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Newsletter of the District
of Asia
Jan
- June 2003
The
SSPX 6th Medical Mission
in the Philippines
at
Barangay Tatalon , Quezon City
Sunday April 6, 2003, Sunday, 2:00 -- 5:30 pm
organised by: Our Lady of Fatima Charity Clinic,
Our Lady Of Victories Church,
2 Cannon Road, New Manila, QC through the help of Councilor Neneng
Montilla
April 6th, Passion Sunday. Boxes and boxes of medicines,
of rosaries and other blessed articles were hurriedly carried to
the vehicles waiting outside Our Lady of Victories Church right
after the 9am Sung Mass. The Cristeros and the Knights of Our Lady
ran back and forth to get everything ready for the mission. It practically
meant moving the whole clinic, Our Lady of Fatima Charity Clinic,
to Barangay Tatalon, there to hold a free medical and dental mission.
As expected,
a crowd of people eagerly awaited at the mission site. Tents were
installed and the street was closed. After a quick lunch, all helpers
resumed work, busy organizing the pharmacy, the medical, and the
dental area. A few minutes before 2:00 pm, the priests, Frs. Vicente
Griego and Santiago Hughes, came with the image of Our patroness,
Our Lady of Fatima, who has been present at all medical missions
since the very first in 1998. At 2:00 pm, a prayer was said, and
the mission began.
The line of
people never seemed to end. Young and old patiently waited for their
turn, either to have a tooth pulled or find relief for an illness.
Then they lined up at the pharmacy for their medicines, then to
the priests’ table where each received a rosary and a holy
card. It was not only a medical and dental mission, but a spiritual
one as well.
It was a successful
mission and we thank all the 12 medical doctors and 2 dentists who
gave their time to help in this endeavor to help the less fortunate.
Also noteworthy of our gratitude are the volunteer helpers, the
Cristeros, the Knights of Our Lady, and the Bethanians, who worked
continuously that afternoon. Some assisted at the dental area, others
at the medical, but the most tiring task was that at the pharmacy,
looking for the medicines in the multitude of boxes. And the work
could have not been made easier without the help of a pharmacist
who volunteered to help us. We thank her and all those who helped
in whichever way. And we owe our gratitude to those who helped with
the donations of medicines. We had more than 600 patients that day!
(And the week after that mission, we held a free clinic at our church
basement and we had 126 patients.)
This half-day
mission that seemed one whole long day took in fact a whole month
to prepare and organize. Follow-up calls, driving back and forth
(we thank our driver too), visiting the site once in a while, meeting
with the very industrious people who coordinated for us (Councilor
Neneng Montilla and her staff), the daily evening visits to stores
(Nestle was our favorite) to collect boxes to keep the medicines.
We got about a hundred of them! Disappointments, discouragements
and misunderstandings are on the list too. But of course, we should
not miss out on the continual prayer we said for the success of
this mission. We remember the panic when after the Sunday mass one
volunteer was approached and asked to bring his car to transport
the medicines when he broke the most horrifying news: his car had
broken down that day. If there was anything that was always put
to test in each activity like this one, it was our trust in Divine
Providence. At that very moment, a family of parishioners let us
borrow their van and thus saved the situation!
To all who
helped and who prayed, thank you very much! We did not mention everybody’s
names, but Our Lord knows you. May Our Lord and Our Lady bless you!
6th Mission
accomplished! Deo gratias et Mariae!
Our heartfelt
thanks goes to the pharmaceutical companies that helped in this
event: Allied Pharmaceutical Labs; Am-Europharma Corporation; Boehringer
Ingelheim; Euro Health Care Exponents, Inc.; Filadams Pharma, Inc.;
Hizon Laboratories, Inc.; Medi-RX, Inc.; MultiCare; One Pharma Company,
Inc.; Pharmaspec, N.A. Inc.; Vamsler Philippines, Inc.
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