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You might wonder what has happened to us since our last blog was so long ago. Did we fall off the face of the earth?? Actually sometimes it feels as if we have tunneled through the earth and come up on the other side. Just over a month ago we arrived at the Charlotte, NC airport. We hit the ground running and in the first 2 weeks we had visited 2 different orthodontists 4 times for braces, the dentist once to have 2 permanent teeth pulled, traveled among 3 states picking up items being loaned to us like cars and furniture, as well as gathering our own belonging at various locations. Next on the agenda was finding a place to live and beginning the homeschooling year. Needless to say we have run ourselves ragged over the past month.

We are finally settled in our home for the next year. While we don't have an abundance of furniture, everyone does have their own bed (ok AL and I share) and we can all sit at the kichen table and on a comfy couch or chair in the living room. It is beginning to have a homey feel. We are so thankful to all those who have graciously loaned and given us things needed for our survival. I have enjoyed going through the 5 or 6 boxes marked "save for furlough" that we packed up before we left. Somethings are wonderful finds...like the everyday dishes we got when we got married, and some of the pictures we had hanging on our walls. Some things I pull out of the box and say "what was I thinking??" Did I really think that the winter clothes my kids wore over 3 years ago would fit them this winter? They have grown quite a bit and I think everything I saved headed off to Goodwill except one Auburn sweatshirt that was Emily's and now belongs to Will.

Today, a new day dawned and we experienced something we haven't since 2004.......fall! The temps have hovered around 63 all day. It has been rainy and overcast so it was a wet, chilly 63. I threw open the windows, put on some bluejeans for the first time, and loved every second of it. We had soup and grilled sandwiches for lunch with Little Debbie Gingerbread men. It was a very fall lunch. Tonight I am sitting here drinking a pot of hot black spice chai tea (thanks Dad and Mom) and eating another Gingerbread man as I blog. I am hoping we have said goodbye to temps above 85 for a while, but this being the South, I am sure they will return. I just can't wait until the leaves begin to turn. For now, I am going to go snuggle up under the quilt on my bed. Yes I could close the windows, but I am loving the cool. I leave you with a picture of the new Emily.

Burn Care

As a result of the increased use of wood for cooking, we have seen an increase in the number of burns. During the past months, the clinic has cared for many burn patients, some minor and some fairly extensive. The girl shown below is a regular patient at the clinic. She came in recently with a facial burn that was 24 hours old. Our nurse Ling had seen the girl the night before and provided some basic care and a tetanus injection. The next morning when she came to our regular clinic, her eyes had swollen shut and the burns were causing her severe pain.

The first picture I was able to get was on day #3 after the burn. She was looking somewhat better by this time. We continued daily debridement and cleaning for her for more than 2 weeks. I was concerned about the amount of scarring that would occur but she did remarkably well. Even the pigment in her skin began to return after some time. She continues to do well and is seen at the clinic with the rest of her family.

Day # 7

Weeks later...

Cooking

A few months ago, I posted a picture of some kids dragging a bag of sticks they had gathered for their family to use in cooking.
( http://thegilmers.blogspot.com/2008/03/firewood.html ). I thought I would show you a picture of an actual kitchen in the home of one of our patients. This kitchen actually doubles as a restaurant in the front part of their home.

Boys collecting sticks on the road to our house

What's Shaking?

Last night, I left Allan and the kids downstairs watching a DVD of the Andy Griffith Show while I went upstairs to put on my jammies. While I was up there, I decided to do a couple sudoku puzzles. I was lying on the bed working one, when the bed began to shake. Then the windows began to rattle. Hmmm, I thought. "I wonder if they feel this downstairs?" The shaking stopped and I went back to my puzzle. A few minutes later Allan came to the kitchen to fix a drink. "Did you feel that shaking?" I asked. His reply was "What shaking?" "I think we just had an earthquake."
Allan and the kids soon joined me upstairs and the shaking was forgotten. About 9:15 Al got on the internet to check email and the news. "Hey Ginger, listen to this...'A 4.5-magnitude earthquake shook several portions of Luzon at 8:01 Sunday night, the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology said....'" The epicenter was quite a ways from us making our region only felt intensity 3 which causes little damage and not everyone can feel. That explains why Allan and the kids didn't feel it, but three floors up the house shook a bit. I do have to say living in the Pacific Ring of Fire is never dull- typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes

