Once again Im headed back to the Philippines but for a slightly different reason. Sorry if this turns out to be a book. I believe I posted about this on the site around 2017 but here is the recap.
I've been visiting the Philippines since about 2015 when a friend invited me to stay with him who lived there. Of course I meet people and became friends with a few such as Cynthia Agapito. Yes we were only friends believe it or not, no hook up.
My friend Cynthia ended up getting Hemolytic Anemia. I had been helping her with blood transfusions for about a year and had arranged surgery to have her spleen removed due to complications. She died 1 week before the surgery.
My friend Cynthia had a daughter (adopted) who was 3 when she died. I was sort of the godfather. She wanted me to have custody if/when she died but that isnt so easy to do there, like impossible to bring them back to the states, no so hard if you are living there. Anyways,
My friends' father and brother were caring for her. Brother had to move out several years ago due to the new wicked stepmother. Father died almost 2 years ago so Charm was with the wicket stepmother and I lost all contact.
I just found out a few weeks ago she has been in an orphanage for the last 6 months. She bounced around different family members for a while I guess and also had some abuse. Now that the family knows about me they all of the sudden are interested because they see $$$. They had no interest before though when all she they saw her as a burden.
We got in touch with an Aunt who placed her there and the head person at the orphanage and are working out details to gain guardianship. Once we get things worked out legally as much as possible from here we are going to fly there to meet with everyone, finish the paperwork and take her to our place in TBoli where our house and her mother is.
My wife's mother already pretty much takes care of 4 of our nieces ages 4, 5, 13 & 15. Rhancyn (Charm) who we are going there to get is 11.
We sent my wife's sister to the orphanage that is near Manila (2hr flight away) to go and see what she can get done before we arrive. So far so good and they may even release her into my wife's sister custody this week. We will get there next week and spend time taking her to the Mall of Asia, going shopping for new clothes (she has none) and some sight seeing just to help put her at ease. She does not remember me because she was only 3 or 4 last time she saw me but she is on board with the idea.
Im sort of excited to give her a gift also. I'm sure she has no pictures of her mom or her childhood. I have a collection of pictures via emails and messages her mom send me from before she was adopted and most of her first 3 or 4 years until her mom died as well as a few after. I created a photo album using Shutterfly of just under 100 pictures.
We plan on staying almost 3 weeks to help her settle in and do a little vacationing with her and the other nieces to get everyone acquainted. I'm sure we will do a bit more visiting some of the mountain tribes and bring them some essentials while we are there and be broke by the time we get home again. lol
This is all sort of how I meet my wife. I meet her the day before I was returning home after Cynthia's funeral and things just worked out from there. Everything happens for a reason?
Sometimes I think I should start a GofundMe for this sort of stuff but honestly I dont think anyone gives to stuff like this unless its on TV or political. I did try to do a GofundMe for Cynthia's Surgery in 2017 but had almost no response even with the help of my daughter advertising it everywhere. I ended up setting it up and agreeing to pay for it all myself so we could get it done but it was to late.
Anyways, thats the plan for the upcoming trip next week.
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Only a little jealousy and confusion with some of the near same age kids but they are all getting along for the most part. I wish I could say the same for the adults but Im not surprised. Honestly my wife always warns me not to let them know even within family members who we have helped financially because it will cause conflict. WFT. lol We arent supposed to mention this or that niece/nephew, aunt or uncle. How pathetic.A few annoyances I have with the family/culture that I let come to the surface this trip a little is the lack of any personal responsibility or initiative to do anything when I/we are not there. Little things just added up because I spent a LOT of my time fixing things or finding someone to fix stuff that should have been done a long time ago especially since Ive told them many times who to call if something happens.Worst part of the trip was when we had to rent 2, 4 door trucks to accommodate 12+ people/relatives to go with us to the beach that of course 50% of them seemed to have an issue about something I didnt bother to give 2 sh*ts about. Best part was taking just 4 of the nieces to the beach for a couple days with no adult interference except the wife and everyone got along great.Wife says she doesnt want to go back to visit any family members for a LONG time and next time we go back we will have certain ones meet us somewhere and the others are not invited so no drama. Yeah right. lol
