Monthly Archives: November 2011

Caregiving: An Underrated Job?

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Did you know that November is the National Family Caregiver Month? I really didn’t have any slightest idea that the entire month of November is dedicated for caregivers until LLS (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) forwarded  an invitation regarding a symposium on related matters with medical practitioners of the Department of Social Work and the New York Hospital Queens (NYQH) attending the said event. The National Caregiver Month was primarily designed to honor the millions of caregivers throughout the globe, especially the women, who have persevered in their duties caring for sick loved ones, for people they don’t know from day one, who are either patients in hospitals, nursing homes or in private homes.

(note that  photos shown herein are  not for reproduction/public consumption,  please)

While I join the call to honor the caregivers worldwide, regardless of the type of services whether it’s  a pro-bono  (esp. among family members) or with a hefty remuneration, this article is limited to focus on people who have sacrificed to leave their homes, migrated to other countries and joined the band wagon of “caregivers” working in developed countries either by choice or by chance. But there are some people who have no choice at all as they have only one thing in mind, to find a job no matter how hard it may seem, so as to earn a living and survive and be successful in the end. Success to some of them  is equated to certain economic variables, specifically that they are able to send money back home for their children’s education related expenses, to support their day to day living expenses, to buy a house of their own, and luxuries in life, among other things. These are the people who have learned to love the job so as to earn a decent living for their family back home, even if at the back of their minds this is not the original profession they’ve studied and longed for.

Caregiving is not new to us. As a matter of fact, our mothers when we’re young and sick were our first “caregivers”, in the strictest sense of the word. Caregivers at present, however, act as the modern day staff nurses and medical assistants, so to speak, who worked hands-on in the field, in the homes of family patients, doing the nitty gritty of the job. Some if not majority, of the caregivers nowadays are professionals in other fields of interests, but have been  trained and certified  to do such jobs.

As narrated by caregivers, their work is not easy especially when taking care of a sick patient at home, much more if the latter is bigger in terms of height and weight, and could no longer attend to his/her personal needs. They have to literally carry or support the patient by themselves in moving or transferring from one place to another There are times that caregivers bear the burden of the sick patient as in physically, not to mention the psychological stress the job placed on them.

In the course of their duty, a caregiver-caregivee relationship is established, whereby both the patient and the caregiver would have to like each other to make the process go smoothly, otherwise, it won’t work. It can be compared to someone who is engaged in a white-collar job and would try to win the affection of his/her boss, creating a rapport between them to have a smooth and friendly working relationship. 

A caregiver acquaintance once candidly shared with me her experience about the job. I understand she practically does everything, in lieu of the family members who are busy attending to their businesses and professional lives, as far as caring for the patient is concerned. She does all what is required of her by the supervising family members who visit their sick loved one from time to time. The “caring” process does not only involve attending to the personal needs of the patient (e.g. food preparation, giving  medicines, running errands, strolling  in parks, getting instructions from the doctor, etc.) but it turned out for her to be a personal commitment to make her patient feel better, in all aspects: emotionally, physically and spiritually. In the same manner, the family entrusted her their sick family member on an honor-system basis. They completely relied on her, as if she was part of the family.

As previously mentioned, caregivers have to have a lot of patience and perseverance, and the heart for it, otherwise, they might end up losing their jobs. There was one time the said caregiver was assigned to an elderly who used to be a high profile career lady in one of the multinational companies in NYC, and who was suffering from a dreadful disease. At first, there was animosity between them as the caregiver had this habit of doing her prayers thru singing while serving and comforting her. The lady patient would ask her to stop doing it which she obliged. But to her surprise, the patient requested her to sing the song which she said she liked it so much and made her feel well. The caregiver had goosebumps and was teary eyed when she heard it from her. She had a wonderful experience with her lady patient as the latter had learned to love what she was doing, despite of the differences in religious convictions. However, the good working relationship was cut short after several months as the lady patient expired. The caregiver thought her patient was happy and prepared to meet her Creator.

