It was all paid off

Marivic and her new-born baby Kathryn. (San Vicente, Northern Samar)
Days after the Solar Scholar workshop, we scheduled a trip to the island town of San Vicente Northern Samar to assess the power situation of their Rural Health Unit headed by Dr. Nenilyn Francisco.

At first, we were lost because we took the ride from Calbayog to Catarman which eventually not the proper route. We rode a jeepney from Catarman to Allen and tricycle to San Isidro, Northern Samar. It was quite a long trip.

We need to ride the boat from San Isidro port to San Vicente at 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon. We were lucky to be on time. The boat left at exactly 2:00 o’clock leaving us a lot of dust in our faces.

It took two hours to get into the island. The island was enveloped with darkness when we arrived. Locals meet some passengers at the port to welcome their relatives.
At first we already planned of sleeping along the port area where there is an abandoned building where we can protect ourselves from cold of the night.

We went to the Municipal Building to meet one of our solar scholars, Jetrud, to accompany us to the Rural Health Unit so we can assess the power needs of the facility. My colleague climbs the roof while I am taking pictures on significant areas of the rooms.

We meet Dr. Francisco and told her about our purpose. The response was positive enough to pursue our plans to solarize the health center. After the short talk, we were then accompanied by Alvin, one of our Solar Scholars, to the mother who gave birth to a baby girl the day after the workshop was held in Tacloban City.

It was late in the afternoon when Marivic Naga experienced the pain of labor and is about to give birth to her baby. The room was dark and uncomfortable for the laboring moms to give birth. 

Alvin, knowing the medical situation, immediately plugged in the electric fan and the LED bulb for the comfort of the people in the delivery area.
Due to this situation, Marivic and other laboring moms had comfort in delivering their babies that afternoon.

When I saw the smiles and her cute little face, it feels like that my fears of riding a small boat on a wavy afternoons to cross the islands, going to the different remote areas in the region and the efforts made by our RE-Charge team was all paid off.


We thanked our San Vicente Solar Scholars for being active in responding to this kind of medical emergencies.  

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