THE JOURNEY HOME JOURNAL
by: Bobby Manzano, President & Executive Director, OSP
We’re nearing the
journey’s end. In four more days, we’ll complete
our month-long, nine-city medical mission.
It’s been an unbelievable ride.
To date, we’ve already done 824 surgeries -- 152 yesterday, 131 the
other day and 541 during the first and second legs. In addition, we’ve provided more than 8,000
medical evaluations and 6,110 dental treatments.
Since The Journey
Home started on October 25, I’ve logged 10,462 kilometers on land and air visiting
the mission sites with Bill and Kathy. The fatigue is starting to set in and, often,
we’d find ourselves drowsing on the plane or at the back of the car as we moved
from one place to another.
But the moment we set
foot on a mission site, we’d all get an adrenalin rush from seeing the
expectant look on the eyes of those children, who had long endured their
deformities, as they wait their turn on the operating room. They need Operation
Smile. Their future lies in our hands. We have to keep on going for them.
It seems that every
day brings fresh news that promise bright possibilities for the future of our
organization.
We were in Cebu the
other day, and an official of the Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung Charitable
Foundation (MSYCF) told the press during our media briefing there that “they’d
continue to support Operation Smile for as long we need them.” The MSYCF has been our partner in Cebu for 15
years.
Yesterday, we met
with Br. Augustine L. Boquer, the president of the De La Salle Health Sciences
Institute (DLSHI), our site partner in Dasmarinas. He said to us: “You only have to call us and you will always
receive a yes. We’ll help you look for
patients, volunteers and funds. Consider
De La Salle your second home.”
Later in the afternoon,
we drove back to Manila to see Mr. Ramon Ang, the president and CEO of
Philippine Air Lines and San Miguel Corporation, both key corporate supporters.
He’s a very busy man yet he took the time, in between his other meetings, to meet
with us. He left us with his key
executives and we explored with them other avenues for expanding the
partnership.
This morning, we are
meeting with Health Secretary Enrique Ona to brief him on our current programs
and future plans. The Department of
Health is the linchpin in our public-private partnership strategy. I have high hopes that our discussion with
Secretary Ona today will yield concrete results.
The Journey Home concludes
on December 1, but our journey will continue.
There are thousands of children here and in other parts of the globe who
needs healing, who needs our help. We
cannot fail them.
On December 2, we
take the first step to the next 30 years.
Tough challenges lay ahead. The
good thing is that more will be traveling the road with us. The excitement that The Journey Home had
created won us new converts to the cause and strengthened the commitment of our
current volunteers, donors and partners.
Cheers to everybody!