Priceless gifts.. holiday indeed!

Day 3 :: 11.30.09 [Mon]

Today was Bonifacio Day in the Philippines.  It's a public holiday celebrated on the Monday closest to November 30th.  This also meant no school for the children, which meant more play time.  I had my first taste of 'dried fish' for breakfast [a Filipino favorite]!  The kids were all amused as they watched me struggle eating it.  The staff were shocked that I was even open to trying something so native to their culture - being a 'Fil-Am' and all (Filipino-American).  On the plate: half a mango, scrambled eggs, a nice pile of white rice [a meal isn't a meal without the rice!], and 3-4 dried/fried fish, in varying sizes, heads/eyes/scales and all.  This is a meal you eat with your fingers, as you delicately peel away the scale/skin and break away the 'meat' from the bone.  You also have the option of dipping the pieces of fish in vinegar, which I chose to do.  It was.. interesting.  Slightly fishy.. VERY salty.  I ate it all, but I suppose that's not uncommon for me.  This is one of the kids favorites and they were pleased to see me eat it.

It was another hot one, and sunny [the humidity was better, but still not 'good'].  Everyone was, of course, out in the yard keeping themselves occupied with one activity or another.  There are several sibling groups that make up the Shelter, but from an outsider's perspective, they all treat each other as if they're all siblings.  Big kids caring for the little ones.. little kids standing up for each other.. everyone helping to resolve issues.. and of course, the bickering.  It just goes to show that "family" has more than one definition - and that these kids are amazing.

Because it was hot, no one was really in the mood to run around, and so many of us spent a significant amount of time chatting under the shady bamboo gazebo, and taking pictures of the beautiful wild flowers growing around the campus.  These kids really, REALLY love cameras and 'pick-ters' (pictures).  They would run to a flower and yell at me to come quickly and then they would have to see the picture immediately after it was taken.

Sandy and Marlys eventually arrived to spend their own time with the children in the morning before we left to meet Paul, Violi, and Carmelita for lunch at Golden Cowrie [an authentic and delicious Filipino restaurant]. 

 Food on banana leaf.  Filipinos only use spoons and forks [the latter merely for scooping purposes and more of an afterthought]

Fried calamares and swordfish w/Kalamansi

[another sideways one..] the lime-looking fruit is Kalamansi [it tastes like a lime crossed with an orange and is no bigger than a silver dollar.  The red chilis are broken into a small dish of soy sauce to make it spicy. (yum!)

L--> R: Sandy, Violi, Marlys, yours truly, Paul, and Carmelita

As it turned out, this would also be the day everything truly hit me and the flood gates flew open.

Carmelita is one of CSC's Social Workers.  She was hired in '85, once CSC [then Corpus Christi] was officially established as a child care facility and no longer a foster care facility.  I was already adopted by the time Carmelita became part of the CSC family, but that didn't deter her from diving right in to help me with my quest, doing what social workers do best.  Violi was the social worker who wrote my initial Case Study way back when.  She was/is a social worker through a government agency, as that was how it was done back then [since Corpus Christi did not have their own social worker yet].  I had emailed a copy of my Case Study to Paul before my trip, who forwarded it to Carmelita, who then got in touch with Violi [still with me?].  Violi was generous enough to agree to meet us today to provide any information she could about my case [which, 26+years ago, one can't expect much].  Boy was I in for a surprise.

Following lunch, everyone, except Paul, got into the CSC jeepney.  Our first stop: Santo Nino Nursery [or what was left of it].  This was the nursery I was placed in 4 days after birth until about 10mos.  To my understanding, it was a nursery run by a pediatrition, Dr. Amigo, and his wife, a physician, Doctora Amigo.  It was temporary placement for children who had special health needs, until well enough to be taken home and cared for without doctor's assistance.  I was born with a cleft palate [aka: harelipped], and couldn't be nursed/fed normally.  According to records, my birth mom visited me at this nursery, but her last recorded visit was January 20, 1980 [I was 1+mos old].  The nursery had tried to contact her, but she was never heard from again. 

It's a wonder that we even found the place as it was tucked back and behind a gas station through a run-down gate.  Awaiting our arrival inside what was once the nursery was Doctora Amigo, now 81yo.  She was a sweet elderly woman.  At first, it seemed as though her age was confusing her dates, as she stated the nursery shut down 5 years after her husband passed away in '75.  But as we continued to talk, she began to recall things.  She stated that she recalled having a little girl come who was harelipped [cleft palate] and remembered feeding her, and that it was a difficult and delicate process [that was me!].  She remembered the mother visited until Jan. 20th but then disappeared.  She also recalled the mother had made a payment, but there were 8months that went unpaid.  This is believed to be the probable cause for my placement into Corpus Christi/CSC.  She took us on a brief tour of the building and showed us where the nursery used to be.  She recalled the name of the social worker who came by to check on me.  Carmelita and Violi both recognised the name and stated she was still alive and lived in a city about 2 hours away.

Me in front of the Nursery

Doctora Amigo walking down the hallway where the nursery was [doors on either side]

Dra. Amigo & me in front of what used to be the nursery

The gate behind the gas station leading to the nursery

We left the nursery and headed for the hospital where I was born.  Very different from American hospitals.  There wasn't anything that looked remotely sterile, nor modern.  There were parts that looked abandoned even.  But this is where many children [CSC or not] are born.

Left side of Maternity House

Middle part of Maternity House

Right side [and main entrance] of Maternity House]

After the visit at the hospital, we drove down the street that is listed as my bio mom's street address [only the name of the street was provided, no number].  Currently, there's a boarding school-type building for nursing school students, and it is believed that perhaps there was a similar type of housing facility back in '79, as this street is listed on many birth certificates of CSC children.

It was after my visit with Dra. Amigo that reality seemed to really set in, and I couldn't contain my emotion(s).  Being able to see and walk through buildings and places that I knew existed, but were only words on paper.. and meeting people who were a part of my life who have been a complete mystery to me up until this day.. it's unexplainable.  There is an entire chapter of my life that I had no knowledge of, and here I was staring at it/them right in the face.  And here are these people who I've just met, who are going to great lengths to help me get answers to questions that I never thought could/would be answered.  The "unexplainable void" that I've always felt, but didn't understand why and definitely felt guilty for even feeling, is slowly beginning to be filled - and it's overwhelmingly wonderful.