MATCHING GRANT FROM 7 YEARS AGO CONTINUES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Successful Maharlika Medical Mission in M’Lang, North Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines. Something every Rotarian should be proud to be a part of..

The Rotary Mobile Operating Room Van arrives. The Maharlika Charity Foundation Mission begins. A new horizon beckons.

The van takes its position. It occupies priority parking space. For the next few days, it will serve as a hospital, a hospital without walls.

In the Year 2000, Mr. and Mrs. I. Ansaldo donated this former cargo van to Maharlika Foundation on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary. Civic minded Rotarians, spearheaded by the zeal and leadership of Past District Governor Raoul Hilario District 3860 initiated the move for Rotary Club of East Davao and Rotary Club of Davao 2000 to partner internationally with Rotary Club of Funabashi West and Rotary Club of Wakanayagi, Districts 2790, 2250 and 2810 of Chiba and Miyagi, Japan to lead the way and support a worthy project.

Rotary International Matching Grant No. 13974 and 14472 resulted in converting this ordinary van into a surgical operating unit as it stands today. Since then, it has undergone 26 medical and surgical missions, serving the hinderland indigenous people of Mindanao (Lumads) in places where no hospitals ever existed. Mindanao is an island in the Philippines with rich natural resources populated by 17 million Christian and Muslims. There are ongoing conflicts brought about by ethnic, cultural and political differences. Maharlika Foundation Missions transcend these barriers. Somewhere out there, someone is waiting for his vision to be restored, his face made whole again, lives craving for dignified existence.

The crowd emerges. Close to 1,000 people gather. They are the Maharlika beneficiaries; the hearing and visually impaired, the disoriented faces, the harelips and the cross-eyeds, the elderly blinded by their cataracts and who have given up hope to ever see the light of day, and the patients with cysts and abnormal growths ravaging their bodies. These could all be scary and horrifying if left unexplained, undetected and untrated especially for the penniless. They fall in line. They light up as soon as their numbers are called. For the first time in their lives, they are touched by a doctor. They are examined. They are reassured. Doctors flash light into their eyes to determine extent of damage. They will be healed. There is hope. There is light. They see God face to face.

Here comes the Maharlika volunteers. The enormous and complex task commences. Each one is assigned a task and duty to perform, the laundry women, the drivers, the technicians, the social workers, the pharmacists, the engineers, the nurses and the doctors. Even a mere volunteer like me has to function, if only to document such a specialized rehabilitative surgical mission.

Let us scan some of the faces of the management Maharlika team.
- The 78 year old Chairman and “team captain” is Rosauro Borromeo, Past Assistant Governor , a Rotary Major Donor, a Service Above Self Awardee , and a proud recipient of the highest award of the Rotary Foundation, the Distinguished Service Award. Here he comes. He carries a Loudspeaker. He smiles all the time. It is spontaneous, warm and infectious. It reveals a cheerful approach to life, a sense of humor and a pleasant disposition.
- Permanently close to him is Dr. Rizal Aportadera, Past President of East Davao, outstanding Surgeon and burn Specialist. He is the President of Maharlika Foundation and regarded as the “Spark Plug” of the mission. His determination is intense, his spirit indomitable. He leads the advance team to determine sites and local counterparts. He watches every movement with the same precision as a Swiss Timepiece. Where he is seen nowhere, he is performing surgical operations to accommodate not turning down patients.
- He is ably supported by Dr Benedict Valdez, Surgeon and Trauma Expert and a proud Rotarian, too. Like a conductor in a symphony orchestra, he produces the harmony. If there is something wrong, the patients should not feel it. Exhausted, he looks for a headache pill. I thought he was ready to take a pause. The next chain of event brings him to the local radio station where he is invited by the Municipal Mayor to inform the listeners about the mission and how they, the needy, could be served.
- Worthy to mention is Mayor Joselito Pinol, newly elected Municipal Mayor of M’Lang and his diligent staff who made no stones unturned to make this particular mission in his area a huge success.

The Rotary Foundation, as described by David C. Forward in his book, a Century of Service, is not about money. It is about people who donated to the Foundation and they joy they feel from the act of giving. It is the story of a Rotarian in Turkey who is named a Paul Harris Fellow, the $1,000 buys textbooks to educate 2,000 children in a school in Papua, New Guinea. It buys the polio vaccine for 2,000 babies in Nigeria. It is a story of the land-mine victom who can now wheel himself to a table and work in a job that restores his dignity. The woman living in the indigeneous mountains of Mindanao who was operated by Maharlika doctors 7 years ago was blind before and today can see.

What then is a Rotarian? Let me borrow from a definition taken from the Website of Rotary Club of Moorleigh-Moorabbin, District 9810
quote “A Rotarian is a person who:
Digs wells from which they will never drink
Vaccinates children they will never meet
Restores eyesight for those they will never see
Builds houses they will never live in
Educates children they will never know
Plants trees they they will never sit under
Feeds hungry people, regardless of colour, race or politics and
Knows real happiness .."unquote

True to being Rotarians demanding active involvement in their projects, our Rotarians from Japan continue to visit Maharlika every year to look after the maintainance of the Rotary van, like a mother to a child. Fellow Rotarians, this only demonstrates how you and I, through cooperating in partnership and fellowship, can be a positive difference in our communities and in our world.

The Foundation is effective because it matches money with people. Arch Klumph, Past RI President once said “ Money alone does little good. Individual service is helpless without money. The two together can be a Godsend to civilization.”

We walk hand in hand. Maharlika and Rotary. We are committed to a peaceful world.

PE Mona Bourseaux MPH+4
Rotary Club of Mactan, Districr 3860
Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines

Help needed:

The mission rely on donations of medical and surgical supplies and equipment.
Financial help is always welcome.
Equipment wish list as follows:
- Scans
- Autoclaves
- Portable Surgical Microscope
Portable Yag Laser

Supplies wish list as follows; .
Intraocular lenses
Surture (10-0 Nylon or 4—0 Silk)
Viscoelastic

previous articles and pictures about this medical missions