300 rural folks in Maasin benefit Ateneo medical, dental mission
Three hundred residents coming from three rural barangays have received medical checkup, teeth extraction and free medicine from the Ateneo de Iloilo Alumni Association (AAA) and the school’s Office of the Outreach Program last December 13 at Brgy. Sinubsuban, Maasin town.
Medicines, weighing scale, books and magazines were donated to the barangay health and day care center of Sinubsuban while Christmas gifts were also given to some residents through the alumni, students, parents and faculty of Ateneo as part of the Jesuit school’s extension program, living with its Ignatian mission that is to be “persons for others.”
“In behalf of the local officials in Brgy. Tubang and Abay, we in Brgy. Sinubsuban are so thankful for the generosity of the Ateneans ,” said chairman Melchor Manadero, adding, “our nine-year partnership with them has given us not just material benefits but valuable experiences and affiliation; this makes us proud and inspired to team up with them more.”
For his part, AAA president Pierre Jeffersson Go said, “this is our way of saying thanks to the loving people of Maasin, especially our nanays and tatays in Brgy. Sinubsuban.”
“When we were in high school not so long time ago, they were our foster parents, they fed us, they let us sleep in their own beds, they taught us how to farm, to cook, to clean the house, and to fetch water; in their own simple way, they made us realize the beauty of generosity, simplicity, hospitality, family bond and hard work,” Go, a graduate of University of Asia and the Pacific, recalled.
Meanwhile, AAA is set to hold its “Big Blue Night” Grand Alumni Homecoming this December 30, expecting all graduate Santa Marian-Ateneans, including former teachers and administrators, to fill the AdI-SMCS gym in and celebrate the school’s 51st anniversary.
