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Dear members, dear friends, and supporters of Mabuhay!
Our ongoing nutrition program for undernourished children is a huge success. With your help, we were able to feed 90 children this year and improve their nutritional status and, in turn, their health. Many of these children were severely underweight and were able to achieve a normal weight through our program. The highlight is always the closing ceremony, when the children receive their certificates of successful participation.
In recent months, we at Mabuhay have been traveling frequently to support medical/dental missions. Doctors from the Philippines and abroad volunteer for these missions. Patients are examined and treated free of charge, and medications are provided at no cost. Our volunteers are very actively involved. They register patients, measure blood pressure, clean instruments, and assist with dispensing medication. I personally help with organization and patient examinations. These medical/dental missions usually last one to two days, and a large number of patients attend.
At one of these missions, dental prostheses were also made for patients. Since the mission was held near St. Anthony's Academy (you'll remember that we have a clinic there once a week), many of our high school students benefited from the service, including the student in the picture.
In August, the association's board of directors approved the construction of our training and nutrition center. This will allow us to expand the nutrition program and also offer more training sessions for the community. Until now, we've only been able to do this to a limited extent due to a lack of space. I'll write more about this in my following letter and also show the first pictures.
With some of our volunteers, we participated in a seminar and workshop on nutrition. A plan was developed for 2009 to improve the nutritional situation in Bugko, outlining measures that could be taken and how parents of malnourished children could be actively involved in the process.
Our new dental unit has been fully operational since September. The focus is on dental care and dental conservation. Our two dentists volunteer and make a great team.
Dr. Bocar u. Dr. Calendun
We are very grateful to the German Dental Association, led by Dr. Winter, for donating this dental unit, complete with instruments and equipment. Dental treatments are costly here and hardly affordable for people. Tooth extractions are often necessary for financial reasons. Through our dental program, we now have the opportunity to save many teeth and train people here in good dental care and hygiene.
In October, we organized a medical mission here at the Mabuhay Clinic in connection with our parish patron saint's day in Bugko. Volunteer doctors from Catarman provided free medical care, and we were able to treat 456 patients in 1.5 days. I was able to recruit doctors from all disciplines, and it was a great success. We were able to give two children a new life. A local surgeon operated on them for a cleft lip and palate.
A heartfelt thank you to all of you, because without the many helping hands and financial support, it would not be possible to run and maintain such a program here. We now have three pillars: medicine, nutrition, and dentistry, and next year we will add the fourth pillar, education. With these four pillars, we can help the people here a lot, and they are very grateful for all your help. Salamat on behalf of all Bukoano!
With best wishes for a blessed Christmas season, Yours,
Sabine Korth
Malipayon nga Pasko (Merry Christmas) from Bugko!
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