the provincial hospital in Bacolod in November 2004. 

In July of the following year, she was sent to Manila for a cardiac catheterisation test and the PSHF paid for hers and her brother's and mother's return trips by boat, as well as jeepney fares and other miscellaneous expenses.  

She looked so ill,  we were afraid that she may not survive but she did survive! 

She is now 15, and in her last year of elementary school in her hometown in Ma-ao.

                 Jocy with husband José and daughter Joecelynia 

It was a fine sunny afternoon, on January 24 of this year, when Jocy Parcon (26), married Jose Pagapulan (35) her common-in-law partner for two years, in a mass wedding. Jocy was especially noticeable because of her hunched back and short height, She was wearing the blue dress which Richard had given her as a highschool graduation gift in 2004. To others, Jocy was simply just one of the brides, but to us who knew her story, she was the ultimate bride.

Jocy was born in 1987 to a very poor family in Miranda. She and her four siblings were all affected by malnutrition to vrying degrees. Of the five children, Jocy and sisters Maricel and Joan survived but Jocy and Maricel developed hunched backs as a result of having had tuberculosis as children. Jocy also lost both her parents to tuberculosis; first her father Joseph in 2002 and then her mother Virginia in 2010. Jocy and her family have been recepients of several PSHF grants since they were first brought to our attention in 1992. The grants were for housing, medical treatment and schooling aid. Despite her deformity and people's insensitivity towards her condition, Jocy toiled on to finish high school and even a two-year food technology vocational course in April 2006.

Jocy has expeirenced so much deprivation and loss in life and we (Richard, Glitter, and Bernie) are happy to be present at her wedding and see that things are beginning to look better for her now. She has a husband who loves her sincerely and a healthy daughter to raise.

Glitter H. Moreño

PSHF Negros Occidental

March 2012

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