Personal Reflections on the Eve of My 90th Birthday

Thank You, Lord for all your blessings and Graces on the Eve of my 90th Birthday.  It's only Dec 19 here in the US, but since it is already December 20 in the Philippines, I have been receiving birthday greetings in My Face Book Page. I also have received 2 Birthday cards ( see Photo Above) today.

However, this posting is a repost of my personal reflections and previous activities in my younger years together with my late spouse of 63 years, Macrine Jambalos Katague. I am reposting it today on the Eve of my 90th birthday. It's a day of Reflection, Recollection and Thanksgiving as well. My advance apology because this posting is a very long read. 

"During some of our meal time conversations here at THD with my fellow senior residents, we talked on numerous topics.  Some of the topics we discussed are about aging gracefully, as well as our former experiences during our young and active years.  However, one of the most inspiring and meaningful subject we discussed was "what have we done for others?" 

Here's an excerpt from my article about our involvement with the medical mission from my Hubpages.com writing account. 

"We have helped our less fortunate brethren with our time, effort and resources. We know we have truly lived because we have touched the lives of others.

My wife and I had devoted our time and resources to this humanitarian project since 1998. Our involvement in this humanitarian project has given us satisfaction and its one way of the many ways one can give back the good fortunes one receives while residing in the US. 

Macrine showing off the newly purchased Mission T-shirts in front of our Conference Hall, Amoigon, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines 

Dental and Medical Mission of Love

Macrine and I have been an active members of Marinduque International, Inc. (MI,Inc) for many years and have served for its seven bi-annual Medical and Dental Missions since 1998 in Marinduque, Philippines. MI, Inc is a non-profit organization based in the US. One of its missions is to provide free medical services to the impoverished residents of Marinduque, a small but beautiful island province in the heart of the Philippines. Our group is made up of migrants from the island now living in the first world, mostly in the US and Canada. Through hard work and skills, we have earned our good graces and fortunes from our adopted homeland and we have more than enough to share with our less fortunate country mates.

We are giving back to the community of our roots because it makes us feel good helping our compatriots. The more that we give of ourselves, the better we feel about ourselves. Whenever I work with the mission, I touch the lives of many of my poor countrymen living in the rural areas of the island. The organization motto is "Our mission is to help and together we will succeed". My medical mission involvement also projects my favorite quotation: "The time that you have really lived is the time you have touched the lives of others".

Our mission starts with fund raising by members mostly from our own pockets, friends and relatives. We recruit volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and non-medical support staff to serve the missions, and they pay for their voyage to the islands. We procure and ship medicines badly needed by the islanders. Some of our members who own a place in the island, house the volunteers during the mission period. Others volunteers stay at the local hotels at their own expense but their whole week of food and local transportation is paid by Marinduque International. At the end of each mission we celebrate its success and thank the help of each volunteer as well as the local officials. It is also a time of reflection on all what we have shared of ourselves to our impoverished brothers and sisters". 

The Dental and Medical Mission Servicing the Needs of 6000 Residents 

The mission involves serving around 6,000 people from the six towns of the province who wait for hours in line under the sun, a difficult feat in a hot tropical humid setting, within a span of one week. About 40% of these patients from the interior of the province walked for 2 hours or more to reach the town center where the clinics are held. Most of these patients have never been seen by a physician in their lives. However, not everyone will be lucky to be seen by a doctor or provided free medicines. Many will return the next day to our new location to fall in line again and hope to be served for their needs. By the end of the mission a good number of people will never be served. It pains me to know and see the frustration of those who came hoping for help, only to be turned away due to constraints on our time, equipment and medicines.

Last February, it broke my heart when one patient had to be turned away when she was ready for a minor procedure on the operating table because surgical equipment was not available. It baffles me how the provincial government cannot provide a basic surgery instrument in its public hospital. We were on a mission to help and serve, but instead this patient had to deal with frustration, disappointment and anger.

During the mission I was assigned to the Pharmacy section, providing drugs and instructions to the patients. In the town of Buenavista, I had to break protocol and help a mother with her two sick young children. They were coughing and feverish, and were about to be turned away due to the limits in our time and medical volunteers.

I knew it was wrong and I could have been scolded for my actions, but I approached the mother, whispered to her to wait a little longer, and I could do something for her when the line has thinned down. Before closing time I waved for her, handed her vitamins, cough and fever medicines. She thanked me and showed me a smile that I will always remember as long as I live. On that day, I touched the lives of a mother and her two kids, and that was the day that I have really lived.

Macrine Welcoming Medical Missioners to Marinduque

Macrine and I welcoming medical missioners from US and Canada from ferry boat from Manila to Marinduque, 2011 

Here's my article REFLECTING TO my second favorite quote of:

  It is Better to Give than Receive 

There are several ways to GIVE. You can give, money, property or your time, knowledge and expertise. The following are three examples that I have  experience in giving. I am very proud of these deeds.