Flame Tree

In 2001 before we went to Kenya, a friend recommended I read the book "The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood". It is the story of a 6 year old British girl who moves to Kenya with her family. I don't really remember too much about the book except the name and as far as I know we never saw a flame tree during the 9 weeks we were in Kenya. Naively, I thought this tree was indigenous to Africa. Imagine my surprise when we moved here to be told the beautiful tree in our back yard is a flame tree. Each year as hot season begins to draw to a close, the flame trees begin to bloom their bright orange blossoms. I love these trees. Their display of color is just gorgeous. It may even rank above Azaleas in Augusta, GA. So enjoy this view of our backyard. It is what I see when looking out the kitchen or bedroom windows.

Crowded waiting room

"Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we -- who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not -- can be saved." Charles Spurgeon

Waiting for the chance to see the doctors!

Typhoon Fengshen

Howling winds, sheets of torrential rain, and total darkness. That is how we awoke at 5am yesterday morning. We had prepared somewhat the night before for the impending typhoon, but after 3 years we have grown somewhat lax in our preparations. The threat of a typhoon used to send me out to the store to stack up on supplies, flashlights were out and ready, prepared for days of confinement. I've learned that when a country has an average of 20 typhoons during any given year that life in the metropolis may slow for a moment, but it never really stops. We usually just make sure the buckets we keep filled in the shower have fresh water and that we fill some pitchers with tap water to be filtered as needed. Oh and we shut all the windows downstairs before heading to bed. (No one likes to get up and shut them during the night)

Yesterday morning, after being awakened by the storm, we all snuggled together for a while and enjoyed the cool 72 degrees before heading down to eat pancakes by candle light. The great thing about a gas stove is that we can still cook. We debated whether we would go to church or not. See we knew that church would go on despite the category 3 typhoon currently passing through. Allan decided he didn't want to get stuck in heavy flooding that is a constant reality of torrential rains in this city. We have gotten quite adept at driving through flooded roadways. Something I was very apprehensive to do 3 years ago.

After breakfast, the kids went to build a fort with some pillows and blankets. They needed socks to keep their feet warm. We spent the day reading, talking, playing and weather watching from our screen porch. For us, the day was passed in quiet enjoyment of cool breezes and each other. We were thankful to have power restored around 6:30 pm and water restored a couple hours later. We realize this was not the case for many of those around us.

Today clean up began and life in Manila continues on like any other Monday. It always surprises me that natural disasters seem to be such a part of life here. So much so that the city never really shuts down. Yesterday, most of the malls, stores, and restaurants were open even during the height of the storm. The airport never closed and planes landed all day. Unfortunately many of our adopted countrymen will begin today differently than they had planned last week. They will have lost much, including loved ones. We grieve and pray for those who lost loved ones on the Ferry that capsized during the storm and for those who lost houses and family here in our city and around the Philippines.

Public transportation continues even
during a typhoon and heavy flooding

Since we had no power, we didn't want to open
the refrigerator so we ordered Pizza Hut delivery.
Even food delivery happens during a typhoon.

Obviously it was a popular dinner choice,
it took Allan a few tries to get through on the phone.

Passing it on

There is an old saying in medical training, "See one, do one, teach one". We have volunteers in our clinic of all stages of medical training, including those with absolutely no training at all. We definitely hold to the model that once you have developed a skill, it is time to pass it on to the next person. Whether its teaching vital signs, wound care, blood tests, or the Tagalog language, there is always a new skill to learn. Here Cindy is instructing a first year Filipino nursing student in wound evaluation and care.

