So about 4 years ago we read a book called Hospital By the River and Theresa and I both felt stirred that we would love to live and die serving a community of people. We put it on the shelf like so many other dreams we have had and continued on with life. Recently we have joined up with Mercy in Action and are planning to start a clinic among an Aeta community. We have just completed a 3 day survey on the maternal health of the women there and found many babies are dying in infancy some families lost as many as 5 babies! It is such a helpless situation for them as they live far up in the mountains and most make between 25 to 50 Canadian dollars a month. They cannot afford medical interventions so avoid places that will charge them.
This is where we plan to come in as we will give them free, complete maternity care and care for their sick children. We have also felt really worked up lately as so much of their prime farm land has been bought up by wealthy Filipinos. The land sits mostly unused while the Aeta people climb far up into the mountains and farm really steep mountain sides that are mostly sandy. The same story was told over and over as I asked "who owns this land" they would keep saying "The Aeta family had a family emergency and sold it" How tragic is that!
We are hoping to buy it back for them and create some kind of land co op. The vision feels large and scary and expensive but we really feel like it is Gods and so we will walk towards it.
Theresa and I plan to ask permission to build a bamboo house/hut. It would have a clinic attached to it and be among the Aeta tribe. We will improve our language and learn how to live in that environment. We want to learn all about the tribal people and all the stories of their lives. It feels like such a treasure to me to sit with the the old men and listen to them. Their lives are so incredible and challenging.
This dream feels like it is in baby stages for us and may end up totally looking different than we think now. In fact it probably will look very different than we are envisioning now, but it is alive and growing in us and we wanted to share it with you. We took some pictures today of the area and will hopefully upload them soon.
With much love and gratitude,
Jason and Theresa Eheler
3 comments:
dreaming with you and for you mom
Wow! That IS amazing guys. Sounds exciting and fullfilling. I can't believe people have to deal with losing as much as five babies. You will bring such hope and hope does NOT disappoint!
I'm loving your dreams. Post those pics of the area when you get a chance please!
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