Loving Thy Neighbor

From the the Philippine Rotary official magazine :

Two brothers, Poping and Pedro Tamboli, were born into a family of seven. The entire family was learning disabled. While they were young, the family unit fell apart. So at an early age they found themselves on their own. Being strong, a local land baron took advantage of them and their disability by offering them work for food and a place to sleep. As they grew old, their bodies and minds began to fail them, and they became a burden. The land baron had no further use for them and forced them off the farm. Their lives were shattered. They wandered around their little island, seeking food and shelter. The community shunned them. The children mocked them and a town official made fun of them.

Evan Iliadis neighbors in Songculan

During the day, they begged for food and at night they sought shelter in the local church. Soon the church locked their doors at night, leaving the brothers out in the weather.

Evan Ilialis, a Rotary member from RC Tagbilaran, had been helping a 79-year-old widow by the name of Mrs. Sing Bulawin, with weekly deliveries of groceries. She is severely hunchbacked and lives in a modest nipa hut in the town near the farm. Her only source of income is an allowance which her daughter sends to her every month from Manila. One day when Evan was delivering groceries to Mrs. Bulawin, he noticed two old men sleeping on the ground under her house. On asking her who they were, Sing, as she likes to be called, replied, two men needing some food. Although her provisions were small, she had taken pity on the two retarded strangers, and had decided to share her food with them.

Evan was touched by the old ladys compassion. That afternoon, Evan attended the Tagbilaran Rotary meeting, and told of his discovery. The Club Community Service Director Dave Collins and Jack Galbreath went with Evan to Sings house immediately after the meeting, with a substantial supply of food. Mrs. Bulawin was shocked. She could not believe that there were people in the world who still cared about the elderly, and began to cry.
 Mrs. Bulawin, no longer has to worry about food provisions. She, Poping and Pedro, are being helped by one of ten programs under the Adopt a Village umbrella. It is called Home Care Assistance. Every week, Rotarian Evan stops by with provisions and to tend to any other needs that the elderly may have.

Thrilled? No my friends. My neighbors never received as much from the Rotary as they received by my family. It was all for the picture. Like this one above. Take it,circulate it around the clubs, look what we are doing, open your wallet and give us a donation. We guarantee it, only 10% of your donation will go where is due, the rest will be available for when you the donor come to the Philippines. We'll entertain you!