Jail and hospital apostolate

After I heard that all 2nd year students would have a pastoral work at Davao Medical Center (DMC) and at Davao Jail, I was really excited because it would be a new experience for me. We, 2nd students, altogether have 10 students. We were divided into two groups. In DMC after the Sunday 7.30 am mass, we would help in giving a communion for the sick and visiting them as well.

Visiting patients makes me realize that there are many people who have worse conditions in life than us. Most of the patients are poor and could not pay for the expenses of the medicine and their stay in the hospital. I still remember when I visited a 10 year-old girl who had a kidney problem, lying on the bed. Her aunt shared to me that she had not enough money to pay for her niece. I believe there are many other patients who have the same problem. I also visited bone cancer patients. When I saw their eyes, it seemed that they were desperate in their life. It made me have pity on them. To see the patients’ condition, I understand that there are many people who are facing more difficult problems in life than me.

For the jail apostolate, there are almost 1000 detainees for male. They are separated into two zones; under 50 years old and over 50 years old. And there are almost one hundred female detainees in another side. There are around 20-30 people per cell (room). The mass started at around 7.15 Am. What amazed me was the way they sang the songs; it was very lively as though they sang them with their sincere heart. When I visited a male zone, I saw a woman who came to visit her husband. The wife was weeping and embracing him tightly. He was trying to soothe and stop her wife from weeping. When I saw this, I was really impressed by that moment.

The experiences I had from the jail and hospital apostolate make me realize that life is both a hope and also a struggle. Both patients and detainees are waiting for a person who cares and concerns them. Our presence is meaningful for them all. Perhaps these experiences would remind us of what Jesus has told us “I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me (Mt. 25:36).” It is a good opportunity for me to visit them and more importantly it makes me reflect more about my own life. I sometimes never thought and appreciated much about life until I experienced both the patients and the detainees. Now, I really appreciate and extremely thank God that he has given me many things and is also always with me. However, let us care and love one another in the community. I feel that I understand my own life better when I experienced other people’s lives that have worse conditions than my own. If we have hopelessness, disappointment, difficulties, sadness, despair in life, we need to ask God to enter into our heart and let God help us with our journey in our everyday life.

(Pui)