Caroleen’s Treasures

Yesterday was Eman’s schedule to get measles vaccine. Here in the Philippines you have two options to get your child vaccinated. If you have plenty of money or you just want to avoid the hassle of long queue and heat, go to the private clinics where you pay around P1,000 to P1,500. And if you are like me with not much money to spare or you are frugal mom, then going to the Barangay Public Health Center is your best option. It should be FREE but centers have different policies. In Kabacan they only have a small donation box and it’s not compulsory to drop but I always put in P20.00 or P50.00. In Trento, Agusan del Sur we are asked to pay and they issue official receipt. They always ask me to pay P40.00 each visit but I overheard the midwife ask the mother beside me “Kaya nimo bente?” (Can you afford twenty?). I think they make an assessment based on your physical appearance and on what stuffs you bring. We always bring the camera and I always dress Eman in nice outfit. That might be the reason. But everyone can wear nice outfit if they just know how to find one in ukay-ukay (gently used clothes from abroad).

Okay back in the Health Centers. Here in Mintal I was asked to pay P20.00. I didn’t bother to ask what was it for. We were there last January 20 but we just went home tired and hungry. I was just thankful that I woke up in the right side of bed because if not, I could have given them my two cents.
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Eman is 9 months and 20 days old today. He should get his measles vaccine within the 9th month so we went to the health center here in Catalunan Pequeño. The center is located 100 meters north of the intersection. The North is going to Mintal, South is heading to Ulas, east is going inside to subdivisions where we live and the west is heading to a place I don’t know of. Before we reached the intersection, a kind driver in a cab said the men from LTO are posted right there in the intersection. Bummer! We will get fined for not wearing helmets (we just wear it when going downtown area) and for driving without a license. So we left the motorcycle at a store and walked. Ella was dragging her feet all the way to the center. The group has already left when we reached the intersection. I was thinking it’s just fine at least it’s better to be safe than sorry. We reached the center with a frowning Ella and a smiling Eman who was in the sling. Found out they will conduct immunization on Friday. I told them I thought they are doing it on Wednesday. It turned out that they changed their schedule. I didn’t ask anymore if all the centers across the country has changed schedule or just them.

So we walked back to get the motorcycle and headed to Mintal taking the back road. It’s very cold and champorado (chocolate rice porridge) will be perfect so we headed to HB1 to get some bitter oh so chocolatey cocoa rounds. I am drooling of the thought of the steaming bowl of champorado but we didn’t make it to the store. The men from LTO moved infront of Mintal Catholic Church. Another bummer! The store where we are going is right beside the church.Well, we did a U-turn….went home empty handed. A guy warned us about them just before we turned left to the church. It’s not just us who fled from the LTO’s. You should have seen the commotion……motorcycles, customized trikes and cabs were like boomerang that take a U-turn to where they came from when they see those men in green uniforms and black boots.

Thanks to the two guys who saved us today. We owe you big time.