PGT Season 3: Jeziel Dimagha-Ong

Common Diseases of Children Living on Street

Following are among the diseases common to children living on the street. 

Skin Diseases

A child's infected hand

   

Sore Eyes due to viral infection

Sore Eyes is the inflammation of the thin covering of the eyeball and inner eyelid. The inflammation is brought on by a viral, bacterial, or allergy infection. Extremely contagious, it spreads easily by eye to hand to eye contact,a
runny nose or cough, or when people come into contact with a contaminated surface or object. If severe enough or long lasting, it can eventually lead to corneal scarring that can cause glare and decreased vision. Experts recommend not going to work or school if you have sore eyes or symptoms of sore eyes until symptoms are relieved and treatment  is successful. 
                                                                                                                         

Sore Eyes Symptoms

• Redness of the eyes
• Discomfort
• Burning
• Gritty sensation
• Photophobia (sensitivity to light)
• Pain
• Difficulty opening eyes after sleeping
• Eyelids stuck together after sleeping
• Water-like discharge
• Soreness
• Runny nose
• Sore throat
• Lymph glands are sore (lymph glands are your body’s defensive filter, they are located behind the ears)

Sty

Sty is a common infection results from blocked glands within the eyelid. When the gland is blocked, the oil produced by the gland occasionally backs up and extrudes through the wall of the gland, forming a lump which can be red, painful, and nodular. Frequently, bacteria can infect the blocked gland, causing increased inflammation, pain, and redness of the eye, and even redness of the surrounding eyelid and cheek tissue. The medical term for sty is hordeolum.



Due to lack of medicine for sore eyes, our RN gives one droplet medicine for at least 3 to 5 children knowing that droplets must be administered every after 2 hours.She advised the parents to bring their children to the nearest clinic if possible.


                                                                                       

                                                                         
 Eczema  which is also called dermatitis.                                                                                      

                        

Tooth brushing

Brushing teeth is one of the many importance of hygiene taught to everyone especially to the children. One of the main reasons is that it is an essential part of oral hygiene to prevent several forms of dental problems like cavities,  gingivitis and bad breath. Therefore it is a must for everyone to clean their teeth daily even children who do not live what they call the  "normal lives". 

In our case, children brush their teeth after eating. Tooth brushes are given mostly to children who attend activities regularly. Children who come occasionally have tooth brushes also but most of the time they are not around to use it. Each tooth brush is labeled with the child’s name and must be returned after using it to be used every time there is activity.

The steps in tooth brushing  like the following is taught to them which do not take not longer than 5 minutes.

Steps in Tooth brushing:
1. Holding their own toothbrush at a 45 angle against their gums (of course with tooth paste on the tooth brush)
2. Start brushing from one end and go to the other careful not to miss any spots.
3. On the outer or inner surfaces, vibrate the brush in half tooth wide strokes towards the gum line. 4. Do not scrub. 
5. Clean molars with back and forth motion.
6. Hold the brush vertically with up and down strokes on the inside of the front teeth.

A team member or any other older responsible child or at least 2 children needs to assist the children especially the younger ones in putting toothpaste on their toothbrushes and to fix the tooth brushes in the container box after using it.

Sailing MV Mary the Queen

MBRS

We (Edith and I) planned going to Romblon Province after Christmas but the travel came 2 days earlier due to the ship's schedule. Yes, we traveled by water so we could experience the ride in a huge ship. I inquired about the trips and had our Manila to Odiongan reservation via phone. We thought we would not be able to make it to Pier 8 North Harbor where the MBRS cruise line was docked or so I thought due to the traffic jam along our way. We were received by the trained K9 dog of the harbor when we arrived there. The personnel conducted body check while luggage were examined by the police dog. Numerous people from all ages with their baggage mound to where they stood were already eagerly waiting for the ship which was yet to arrive. Our 5 o'clock trip was postponed to 8 o'clock but the ship finally arrived at 10 in the evening. It took an hour for docking and then 2 hours of refilling water, cleaning and boarding all the passengers.

MBRS ticket

We got in the ship and looked for our beds. The ship left Manila around 1 in the morning a day before Christmas. The ride was not smooth and it was not like what we thought. We found a bed and had a chat with our "neighbor" before we hurriedly went up to discover the inside of the ship. We came to a deck where there were a lot of good empty rooms. Those were cabins which were under repair. Their second class accommodation was almost the same with their economy class. Both class had air conditioner, double deck beds with foam.

K9 and its master checking the passengers baggage

BRS Ship is "new" according to our co passengers who like us were loitering at the upper deck. It  once belonged to Valencia, Spain and bought by the said shipping lines. The former name was Ciudad De Valencia. It was said that this line is owned by one of the prominent government official of Romblon.Below is an information about the vessel.

