As my time in Cebu is quickly winding down, I'm trying to slow my day's pace, but quite unsuccessfully.
I woke up early again today so I could walk the kids to school. I was given flowers by 4 different kids! One of whom from a little girl named Rufa May. She and her brother, John Ray, live in a small house CSC provided the family on the hillside of the CSC property. They attend the Children of Hope School because of its personal nature, and because of their extremely volatile health status. Both Rufa May and John Ray were born with Brittle Bone Disease. They have tiny frames and must be in a wheelchair, for fear of breaking their delicate bones by any slight movement or step. Both are incredibly bright and possess that amazing Filipino spirit, despite their delicate situation.
Carmelita was on the hunt again. She had suggested I try another tv station yesterday, but I couldn't go through that experience again. She then thought about newspapers. This seemed more appealing because I felt I might have more say in what was presented, and be sure to convey my story accurately and in a way that couldn't possibly be manipulated. She scheduled a time for me to visit Cebu Daily News and Freeman Paper [one in the morning and one in the afternoon]. Before heading to Cebu Daily News, Marlys called Dra. Lim [the dentist I used to see and have a picture of] to see if she was in the office. She was, so Marlys and I took a taxi over for an informal and quick stop in. Dra. Lim came over to the receptionist counter and excitedly greeted Marlys [they hadn't seen each other in years]. She couldn't hug Mar though b'c she was still wearing gloves as she was in the midst of working on a patient. Marlys quickly directed attention over to me and said, "I just wanted you to meet Arlie. She was one of the first kids placed with us back in 1980 and has since been adopted by a family in the US. She came back 26 years later to visit. She used to be one of your patients." I had brought the photo I had of me sitting in a dentist chair and Dra. Lim's back was facing the camera. Marlys showed Dra. Lim the photo and without hesitation, the gloves flew off and Dra. Lim came out from behind the desk and into the waiting area and gave me a big hug. She was visibly moved by the experience of meeting someone from her distant past, and thanked me for taking time from my trip to meet her. The three of us stood there for a few more minutes talking before she had to get back to her patient.
Mar and I arrived back at the office in time to hop into Sandy's car with Carmelita and head over to Cebu Daily News. Bernadette Carpo met us in the hallway and took us to a quiet area of the busy office space. She was a soft-spoken, but very professional and pleasant reporter who seemed to know just the right questions to ask. Nothing seemed trite or pretentious throughout the interview, and I left an hour later feeling very happy with the potential of the article based on the notes she took while listening to me tell my story and answer her questions. She seemed genuinely interested in knowing the outcome, if there is one, once the story is printed. She wasn't sure when it would be, but she promised to submit the story by the end of the day for review. It's funny, no matter where I am, who I'm with, or with whom I'm speaking to there is a pattern of conversation that never fails to happen within the first 5 minutes of meeting:
Other person: "Hi. I'm so-and-so.."
Me: "Hi. I'm Arlie. Nice to meet you"
((mutual smiles & hand shakes))
Other person: "So how old are you, Arlie?"
Me: "30"
Other person: "Ahhh.. single or married?"
Me: "Single"
Other person: [with eyebrows now raised, mouth slightly open, and head tilted back a bit or cocked to one side..] "ohhhhhhhh.."
We left to go see Joemar at his work [MacDonalds], as he had been asking Sandy and me for days, to come visit him at work. He was so excited when he saw us all there. He had the biggest smile on his face and he strutted around so proudly. His co-workers looked on with smiles and patted him on his back in acknowledgment when he walked by. How nice [and rare these days] to make someone's day by such a simple gesture.
After lunch, Carmelita and I grabbed a taxi to get ourselves over to the Freeman Paper headquarters. Following my experience at Cebu Daily Paper, it would have been difficult for any other to match, as the bar was now set pretty high. However, I didn't imagine it could have been as bad as it was. We were scheduled to meet the reporter at 1pm, but when we got there, we were asked if we wouldn't mind waiting until 2p. I had other things I wanted to do with the rest of my short time left here, and sitting in the Freeman Paper lobby for an hour wasn't one of them. We were eventually met by someone around 1:30p and were led upstairs. We sat another 30 minutes before a reported came over with her pad of paper and pen. Her interaction with us, and lack of inquiry, told me she had to have been an intern or at least she hadn't worked there long. I left unsure how she could even write a story because she never asked me a question, only Carmelita. No high hopes for this resource and happy to be done with it.
For dinner, we celebrated Darrell's birthday at the "Cheicher" House [the kids who formerly lived in the Eicher House, but had to temporarily move into the Cherne House while Eicher is being renovated, refuse to go strictly by 'Cherne kids' and combine the two until they move back to Eicher]. He was very sweet and it was all very fun.
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