A Call for Help: The Story of Mang Ben

A Call for Help: The Story of Mang Ben

 

WHERE IS MANG BEN NOW

Last May 7, Mang Ben’s results came out and they found a multitude of illnesses, including irregularities in his heartbeat. When the doctors and staff of Amang Rodriguez learned about his story as well as the treatment he got from DSWD, they immediately made sure he could be confined to the ICU ward of the hospital. His confinement lasted for more than a week. 

 Thankfully, his application to Anawim has also been approved and he finally moved in to the facility last May 19. 

HELP NEEDED

Thanks to generous friends and family, Bianca has also garnered enough help to take care of his medicine and other needs even now that he is in Anawim. 

 However, she asked me to share their story because there are still a lot of loose ends and questions that need to be answered:

DONATIONS

Housing, food and utilities for Mang Ben and the other residents of Anawim are completely free. However, since they also get their funds through private donations, Bianca has decided with the help of some friends, to ease their burden a little by shouldering some of Mang Ben’s expenses, such as his medicine and toiletries. Any help, coursed through Bianca or Anawim directly,  would greatly be appreciated. 

VISITS

Mang Ben, as well as the other people in Anawim have no family that they could count on. The NGO highly encourages visitors to cheer up their residents. Bianca’s group is setting up monthly scheduled visits to make sure that Mang Ben and his new housemates feel that they have not been forgotten.

A WAKEUP CALL FOR DSWD

Through out this entire process, Bianca had to take on the responsibility of helping Mang Ben completely by herself and with absolutely no assistance from DSWD.

This leads all of us to wonder what happens to the other homeless citizens coming to DSWD fo help?  Are they also given a bunch of paper work and sent out once again on the streets?

Mang Ben was fortunate enough to get a happy ending after his ordeal. But what about the others ?  More than anything, Bianca would like to raise awareness for cases such as his.

Maybe by sharing his story, the decision makers of the agency would take notice of lapses in their department’s municipal branches. I think this is the least you can expect from a government agency, who in their website, claims that one of their main tasks is to “provide social protection of the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged sector”.

 

For more information about Mang Ben you may contact Bianca Cristi at 0915-8002752 or via email at biancacristi@yahoo.com  You may also visit the Facebook page  that she set up for Mang Ben. 

For more information about Anawim please click on their website here.

 

 

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A Call for Help: The Story of Mang Ben