Name: Ciudad De valencia

IMO: 7915802

VESSEL TYPE: FERRY
FLAG: SPAIN
PORT OF REGISTRY: VALENCIA
STATUS: IN SERVICE
COMPANY: TRASMEDITERRANEA / ACCIONA TRASMEDITERRANEA
(OWNED UNTIL 2009)
BUILDER: UNION NAVAL LEVANTE VALENCIA - SPAIN
YEAR: 1984
GROSS TONNAGE (GT): 11513
LENGHT (m): 138,3
BREADTH (m): 20,5
DRAUGHT (m): 5,6
SPEED (kn): 21
POWER (kW): 13093
PASSENGERS: 982
LANE METRES: 480
NEW NAME: MARY THE QUEEN
SISTER SHIPS: CANGURO CABO SAN JORGE / CIUDAD DE BADAJOZ /
CIUDAD DE SEVILLA / CIUDAD DE SALAMANCA / DONATELLA
DABUNDO

Weekly sailing schedule were as follows:

1. Manila Monday 5PM - Arrive Romblon 3AM Wednesday
2. Romblon 4AM Wednesday - Arrive Cajidiocan 7AM Wednesday
3. Cajidocan 8AM Wednesday - Arrive Masbate 12 Noon Wednesday Masbate 10AM Thursday - Arrive Cajidocan 2PM Thursday
4. Cajidocan 3PM Thursday - Arrive Romblon 6PM Thursday
5. Romblon 7PM Thursday - Arrive Manila 5AM Friday
6. Manila 5PM Friday - Arrive Odiongan 3AM Saturday
7. Odiongan 4AM Saturday -- Arrive caticlan 6:30AM Saturday
8. Caticlan 8AM Saturday - Arrive Masbate 4PM Saturday
9. Masbate 2AM Sunday - Arrive Caticlan 10AM Sunday
10. Caticlan 12 Noon Sunday - Arrive Odiongan 2:30PM Sunday
11. Odiongan 5PM Sunday - Arrive Manila 3AM Monday

Fare from Manila to Odiongan was Php425 for students, Php 525 for regular passengers. We added P100.00 each for Odiongan to Caticlan.

We spent 14 hours sailing and were almost in Odiongan port when our ship stopped because according to the management, there was another ship docked on the port and it was impossible to come in. Good thing we decided earlier not to stop in Odiongan as we planned due to the delay of our departure and the long time we spent in the vessel. We abruptly changed our itinerary and eyed Boracay as our first destination so we decided to stop in Caticlan. Nearly 2 hours passed yet nothing happened. Passengers who were looking forward to spend their Noche Buena with their family were getting irritated already. Loved ones who were at the port waiting were also mad and bombard the management with questions. A ranting lady passenger, who could not stand the delay and who also related the event to her marine captain engineer in another country,  went to the management's office and dared the officer. There was a violent disturbance but paved the way for the fleet to move.

It was past 9 in the evening when we reached Caticlan.

air conditioned economy room

Marble Capital-Romblon, Romblon

Our next destination after Tablas Island was Romblon, the marble capital and exporter of the Philippines. We asked the tourist information office we found near the port of a shipping line about the resorts where we could stay over night. He directed us to a small and simple yet awesome resort near the poblacion. Aglicay is a sure real nice to stay with all the amenities and very accommodating people as compared to this unknown beach resort where we stayed.

We strolled around the town and came across the capitol building and the old catholic church constructed in the 16th century by the Recollect Fathers. The church was built with coral blocks and bricks.

We also went looking for marble products and other native food delicacies. It was dark when we stopped at a hotel to have our dinner.

Overlooking the poblacion from the hotel.

On our second day, we planned to enjoy swimming since we were not able to do in Tablas due to the strong waves. We were about to swim when we saw some creatures which were foreign to us. Out of curiosity again, we took some twigs and tried to budged it. We did not have the slightest idea that this was a sea cucumber locally known as "balat".

...and that this one was a brittle star. 

There were a lot of brittle stars and sea cucumber lurking on the small rocks. Instead of swimming, we were absorbed looking for other sea creatures. The white strand seen here was said to be the "laway" of the "balat".

It was very rough under the water so we need to wear our slippers. We saw a different sizes of white star fish.  There were also sea weeds under which made us jerk every time it touched our skin. There was sea cucumber hanging around a medium sized sea urchin. This really made me run to the shore line.

However, it did not stop us from looking around. We went for another direction and were really observant if we encounter again those species. We stumbled upon two big beautiful star fish, a brown and an orange. 

On our left side, we saw this and argued if it was also a starfish. Whatever it was, we were very hesitant to touch it anyway.

The dead corals accumulated on the shoreline.

Beautiful starfish.
It was here that I broke my camera after taking a lot of pictures..:(