Healthcare Training class

We just finished a Healtcare Training class. As I mentioned on a prior blog, this class was composed of all Westerners, mostly with New Tribes Mission. One of the challenges of teaching medicine to someone with little prior medical training is pushing them gently but consistently to expand their comfort and ability to access, diagnose and treat basic medical problems with confidence.

Every student progresses at their own rate, some need more re-assurance, some need a little nudging to move to the next step. One thing is sure, they will definitely need these skills in the areas where they serve. One of the most important skills they learn is how to communicate with medical professionals about the patient they are evaluating. Not a week goes by that we don't receive several emails asking for medical advise. Those who have received even the most basic of training provide a much clearer story and description than those who have not. Presenting the patient with the pertinent information and descriptive words makes our advice much more accurate and valuable to them and their patient.





One of our fun events is to finish the training with a class on basic wound care including suturing. Everyone enjoys sewing the pig's feet back together (except for the smell).

Our dog enjoyed the feet after the class. I did take out the sutures though.

I was in prison - Matt 25:36

"'Not called!' did you say?'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world." William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

Ministering to the prisoners of Iwahig. Chronic problems abound and our short visit provided only a temporary relief.

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However, many heard the Gospel presented, maybe for the first time.

"Sympathy is no substitute for action."

"Sympathy is no substitute for action." quote from David Livingstone, missionary to Africa












There is nothing like experience to teach you. This past year, we have been caring for a patient with a very difficult case of leprosy. On top of his disease, he has had multiple adverse reactions to the medications. Fortunately, the WHO is providing his medication at no cost to him. Our clinic is providing the follow-up evaluations and managing the complications of his treatment. After a rough beginning, Ted (not his real name) is doing better and will be seen in our clinic for many more months.

The "not nice" price of rice--Update

One Friday morning a couple weeks ago, I needed to dash to the grocery store for just a couple items. I left the kids home doing school work and assured them I would be back within the hour. The grocery store is probably no more than a mile from our house and, depending on traffic, the drive normally takes 5-10 minutes. This Friday, traffic was terrible. I sat and sat moving inches every few minutes. After about 30 minutes I neared the stop light in front of the grocery store. I began to see groups of people walking with heavy white grocery bags. Finally it dawned on me, somewhere ahead the NFA truck was selling government rice. Thankfully I turned before I got any closer to the distribution point.


The world shortage of rice continues to effect the Philippines. The National Food Authority (NFA) is trying to help provide rice to the poor by selling "nfa rice" in depressed areas. People will line up for hours in the hot sun to buy rice from NFA trucks. The rice is selling for 18.25 pesos per kilo as opposed to 25-30 pesos in the market. Each family is allowed to buy 3 kilos per day. Just this week, Emily and I passed another distribution truck. Em took these pictures as we passed by.


Read one woman's story here:http://www.bulatlat.com/2008/04/queues-nfa-rice-keep-getting-longer

"I scream, you scream....

.....We all scream for Ice Cream"

This is a familiar site around Manila. This guy is selling ice cream from his push cart. We often see men with carts like this or on bikes with the ice cream at the front. Just like American ice cream trucks, they have a special tune that plays to let the kids know they are coming.

At the Car Wash

Almost every Saturday, we pay these girls to wash our car. They are part of Cindy's Bible Study. She has been discipling these girls since they were 12. They are now 17-18 and have taken over the leadership and teaching of a new group of girls. They meet with Cindy during the week to study the lesson and prepare for their teaching time. I have really enjoyed getting to know these young women over the last 3 years. They are a lot of fun and seem to really want to follow Christ. I took this picture back in April. One of the girls had graduated from high school that day and we were having a special merianda (snack) in celebration. The graduate is the one holding up the peace sign. She hopes to go to college and become a teacher. The 2 girls on the left graduated last year. One is in college and the other hopes to begin midwifery school soon. The girl on the right is our next door neighbor and the youngest of the bunch. She is still in high school.