The DONOR WALL OF GRATITUDE at the UP Chemistry Building in Diliman. Q.C., Philippines

1. Money: Last May 7, 2014, Renan del Rosario, 1977 chemistry graduate and currently one of the advisers of the University of the Philippines Chemistry Alumni Foundation (UPCAF) treated me lunch and a personal tour of the new Institute of Chemistry Teaching Building at the UP Diliman National Science Complex. It was one of the highlights of my 90-day snow birding sojourn in the Philippines that year. I was able to take photographs of the Donor Wall which included my name(see photo above). The Donor Wall is right at the entrance of the teaching building just by the side of the guard podium. That day reminded me of my student and teaching days (1952 to 1959) at the College of Chemistry now known as the Institute of Chemistry. I was only 24 years old when I first taught chemistry to Pre-medical, Nursing, and Engineering students in the Fall of 1957 to 1959. 

Currently, I am a Life Member of the University of the Philippines Chemistry Alumni Foundation. I graduated from UP with a B.S. Chemistry degree in 1955. Immediately after graduation, I was appointed Assistant Instructor in Chemistry in my Alma Mater. A year later after I passed the National Chemistry Board Examination coping 3rd place, I was appointed to Instructor and held that position until late 1959 when I decided to pursue graduate work in the United States.  

The construction of a National Science Complex in Diliman, Quezon City started a few years ago which included a new Teaching Building for Chemistry. The first phase of government Funding was 200 million pesos and the second phase was 118 million pesos. 

In the Fall of 2013, I had the opportunity to visit the construction site through the kindness of Renan Del Rosario, the Chairman of the UPCAF Board of Trustees that year. Fund raising for furniture in the new building were undergoing also that year. That year, I also donated to the Foundation 10,000 pesos ( about $200) through Renan. I felt good about that donation. It was my way of saying thank you for the educational benefits that I had received from the University of the Philippines.( See my name listed in the Donor Wall in the above photo). 

2. Property: Sometime in the middle of May, 1990, I donated several volumes of technical journals from the duplicate copies from Stauffer Chemical library that were about to be burned and discarded. I was able to salvage several volumes of hard bound copies of Journal of Chromatography, 1971-1976. Included in my donation were dozens of volumes of hardbound copies of BioChemistry, Volumes 1969-1984. The value of the donation was about $1500. Shipping was arranged through the Commission on Filipinos Overseas ( CFO). On May 23, 1990, I received a thank you letter from Alfredo Perdon, Executive Director of CFO,as follows:

Dear Dr. Katague:

The Commission on Filipino Overseas acknowledge with thanks the donation of five boxes of technical journals to the Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines.

Your donation is a manifestation of the willingness of Filipino overseas to be actively involved in the development efforts of the country. Such participation through the Commission's “ Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino” or “ Linkapil” likewise serves to strengthen the linkages between Filipinos overseas and their countrymen.

Needless to say, these books will be a most welcome addition to the journal collection of the UP College of Science Library and will certainly be useful to the thousands of students in the said university. Best Regards and thanks you again for your donation.” 

3. Time and Expertise: In January, 1986, I participated in the United Nations Development Program at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. The program was for two weeks of consultancy ( lecture and management of research) at the U.P. Natural Sciences Research Institute( NSRI). My round trip fare was paid by UN and I also received a substantial amount of per diem during my consultancy period of two weeks. It was satisfying to give at least two weeks of my "Know-how" to my Alma Mater. The program at that time was called TOKTEN ( Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals). Today, it is called Balik scientist program. The program helps in the alleviation of "Brain Drain" from 3rd world countries like the Philippines. This experience made me feel good, because I have given back to my Alma mater, even just two weeks of my time in the field of pesticide research and analytical residues method development.

 Indeed, as Einstein quotes, The value of a man resides in what he gives.

Lastly, In Filipino culture, birthdays come with a unique twist! Instead of friends treating you, it’s the birthday celebrant who treats everyone else. I will do this with lunch on December 21, in Dublin, CA. No gifts is required to attend my party (optional).

Whether it’s taking friends out to dinner or hosting a feast at home, the “birthday blowout” is a way for celebrants to show gratitude to loved ones. Quite a contrast to other cultures where the birthday person is typically on the receiving end! 

Finally my grateful thanks to those who have already given me gifts ( in spite of my warning, please no gifts) to those that I have invited for my Birthday lunch this Saturday ( December 21) in Dublin, Ca.  Thank You Andi for the above libation.

The lunch is organized by my oldest daughter, Dinah. Thanks a Million, Dinah!