Mabuhay Shriner's Donated Nebulizers to Muslim Community of Calapacuan, Subic, Zambales

To tell this story we need to go back a couple of years. The Mabuhay Shriners were trying for a couple of years to do a medical mission for the children of the Calapacuan Muslim village, Subic City , Philippines . They have about 500 families there and live in shear poverty. We approached the new Chairman, Mr. Usman Cegales Jr, discussed a medical mission for his village children. He was reluctant and said “a few months earlier a Christian organization came to him and said we will do something for your children and elders if you all become born again Christians”. With that we could understand why he was so reluctant and told him we would not interfere with his religious beliefs. We just want to help the children because as Shriners that is our mainstay in Masonry. We are an appendant body of masonry. Whereas masonry is founded on the very concepts of religion, we are masons first and Shriners next, but shrinedom was founded for the very purpose of helping burned or crippled children. He then said “do you realize we are Muslims”? Of course we know that, we said, because we masons have Muslims in our fraternity and reiterated that we would not interfere with the religious beliefs of his villagers. He finally agreed to the medical mission for the children under the age of 18 years old.

In December of 2004 we did the first medical mission, ever done, for his children of which we treated 438 children. While there, we discovered a burned child, and rushed her to the hospital and in doing so saved the child from having severe scars on her legs. She was 4 years old.

In April of 2005 we did a joint medical mission for the elderly with Olongapo City Peninsula Lions Club, Inc and while they [Lions] treated the elderly we Shriners looked for and treated sick children. The Lions did about 180 elderly folks and we did about 50 sick children.

Now for the rest of the story; During the last medical mission for the Muslim village the Chairman told us he had 17 elderly Asthmatic patients and they have to go about 25 miles to the nearest free hospital to get nebulized. He then asked if we could provide him with one or two nebulizers. Friday, 17 June 2005, we donated 2 new nebulizers to the Chairman. He was a very happy man. The nebulizers were provided by Noble Chester R. L. Gross, High Shereef, Mabuhay Shrine Chapter & Senior Warden Unity Lodge #285 and Noble Joe Reynolds, member of Mabuhay and past master of Harry S. Truman Lodge #649.