Bethany re-visited

Last year, my personal aspiration to re-visit Bethany, our diocesan orphanage center which we have been visiting as part of our apostolate activities some 20 years ago, was fulfilled. It was Maia’s christening and Zek’s third birthday so we timed the visit to have a simple afternoon celebration with the children. My father, youngest brother and his wife, sister in law and her children joined us much to my delight.

A lot has change.

From its original location hidden inside the barrio, it was transferred into a spacious lot beside the seminary. And from the simple structure it was, it rose forth a complete facility with dormitories for boys and girls, a playground, prayer room, classrooms, exclusive infant room and their very own chapel. The surrounding is well taken care of with trees and trimmed grasses. They have their own security and management group still headed by the Dominican nuns.

Some things never change.

Sadly, not even the better facilities and management yielded what the nuns have been aspiring for. What with the orphan population growing every year, the volunteers and regular caretakers are silent witnesses to the never-ending tragedies of these poor and neglected children. The sad stories remain the same. They are left and abandoned by their own parents either since birth or at their very young age. One toddler story is really heartbreaking because his mother was forced to give her up because her drunkard husband continues to beat her black and blue whenever they have argument, The last straw happened when he tried to hack her with a bolo. She was simply afraid that he would inadvertently shift his fits of rage towards their son. The mother, in deep pain, wouldn’t even dare visit their son because she is afraid he would be able to follow her and know his whereabouts.

Some things do never change.

Inspite of being orphaned, these children are a joy to watch and talk with. They pray. They clean their areas before they leave. They have the inculcated respectful trait as they never miss the words “po” and “opo” in their conversation. They share their toys. They share jokes. They kid around. They have their ready smile every time they see us look their way. They are very candid about answering our queries whether they are personal or trivial things. Yes, once in a while, loneliness and their deep longing to belong to their very own family get the better of these children but they know that they can get the love and attention from their dedicated caretakers.

And for this, I really would like to honor those selfless and nameless angels called nuns and volunteers who denied themselves of their personal time to care good care of these little angels. It doesn’t matter to them if others will recognize their sacrifices or not. What matters to them is what matters to our Lord – His children.

I felt very blessed to be able to spend another hour or so with them again.
Thank you Lord for that opportunity and looking forward for more.