The last six weeks or so have marked a time of transition in Ugat ng Kalusugan – transitions that have seemed very natural and have gone along with the seasons.  First of all, the women in Pulang Lupa completed the whole twenty week program in Reproductive Health – an expanded program which included pre and post natal care, Human Rights awareness, discussions of family life and bringing up children, empowerment, and other health and human rights-related topics.  While the formal classes for the women came to a close, we had many internal discussions on how to keep up our relationships with these women, who had all become our friends. We wanted to make sure there was sustainability in what we taught and had no intention of simply packing up and leaving. We also want to maintain Josh’s nursing services – she is monitoring several pregnant women and helping others with various family planning options, plus advising on infections, fevers, illnesses like malaria, etc.

We could also see that the Education programs for the kids were becoming better and better, and more children were participating.  And those same children have been profiting from their nourishing snacks as well.  But we did have some concern for the smaller children, those under three, who were not joining the class and sometimes missed out on the extra food too.

In June and July the rains intensify here in Palawan, and the older children go back to school, leaving Pulang Lupa a rather quiet village on week days.  So we planned our new programming carefully and moved into it in July.  It includes:

A Nutrition supplement for very small children, mostly under three, twice a week.

Class and snack for children aged four to six twice a week.

Classes for older children, and light snacks, on Saturday.

Clinic hours with our nurse, Josh, on Saturday.

We are continuing the nutritional supplement for all children on alternate Saturdays.  (We partner with Aloha House on this program.)

By the third week in July we had 27 participants for the under threes, and 16 to 18 for the four  to six year olds.  We hold these two programs simultaneously in separate locations – just as the small kids are finishing their food and starting to move on, we see the four to six year olds parading down the road from their classroom to where we are.  The supplement alternates between brown bread or cookies made with oat cereal, and milk, and a cooked dish such as oatmeal (old fashioned oats, lots of milk, oat bran) or chicken porridge (brown rice.)  We are recording weights once a week among the under threes and have already seen some slight weight gains.  Since these children have to be brought to the program by their mothers, this also serves as a time for quiet conversation with them, most of whom were in the Reproductive Health classes.

Saturday classes:  Evetha and Marcus worked out a comprehensive curriculum for the older children that covers reading and writing skills, math, English, and even some science and geography.  The Saturday group tends to be a bit unwieldy, with 70 or more children involved, but Evetha has tested them all and classified them into various levels so that they can be both taught and monitored more efficiently.

Clinic:  In the past we experienced some difficulties in getting people to commit to appointments with the nurse, and sometimes those who had made appointments did not show up.  However if Josh, our nurse, is there in the make shift clinic on Saturday mornings, many women do drop by.  The pregnant women come in for pre-natal check ups, and others come in for pregnancy testing or to request contraception or for other concerns.  Josh is very easy going and the women seem to like her a lot and feel free to sit around and chat for some time – an excellent time and space for bringing up other medical and health concerns that they would hesitate to bring to a more formal health center.

We figure we can maintain this program in Pulang Lupa even as we move into another site with our Reproductive Health work, as well as doing more programming in Palawan State University.  We are especially interested in working in PSU now, at the start of the school year, and when heavy rains sometimes make it difficult to go out into the countryside for field work.  Our guest researcher, Margeaux Berroth, held discussion groups with students in June and July and these talks revealed really serious needs for work in reproductive health and attitude change:  we still have too many pregnant students – and too many boarding house abortions.  On the bright side, we feel that many of the college students, especially the women and girls, can be empowered to take control over their own lives because they are not yet married, not yet mothers, and are on their way to many career possibilities. We are especially interested in working with first year college students who are not yet dating; we want them to know they can make their own hopes and aspirations a future reality.