Some of my friends and I now have the opportunity to buy groceries each Wednesday and bring them to the Ati village. They use these groceries to make a meal for the people in the village during our visit. We also bring vitamins for the children, play games, sing and tell Bible stories, and provide basic medical care. Providing basic medial care means cleaning cuts, putting medicine on the cuts to help keep them clean, and other simple things to help kids that are hurt.
The Ati people are the native people of Boracay Island. They are similar to the Native Americans in the U.S.A. because they were here first. People in the Philippines often treat them very poorly. People will make fun of them and do other mean things to them. It is very sad. Many of the Ati people have moved off the island of Boracay to live on the island of Panay. Panay is an island that is about a 10 boat ride from Boracay. This is where the village is that we visit.
I want to share a story with you that made me realize how lucky I was when I was a little girl and how lucky I am now to have enough money to buy medicine when I am sick.
About a week ago, when I went to the village, there was a little girl whose thumb had a very bad infection. An infection usually happens when a cut or a burn is not cleaned or kept clean well enough, so germs called bacteria get into it and keep it from healing.
The little girl's mother, Jemma, is a woman that I have spent some time getting to know in my visits to the village. When I talked with her, she told me that even though the local hospital will give the Ati people a free doctor's visit, she did not have enough money to travel to the hospital or for medicine for her daughter.
She also showed me a prescription written by the doctor that her sister needed that she could not afford. The prescription was for a medicine that costs 6 pesos per pill and she needed 10 pills. That comes to 60 pesos which is about $1.50.
It made me so sad that she could not even afford to buy medicine that cost $1.50. Most of the time, even kids in the U.S.A. have $1.50. Many of them even get more than that for their allowance!
There was a very kind man from Hawaii that came to visit the village a few weeks before. He left some money for us to use for the people in the village. We were able to give Jemma enough money to bring her daughter to the hospital and buy the medicine for her daughter and her sister. Now, her daughter's finger is healing.
Most of the Ati people in the village do not have very much money at all. Even though many of them work very hard, they do not earn very much money. Many of the people are often very dirty and they usually only have a few pieces of clothing. They live in a very small huts. Usually a lot of people live in one hut together, and they sleep on the floor. Even though they do not have a lot, they are still often very kind. The kids are usually very happy and joyful, and they love to laugh and play. I have so much fun hanging out with them and talking to the people in the village.
I wanted to share this with people back home because spending time with these people has helped me remember how important it is to be thankful for what we have. It is easy to want more things, especially things that are cool and new and fun. It is important to remember, though, that you do not need a lot of "stuff" to make you happy. Remember to be thankful if you have a place to live, clothes to wear, medicine if you are sick, and other things that many people in the world cannot afford.
Here are some pictures of people from the Ati Village:
