PUHI — Many children from the small Philippines island of Cebu getting lifesaving surgeries and quilts from volunteers this week will be getting something else as well.
Their own names.
Many of the children, born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities, are sometimes not given names at birth, because their parents aren’t sure if they’ll be long for this world, said Kalaheo resident D.Q. Jackson, a member of the Rotary Club of Poipu Beach.
As part of the registration process for the surgeries, those children without names are given names, he said.
Jackson and Laura Richards of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, along with Kauai Medical Clinic Drs. Dean K. Thomas, a pediatrician, and Michael D. Johnston, an anesthesiologist, leave today on a mission to Cebu to assist in the performance of upwards of 100 surgeries on the island’s poorest and neediest children with facial deformities or severe burns.
In addition to the humanitarian aid, hope and expectation of longer lives the team and surgeries will bring, Jackson, Richards and the others are also bearing gifts equally American and Kauaian.
Handmade quilts.
“When they come out of surgery, they’ll be wrapped in those quilts,” said Jackson, a Wilcox Memorial Hospital emergency-room nurse who will on this medical mission is the group’s photojournalist.
Roberta Wallace, 64, of Po‘ipu, partner in Gaylord’s Restaurant here, wasn’t interested in going on the mission, but came up with the idea of making, gathering and donating quilts for the children. While she was only able to make one herself, she cut fabric for 30 others.
Sylvia Zeevat of Kalaheo, wife of Rotary Club of Poipu Beach member Hans Zeevat, made 32 quilts. A total of 87 quilts were made, with quilters including Paige Talvi and Katy Talvi, daughter and granddaughter of Wallace, respectively.
Katy Talvi, 12, is the youngest of at least three generations of quilters who made splendid quilts for the cause. “Many people who I don’t even know heard about it (the quilt-making cause) and made quilts,” said Wallace.
Joan Shaw and Lindsay Kamm, administrators at Island School where Katy Talvi attends, also made quilts. One North Shore resident, whose quilt was in need of three separate colors of fabrics to finish the inside, said, “no quilt is perfect. Only God is perfect,” said Wallace.
“A quilt is a sandwich of fabrics,” explained Wallace, adding that the layers have to be stitched together. There was another suggested requirement for those making quilts for the Cebu children: make them durable enough to be washed in rivers or the ocean, as the poor island’s residents are largely without running water, washing machines and other modern conveniences taken for granted here.
The quilts were blessed by the Rev. Jan Rudinoff, pastor of Lihu‘e’s St. Michael & All Angels’ Episcopal Church, with congregation members participating in the blessing ceremony, Wallace said.
With the poverty level of the families receiving the quilts, there has been fear expressed that some will sell the quilts. If they do so in order to buy food for the family, that’s OK, she added.
Rotaplast, short for Rotary Plastic Surgery, has its headquarters in San Francisco. Just about one medical mission a month is carried out by the volunteers, though most are to South America, said Jackson, 59.
Jackson volunteered to be the Rotaplast district ambassador for Rotary District 5000, all of Hawai‘i, but said the South-American excursions are long-distance trips for Hawai‘i-based Rotarians, and asked if Rotaplast representatives couldn’t schedule some in this part of the world.
Not only did Rotaplast representatives accommodate Jackson’s request, but they instructed him to not only organize the trip, but raise funds for it as well. To date, some $55,000 has been raised, with donations coming from nearly all 2,000 Rotarians in Hawai‘i.
Jackson, Richards and Rotarians from the other islands are all paying all of their own expenses for the mission, Wallace said.
There are 31 people taking part in the Rotaplast mission to Cebu City, Cebu, including four plastic surgeons, four anesthesiologists, two pediatricians, a dentist, five surgical nurses, 11 Rotary volunteers, and three geneticists, Jackson said.
The geneticists are along to teach preventive techniques, because it is easier to prevent than treat the kinds of facial deformities many of the children suffer, he said. While most of the problems can be traced to poor nutrition, some are tied to genetics, he explained.
The 11 Rotary volunteers will sterilize instruments, provide pre- and post-operative care for the children and their families, do much cleaning up, and perform other functions as necessary, he said.
The surgeries will be done at a government hospital, meaning the parents will have to come and stay with their children, and bring their own food and bedding, Jackson explained.
The children range in age from two weeks old to around four or five years of age, though inevitably on these medical missions at least one adult is identified who is especially needy, and gets life-lengthening surgery as well, he said.
“They will repair them,” Wallace said.
Host Rotarians, including the Cebu Port Centre Club, have been informing members of the community of the mission, and the free surgeries that will be offered, and have been identifying and pre-screening the most needy children.
They will also provide hotel rooms for the visitors, and schedule social functions Jackson is especially looking forward to, he said.
There is work to be done, too, of course, as Jackson will take pictures and video of the children before and after the surgeries, and make copies of the videos and pictures to share with all 41 Rotary clubs in Hawai‘i, so they’ll be able to see what their donations accomplished, he said.
Jackson will carry a letter of greeting from Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste, which Jackson will present to Tomas Osmena, mayor of Cebu City, and a letter of greeting from Gov. Linda Lingle, which he will present to Cebu Gov. Pablo Garcia.
The volunteers will return on Sunday, Oct. 26.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
