“My teeth hurt so bad. It has been affecting my mobility for a very long time. Today, finally, I had it extracted! Thank you so much!”
Loreto lined up early to make sure to save a slot in our medical brigade in Sitio Bulak, Nueva Ecija. Coming from the Dumagat tribe, he has been into gathering and selling rattan to earn money. But since he caught a toothache, “I cannot gather rattan anymore. I cannot move. I cannot even do simple household chores. I will just lie down in pain all day,” Loreto, around 70 years old, recalls.
Like Loreto, most of the Dumagats in Sitio Bulak barely get any checkups. First, they live up the mountain far from the city. It’ll take hours to walk down to the city. Secondly, they don’t have enough funds to pay for checkups and buy medicine. This is why they usually end up enduring and ignoring the ailments that they experience. Lucky if it’s not fatal.
With the medical brigade conducted by Operation Blessing, Loreto and many others have been given the very much needed medical attention. This was done in partnership with the 84th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
After having a dental extraction done by the military dentist, one of the beneficiaries went around saying, “Thank you so much, Operation Blessing! Thank you to all the donors and partners for reaching out. Despite the long and difficult travel, you went all the way here to help us indigenous people. Thank you so much!” Grateful Loreto said this with a big smile on his face to everyone in each classroom.
The power to help our kababayans is IN YOUR HANDS. GIVE or VOLUNTEER today! Go to www.operationblessing.ph or contact 09399215543 or 09189067753 for more details.
DSWD-SB-SP-000061-2021-Nationwide. Valid until Nov 23, 2022.