Summertime!

Well- the homeschool year for the Gilmer's is officially over! We finished school last Friday, much to the kids (and mom's) delight. The long endless days of summer stretch before us. Unfortunately most of the kids' friends are heading to the states this summer so they will be a little lonely.

While summertime in the US means hot weather, we are moving into rainy season. We like the rains since it is a little cooler. We were thankful that the rains began about a month early this year. Hot season lasted only about half it's normal time. While it lasted it was HOT. There is one great benefit of hot season.....Mangos! Mangos are one of our favorite fruits and the best mangos of the year are sold during the months of April and May.
Fruit stands and vendors begin popping up in early April along the road side selling all types of fresh fruit. This year the mangos were sweet and delicious and about the cheapest they've been in our 3 years here. Allan said he wanted to eat a mango everyday since we won't be able to enjoy them while on furlough. I am not sure we ate one everyday, but we did eat quite a few kilos. Just last week the prices began to rise and we have had some tart ones. It's sad to see another mango season come to an end. We will still buy them, but just not as often. Pineapple, I am happy to report, doesn't seem to have a season. It is sweet and delicious all year long.

A pushcart selling fresh fruits and other goodies.

Mangos ran between 20-35 pesos a half kilo this year.

That is about a dollar for 5 large mangos.

Happy Memorial Day!

Today is a holiday in America and most people are enjoying the day off. Life goes on here in the PI, Faith Academy is in session and Allan is at the clinic. We did celebrate Memorial Day though. Yesterday, we went a ceremony done by the Embassy at the American Military Cemetery here in Manila. It was a nice recognition of those soldiers, both American and Filipino who fought and died for our country.

17,202 American Soldiers who died during
the war in the Pacific lie in these graves.

Honoring the dead

Remembering friends and fellow soldiers

The Memorial to more than 36,000 soldiers

who "sleep in unknown graves"

Emily and Will with the S. Carolina state seal

Remiss in Blogging

I just saw the date of my last blog and realized it has been almost a month since I last blogged. It has been a busy month with end of school activities and such. I never finished the series on jobs our patients do. I will have to get on that. While I haven't been blogging, I have been taking tons of pictures. I just downloaded 245 from my camera to the computer. I will be weeding through them over the next few days and hopefully get some uploaded soon. Meanwhile I will show you a some pictures I took just a few hours ago of Em. She is at the Faith Academy Middle School Banquet tonight. Doesn't she look beautiful? She has gotten so old this year.

Pretty in Pink!

With friends

Here she is giving Bonnie a quick pet.
I just love her smile in this one.

Making a living - part 3

Another common money making venture is to prepare and cook foods and sell it "by the serving". Here is a small "restaurant setup near the clinic. These are fairly popular eating places because of the difficulty of preparing food. Most people in our area still use open fires burning whatever wood or trash they can scavenge. Propane and electricity are expensive options for cooking.

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Making the restaurant mobile is another variation. Here a boy sells "fish balls" that are fried in the wok while you wait. There is a variety of dipping sauces, some sweet, some hot to suit every palate. These items are usually sold as snacks between meals

"not nice" price of rice continues...

Even Wal Mart has entered the world rice saga. According to a recent story on Fox News, 'Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said Wednesday that it would ration the amount of rice each customer can purchase at its Sam's Club warehouse stores because of recent “supply and demand trends.”'

You can read the entire story at:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/retail/article/walmart-rations-rice-warns-supply-demand-concerns_575879_7.html

Making a living - part 2

Because people here have limited income and limited ability to store products they purchase, they will often purchase just enough of a product to last one day, or even one use. It is very common to see small packages of shampoo, toothpaste, rice, vinegar and salt being sold for a single day of use. This opens the market for those who have enough savings and ability to travel to purchase bulk items at the local markets then divide the product into small daily rations which are sold for a profit. In this picture, a cleaning product is being divided into daily portions and will be sold in the squatter area next to our clinic.