Caregiving is not just a job. Some say it’s one of the odd and dirty jobs. It may be quite true as at times it would require some “too personal care” related stuffs, although there’s nothing wrong with it, depending on one’s perspective.  On the other hand and in reality, caregiving is a job that is fulfilling and gratifying just like what the earlier mentioned caregiver had experienced. She served as an instrument of God to make her patient prepare for her death while she was bedridden. It was a spiritual journey for both the caregiver and the patient. From the caregivers standpoint, this is primarily one of the wondrous things which lighten their physical and emotional burden kept inside when they  make someone happy and feel better, even only for a while.   Apart from the said psychological satisfaction,  she was also able to send and complete her kids schooling, and  continue to support their needs including her extended families, from her earnings as caregiver.

In view of the vital roles played by caregivers throughout the globe, I would like to echo any calls for Government and politicians to formulate policies and enact laws which would protect the health care of caregivers and their patients as well. As you may know, caregiving demands several hours of duty per day. In fact, some would stay in the patient’s home 24/7. As previously mentioned, caregivers’ work includes substantial emotional and physical strain and it is but prudent for them to be given such valuable recognition. 

How about making “caregiving” a full pledge profession, just like other medical related field of studies such as Nursing?  Some professionals who have decided to be caregivers actually go to a training center or a specialized vocational schools to study about caregiving basics or probably “caregiving 101”, if any, but it’s not enough. How about creating a new curriculum for a Bachelor’s Degree in Caregiving? How about that?

So, for all the caregivers worldwide, this is “myusefultips” way of greeting you a happy caregivers month, even tho the greeting’s late! Better late than never, right?

The Joy of Joining A Multi-Choir Gig: A Precious Moment

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Two months ago, myusefultips.com posted an article about the feast day of San Lorenzo Ruiz at St. Patrick's Cathedral wherein a large choir, composed of representatives of various choir groups in NYC, performed during the said event. Some of these choir members will have the chance to do it again on the 3rd of December to kick-off the “Dawn Masses” or “Simbang Gabi” which is a tradition in some parts of the globe and which is also timely as it is the 1st of the series of the 4 Sundays of Advent. As mentioned in the previous blogs, choir music in any liturgical celebration makes it more lively and uplifting.

One of the preparations being administered for the said big event is the rehearsal schedule for the choir which sometimes can be quite not easy in terms of people mobilization/availability and time constraints. Last week, a joint rehearsal for all the invited choir groups was held for the first time so as to, among others,  get some feedback on the choir's performance as a group. The said choir, including the instrumentalists, is composed of different choir groups from NYC and New Jersey and the numbers could reach nearly a hundred.

One perfect strategy  to make the rehearsal fun and exciting is to introduce some “twists” in between the rehearsals. This was true as is the case during the rehearsal last week, wherein the event organizers requested the  participating choir groups to present their versions of some of the songs , included in the repertoire via a singing competition with some cash prizes at stake.

One of the objectives of the  said rehearsal was not purely to warm-up or to produce “oil” on the choir members vocal chords, so to speak, but also to boost their confidence in singing. Most of the times, choir members are on volunteer basis and are not music professionals who are attuned to the intricacies of music. As such, there is a need for bouts and practices to sharpen their skills.

Here, take a look at the participating choirs (Ocean of Mercy Choir, Ambassadors of Christ Choir, Jesus Through Mary Choir of NY, Jesus Through Mary Choir of Staten Island, St. John the Baptist Choir, Divine Mercy Prayer Group, and other choir groups) and some guests who were invited to perform in the said event.  The choir groups were asked to render two  uniform songs, namely  "Angels We Have Heard On High" and "Silent Night" while the third song was any of the group's favorite Christmas song.

(Please take note photos are not for public consumption.  If you wish to get hold of it, feel free to contact the admin of www. myusefultips.com.  Thanks!)

This choir group  from New Jersey (see below) was lucky to be picked as the winner, with the 1st prize handed to them on the same day, a check amounting to $400.00.  Not bad for a rehearsal!

The 3-lady judges (of which this author was a part of)  assigned for this event did their part in making the contest fair and credible, taking into account the criteria (e.g. correct pitch, blending, expression, costume, audience participation, etc.) set for the said competition. 

The said rehearsal turned out to be an opportunity to bond with other choir groups and as a music lover myself, it was great to see all of them offering back their talents to God and enjoying the rare precious moments !

Non-Profit Organizations – Governments’ Partners in Socio-Economic Development

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Non-profit organizations (NPOs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) or People's Organizations (POs) to some countries, absolutely play a significant role in pursuing development-related activities, particularly in advocating endeavors that promote quality of life, whether in least developed countries or in advanced and industrialized economies.

As the name implies, NPOs, NGOs or POs are traditionally not in equal terms as that of regular business enterprises where profit is the end goal. Majority of non-profit organizations and other similarly situated groups (e.g. civil society, etc.) are not earning companies, in fact, they rely heavily on donations from large private profitable companies, philanthropists and generous individuals via fund raising efforts and campaigns. NPOs and its variants  have been established to support development projects of Governments worldwide, such as in poverty alleviation, environment, education, health, community development and other social services.

Throughout the globe, there are probably millions of NGOs, NPOs, POs and related small and medium scale cooperatives (farmers, fisherfolks, etc.) that are currently active and operational. In the United States alone, there are about 1.6 million NPOs based on the National Center for Charitable Statistics, with total assets of approximately $2.6 trillion. The bulk of the non profit organizations in the U.S. are located in California numbering 159,516 and New York which has about 99,765.

However, not all of the said organizations in the U.S. are accredited by the U.N., which means that there is a large number of  NPOs and NGOs which have not been  granted special consultative status with the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and therefore do not have privileges to put forth their respective advocacies in the UN meetings and in other large fora and gatherings.

One example of a non profit organization in NYC which has been very actively involved  in helping disadvantaged and poor orphaned children in certain developing countries is the Orphans International World Wide (OIWW). The company is not even a full-blown teenager yet, it has been in existence for roughly 12 years since its conceptualization in 1999 to respond to the call to help orphaned kids worldwide. OIWW represented by its founder, Jim Luce, was physically present and took the initiative in caring for some of the children who have lost their parents during the tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia and likewise during the hurricane in Haiti. 

OIWW provided an infrastructure in the said places where the orphans can be taught and served with their daily basic needs on a “full-care” basis. Fully cognizant of the fact, however, that these orphaned kids could very well adapt to the situation and live as normal kids if they will be with their close relatives (grandparents, aunts or uncles and other relatives) who may be willing to raise them just like their own, OIWW changed its strategy to adopt the so-called “family-care” scheme. This  strategy was proven to be more effective and community-friendly as it did not only maintain the ideal family environment but it also provided the orphaned kids to have normal lives, taking into account their emotional and psychological mindsets.

(photos are courtesy of oiww.org)

The said “family-care” strategy was an innovation of OIWW and a change from the conventional orphanages where all orphans are housed and administered by a particular organization. Under the new set-up, OIWW provides the monthly stipend for the kids' school fees, including, medical and dental, clothing, and even after school related activities while the kids continue to be with their foster extended families. The kids performance are being overseen and monitored by OIWW's local volunteers who reports the same to the mother office which is based in NYC via internet and other modern technology.

In view of recent developments, OIWW's founder recently formed a related organization (visit lucefoundation.org for more details), the mission of which is to support “young global leadership” related programs.  It has  partnered with other NGO's which also share the same interests, in line with UN's Millennium Development Goals. The Foundation's plan to join forces with other NPOs was mainly for cost reduction measures in terms of operational and administrative expenses.  This is  quite a practical move especially for start-up non profit organizations.  

One of the Foundation's prime and initial fund raising efforts was the 21st Anniversary Black Tie Gala Dinner held recently in NYC, in tandem with the United Nations SRC Aux Antilles Club and in conjunction with the United Missions of Haiti, Cape Verde, Hungary and Czech Republic in support of its International University in Haiti. Proceeds from the said event were specifically earmarked for the "construction of the new Educational Pavillon on Uni Haiti's Academic Campus and funding for their second year English-language Leadership and Mentoring Program for Haitian University students in Leogane. "

So, my dear friends, readers and generous lurkers, if you have the passion to help global youths who can be effective potential leaders and the poor orphans too, please visit their websites at oiww.org and lucefoundation.org and feel free to directly coordinate with them.

I have personally been involved in one of their endeavors once upon a time and a staunch supporter  for this cause.

So guys, come on let's support the aforesaid projects. A few of your green bucks, big or small, can make a difference to a bright young orphaned kid and other children worldwide to be future global leaders.

Education in Science and Technology: The Focal Point

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Education is for everyone. This is true if all of us have the interest for it and have the means to acquire the same. Undeniably, it is the right of each and everyone of us to go to school and learn. However, what is actually happening is that there are some who have been deprived of the said fundamental right mainly for economic reasons.

UN-MDG monitor for Goal No. 2 revealed that while there have been strides in enrollment in primary education (about 6% increase from 2000 to 2008), it is still not enough to be able to hit the target 3 years from now. Approximately, 75 million are still out of school, majority of which are girls who have neither been to school at all nor have been able to finish or complete school's requirements. To date, UN data estimates that there are about 800 million illiterate adults all over the world, roughly 67% of which are women mostly from the Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Gambia, etc.).

It will be recalled that in “myusefultips” previous blog post, entitled “The Value of Quality Learning…." (http://www.myusefultips.com/?p=2237 ), it was mentioned that there are students throughout the globe who have been gifted with mental and analytical abilities but the problem lies on the needed finances for them to go to the best and quality schools and likewise the absence of certain interventions which Governments could have provided to its citizenry in so far as access to high-quality education is concerned. Each country has its own “best and brightest” boys and girls (poor and rich alike) and these privileged young minds could possibly build a brighter future for the next generations if their talents, particularly in science and technology, are unleashed, nurtured and honed.

UNESCO's (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Budapest Declaration on Science stated, among others, that “….Science should be at the service of humanity as a whole, and should contribute to providing everyone with a deeper understanding of nature and society, a better quality of life and a sustainable and healthy environment for present and future generations.” Said UNESCO's declaration recognized that science has a role in alleviating poverty and stimulating economic growth. The world is full of natural resources to be explored and discovered through scientific research and its applications which are deemed essential to development, but at the same time the world is being attacked with huge problems (e.g. poverty, poor health, ecological degradation, etc.). Thus, there is plenty of room for improvements using the resources that are available around us so we can have healthy and productive life and a fulfilling and bright future ahead of us.

In view of this, Government leaders particularly in developing economies are being encouraged to put in much higher  budgetary appropriations for education and invest in and assist the poor but deserving kids (boys and girls), most especially, to obtain  the said scientific knowledge which is expected to yield benefits for the entire human race at the end of the day. Rather than delving more of their study and leisure time to social technology such as video games and frequenting to social networking sites, these young bright students should be motivated to focus on more productive scientific learning related tools to increase awareness and stir their passion on the "real" science and technology. However, these could be realized only if and when all the stakeholders starting from the students, parents, teachers, businesses and the Government are willing and able to cooperate and share their time, talents and treasures altogether.

One example of a Government  which responded to the said call to formulate education related reforms is the Philippine Government. In line with one of the Government's agenda to invest in people thru provision of quality education and ultimately make the county be more globally competitive, the Philippine Development Foundation or "PhilDev "(a non-profit organization based in the Philippines and the United States), organized a forum with the theme, “Accessing the Global Markets through Science and Technology (Innovations in Education Summit), on November 7th at NYC 's Asia Society Museum.

The said forum was attended by various experts in the academe, business sector, philanthropists and ordinary people and media (including bloggers) who share the same passion and believe in the advocacy. It was also in collaboration with the Philippine Government with some cabinet officials as speakers in the said event.

As you may know, the Philippines ranks 75th out of the 142 countries based on the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, specifically in terms of technological innovations. Despite the country's  positive economic growth, there is but a widening gap between the rich and the poor, where the latter (majority) holds the bottom portion of the pyramid, so to speak. Poverty and corruption related problems have worsened. Acknowledging these problems, the present Government's  administration has avowed to correct and improve this situation by formulating and implementing a budget emphasizing on education, health, tax collection efforts, conditional cash transfer (CCT) and other revenue generating measures.

According to the Philippines' Secretary of Finance (Cesar Purisima) who was one of the speakers in the said event, the Philippine Government  is bent on transforming the country (which is an archipelago in terms of its physical geography) as an “Island of Excellence”. He shared with the audience the proposed “Aquinomics” (named after the last name of the current Philippine President)  of the present administration which has 4 pillars: macroeconomic stability, investment in people (e.g. CCTs, etc.), public private partnerships or private sector participation in some of its major public utilities and infrastructure building (e.g. schools, etc.) and the like. However, even if backed up  with good policy and  good intentions, there will always be skeptics along the way. As a matter of fact, the newly coined  "Aquinomics" is even tagged by some as “no economics” or “no to economics”!  But it didn't matter, he got a standing ovation from the audience, probably for his eloquence or his convincing powers!

Nevertheless, the forum was successful as it elicited some supporters to pledge and contribute to the “Super Fund” which was created for scholarship funds for the best and brightest Filipino youth to pursue studies and careers in the fields of science and engineering. Those in attendance were encouraged to pledge about $5,000/annum or $20,000 for a 4-year course to the said Fund to sponsor a a poor but bright freshman college student for his school related fees.  So, if you wish to be involved in this endeavor by sponsoring a young Filipino child or college student to pursue studies in science and any technology related courses and who could possibly become scientists someday, please feel free to coordinate with any official of PhilDev at phildev.org.

The said Forum on Education was indeed relevant and timely as we are in the 21st century education. To cope  with changing times, it is imperative for all Governments to respond to this challenge of developing  young, playful and innocent minds into critical minds. Even if a student is incredibly bright, he can't simply do it by himself.  He would require some guidance and support from all stakeholders mentioned earlier.   

Thus, for a country  to be more globally competitive and to continue to thrive, each citizenry should have to educate themselves, not just aim for the simple one but a better high-quality education. As further stated in the aforesaid Budapest Declaration, "Science and Technology should be resolutely directed towards prospects for better employment, improving competitiveness and social justice." As such, education in science and technology could serve as the focal point to achieving an end to world poverty.

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Notes:

1. After the Philippine forum on Education on the 7th of November, a gala show was held at the Lincoln Center with Filipino-American talents who have been successful in Broadway such as Lea Salonga who starred in Ms. Saigon, for one. The repertoire was mostly from the compositions of the famous American composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim.

2. On November 17 to 19, 2011, the Fifth World Science Forum shall be held in Budapest, Hungary

3. Above photos are not for reproduction. Thank you.

The Suffering Souls : How To Be Of Help To Them?

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Catholics throughout the globe are commemorating two very important feast/holy days on the first two days of November, namely: All Saints Day (November 1st) and All Souls Day (November 2nd). Nowadays, we almost celebrate everything for everyone. We have Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandmother's Day, and even Pet's Day! So, how could we forget the holy men and women who are now in Heaven and our departed loved ones who might still be in purgatory? As such, the Catholic church allotted the first two days of November for the Saints in Heaven and for the departed souls, respectively. Some of us may have reservations/contradictions about this dogma of the church but Catholics do believe in heaven, hell and another place after life called “purgatory”.

If you happen to take up theology classes, you may have encountered the three compositions of the Church: the church militant (the people who are still living here on earth), the church suffering (departed souls in purgatory) and the church triumphant (the saints, angels and every souls who have been raised up to heaven to be with God forever —Wow!). It takes a grain of faith to believe all these things and as we all know faith is a virtue, it's a grace which comes from God. As I always tell the kids in class, faith can not be found in malls, it can not be bought, they have to ask it from God!

Briefly, this article shall focus on the suffering souls in purgatory. The scope is quite limited based on my little knowledge, what I've learned in school, from my parents, and  various literature of the Catholic church with imprimatur of an authorized catholic official and based on the canon laws of the church.

Purgatory is defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven…”. As such, purgatory is the place where departed souls who have asked for and have received God's mercy and forgiveness through the sacraments of Confession, Annointing of the Sick or  by simply uttering the needed sacred words  before their last breath, are being temporary lodged prior to entering the gates of Heaven. I understand that even if the dead person has already been forgiven for a particular grievous sin, his/her soul may still not be eligible to enter heaven right away. The souls have to pass through the rigors (“purging fires”) of purgatory, and that he or she will have to pay the price for what he/she wrongly did on earth. It's like a temporary prison cell and that they can only be released once they have truly atoned for their sins and with the help from us, the living through prayers.  As such, the dead souls will have to be purified and cleansed out of their sins first before they can be with God in Heaven forever.  

As depicted in the painting below, the church triumphant (on top) are those that are already in heaven, next to it are the church militant (the living) while those below are composed of the church suffering. Church here is not the infrastructure that we see around, but it is being referred to as the community of believers or God's followers. As can further be gleaned from the said visual art, the “holy souls in purgatory” appear to be begging and pleading  for our help primarily to shorten the duration of their stay in the said place maybe and so that their sufferings will be cut short. The souls in purgatory can no longer do something to rectify their wrongdoings because they're no longer alive. As such, they heavily rely on us, on our help. Note the phrase “holy souls in purgatory” because their sufferings in purgatory are merely temporary as all of them shall have the chance to see and join  God in Heaven and share His eternal life and love.  However, the probability of being raised up to Heaven would  depend on the degree of the assistance accorded them and how they have been sorry for their sins. Absolutely, the souls in purgatory are very much far better than the souls in Hell who are agonizing from eternal damnation and could no longer be saved.


So, what can we do to help the souls in purgatory so they shall be released from the temporary sufferings at the soonest possible time? Oh, it only takes a little of our time, probably a minute or so and should be said everyday if possible.  It won't even cost us a hundred bucks to do it!

Here are some simple tips to help our departed brothers and sisters who have gone ahead of us: (a) A simple mental or vocal prayer (perhaps with a lighted candle) offered for a particular soul or for all the souls in purgatory (b) A Holy Mass for the intention of a particular dead person or for all the souls in purgatory; (c) Recitation of the Holy Rosary, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary; (d) Undertaking corporal works of mercy such as giving water to the thirsty, feeding the hungry, giving alms to the poor, comforting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, and the like; and (e) Other good little things we do towards our neighbors or to ourselves, making some small sacrifices or the so-called “mortification” which we can offer to them silently in our hearts.

I understand the help spared to the holy souls in purgatory will be returned to us in three- folds. There are plenary indulgences that are expected to be gained from doing good works, however under certain conditions, e.g. going to mass, hearing confession and receiving the Holy Communion. Likewise, the holy souls in purgatory once they reached Heaven probably would be grateful for what we did for them.  They may also be of help to us, by returning the favor, when we need and seek their help someday!

Please feel free to say your piece if you have other thoughts on this.