Filipino Caregivers

Have you heard about the Filipino caregivers? They are found in almost every nation in the world including Israel.  Many of these caregivers are also members who joined the church in the Phillipines.  Because the economy is very depressed in the Phillipines, they needed to go away from their land to earn money. Caregivers have a range of skills, but in general they are those who care 24/7 for elderly people who can no longer take care of themselves and neither can their family. They generally live right in their house with them and only get 1 day in a month off to themselves.  It is very hard job because sometimes the people they care for are grumpy and unhappy because of their problems and take it out on the caregiver.  The money they send back to their families.  A number of them are mothers whose own mothers care for their children while they are away working.  They have to sign a contract for at least 4 years and pay as much $6,000 to an agency who provides some training, airfare, visas and placement for them.  We are not sure how many there are because they just keep popping up.  

Spencer, who is our resident church member in Israel (1967), is our Relief Society President.  (She is the one second from the left and next to her in white blouse is Nanette, a service volunteer here.)  Spencer has kept in touch with a lot of these dear people by phone because they live all over the state of Israel.  She has been their lifeline through the various Intifadas by calling and helping them find safe havens when the families they worked for were not helping. 

There is a service couple living in the area where a number of Filipinos have rented an apartment where they can come and meet each other whenever they can get time off.  This couple has worked to give the Filipinos an opportunity to have a Sacrament meeting every Saturday evening in this apartment.  Even though the Filipinos are part of the Galilee Branch, it is not possible to attend because of their work schedule and the time it would take for them to get here.  So instead, they are a "group" complete with the priesthood through the service couple.  This weekend the service couple  planned a weekend retreat and we hosted them here in Galilee Branch House.  This is the one day in the month the Filipinos could get off so we called it the 24-Hour Retreat in the Galilee.


The couple arranged for two rental cars so they could drive them here, and we picked up a sister at the Bus Depot in our area.  We then headed for the Branch House where we had a very special Sacrament meeting.  Three of the sisters spoke and the brethren provided the administration of the sacrament.  Following this we had a wonderful dinner that was prepared ahead of time and warmed up quickly.  After cake and ice cream and singing a birthday song for Marissa, we had cleanup and then a fireside by Merrill about the land of Israel and some of the holy sites we would be seeing the next day.  We then all headed for a rest, however, the Filipinos had to talk to each other about their lives which took a good part of the night.  We were rested, but not so sure about them.

We awoke to a breakfast of German Pancakes and fruit and headed for the cars.  Our first stop was the Mt of Beatitudes where Merrill gave a beautiful summary of the Sermon on the Mount.


Our next stop was the Greek Orthodox church with the bright pink domes.  It is a very small church with murals and paintings inside from the top to the bottom.  It has been restored beautifully.  Lovely peacocks roam the grounds and it is a delightful place to get your hands and feet wet in the Sea of Galilee for the first time.  It is also a great place for a picnic because of tables close to the sea with a nice breeze blowing.

The event with the most surprises was the ride on a fishing boat around the harbor.  Some of the Filipinas had never ridden a boat before and of course someone had to get sick, right?  Right!  It surprised her most of all.  She was glad it was a short ride.  We talked about all the different scripture stories about boats and water and even sang, "Master the Tempest is Raging."  Michael shared the history of the various places around the sea and some current news about the sea itself. 




The 2,000 year old boat was the next stop.  What a fabulous story.  Fishermen who had long predicted that the sea would bring them a great gift finally were rewarded with just such a find.  The drought had lowered the water level sufficiently to reveal a rib of a boat and it looked like a very old boat.  They started digging the mud away from the rib and found it was connected to more ribs and called in the experts.  They came from all over  the world.  Within 11 days they dug it out, covered it with polyprophelene? and floated it out to a launch where it would be taken to a lab for preservation.  After 9 years of a chemical bath, the old water within the timbers were replaced by a waxy finish that would preserve it for a good long time.  It is beautifully displaced in a museum close to the sea with wonderful diagrams about the 12 different woods used in its construction.

Mom on the Mind

  

It has been 17 years since my Mom passed away on a beautiful May day in 1993.  We are having a beautiful May day here in Israel.  The jacaranda tree is full of gorgeous lavender blooms.  

The Yellow Blossom tree, is really putting out the foliage after we pruned it within an inch of its life. Bougainvillea are hanging heavy not to mention the hibiscus of red, salmon and yellow. All of this triggers memories of the gardens my Mom created with a lot of help from Dad.  

She was amazing enough to write we children a letter as her life was coming to an end and left it with one of her niece caregivers to give to us when she passed.  She didn't pass away until some time later.  After a year or so later this niece who had since married and moved away was unpacking boxes and found the letter which Mom had written for us and sent it off to us.  When I received it, I was very grateful that it had been found and delivered.  I remember being overcome with the generosity of Mom's spirit.  She didn't recall the times when she felt left alone or not sufficiently uplifted by us.  Instead she gave appreciation for all the good that she had had.  As I read it, it was clear that she appreciated the love she had felt from family and friends and their patience with the toll that arthritis had taken from her life and theirs.  I do not have the letter with me here in Israel, but when I return home I hope I can find it in my own "boxes" of my life's journey and savor the words and example and have the wisdom to do the same for my own loved ones.  Here are a few pictures from her life which I am drawing from a random file on my computer.