Back in Manila..Not a happy post...

If you don't want to be sad stop reading now.

Alex Peter and I arrived in Manila on Friday morning with the plan to stay one night and catch the bus in the morning to Banaue. Of course we stayed 2 nights as that is the way it always works...can't just stay one night. I was happy to be back in Malate and see my kids on the street. I had been hanging out with Elvie and Oliver but hadn't really seen the little kids. Over the course of the 2 days Elvie kept saying to me.."Margo, Margo" and pointing to her arm. Margo is Elvie's 3yr old sister. I passed by Margo one day while she was sleeping and she had a t shirt wrapped around her arm so I assumed that Elvie was just trying to tell me that she had had an injury. Sunday morning the guys and I woke up ..late... and packed our things to catch the bus. Peter was taking a long time to get ready as usual so Alex, Frank and I went downstairs to the street to wait for him. Of course Elvie and Oliver came to play and say goodbye. Again Elvie came to me and said "Margo, Margo" and pointed to her arm. I said that I had seen her and was sad that she had hurt herself. Elvie, exasperated with me, went across the street to where Margo and Jr were left alone. She picked Margo up and brought her across the street to me. When I took Margo in my arms I realized that her arm was swollen to 3 times it's size from her elbow to her wrist. Her fever was so bad and she was so weak that she could hardly keep her head up. I lost it. I normally am not a crazy emotional person but I couldn't keep from crying. This killed me to see this little angel suffering like this and all alone on the street. I began asking around where her mother was but no one knew. The woman that works across the street came over and told me that Margo's arm had been like this for almost 3 weeks. 3 weeks! And that she had not been to the doctor. She thought maybe that she had been bitten by something poisonous. I asked the woman to watch the other kids and the guys brought our bags back to the hostel and we all got in a taxi and went straight to the hospital.
The doctors and nurses were all pretty alarmed to see her arm in this condition but nobody really rushed to do anything. I guess even the hospitals are on 'Filipino time'. Eventually we got Margo checked in and hours and hours later she was put on strong IV antibiotics. While at the hospital a social worker came to talk to me and made the approval to wave all the hospital fees. That's right..The whole thing was free and her mother let her suffer for this long without taking her to the doctor. Because I had very little information about this child the social worker asked if maybe I could go find her big sister and bring her to answer some questions. I stayed with Margo and Frank went back to the street in search of Elvie. He didn't find Elvie but he found her mother and brought her back to the hospital. When she arrived I wanted to slap her but I refrained.. This woman couldn't have seemed less interested that her daughter was at the hospital..In fact she seemed a bit put out at having to come.
They wanted to keep Margo on the antibiotics for at least 24 hours to hopefully make the swelling go down. Since the mother was there now to sit with her I decided to go home and get some food and sleep.
The following afternoon I went back to the hospital to check on Margo. The swelling in her arm had gone down slightly and she was a bit more alert. But not much. Only enough for her to realize the kind of pain that she was in so now she was really upset and hurting. I asked the doctor if there was any news and they said that they wanted to keep her in the antibiotics for another 24 hours. Then they asked me if I could please stay with her because the mother kept leaving and would be gone for hours at a time while Margo was screaming her little head off. This is a 3rd world nation and the hospitals are not at all like in the states. You do not get a private room..just rows and rows of gurneys.. and there is not enough staff to keep an eye on the patient if the parent is gone. Of course I agreed to stay with Margo. I told the mother that she could leave and she she was gone in an instant. There is no air con in this hospital and Margo's fever had gone back up so I spent hours wiping her down with a wet towel and fanning her off with a piece of cardboard. She was in such pain. It breaks my heart. I asked if they could give her anything for the pain and they said yes but I would have to go across the street to the pharmacy and buy the meds because they could not afford to have them on hand there. Of course I did and it only cost 50php. That just a little over 1$.
Around 7pm the mother showed back up. Shortly after Frank arrived with a social worker to interview the mother. I don't speak Tagalog so I am not sure how the conversation went but the social worker agreed to go the the street the following day and evaluate the living situation. From what I understand in a situation like this the mother has the option to give up the rights to her children so that we can find them a good home. If she refuses I can push for the state to evaluate the situation and if the see fit they can take the children without consent.
I am going back to the hospital to check on Margo soon. I will post more when I know more..