Everyday Adventures: COVID-19

How I Have Been Handling Myself During Quarantine

By JJ Javier - April 06, 2021

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10 Things I've Learned During The Community Quarantine

By Mommy Donna and Kib - January 11, 2021

NOTE: This blog entry was supposed to be a contest entry, but I was not able to finish it on time. I decided to publish it anyway and added more as it has been almost a year since COVID-19 has changed the way we live.

For the first time in my 43 years of existence, I've experienced a pandemic in the Philippines.

The Philippines was spared from the SARS and MERS pandemic which happened years ago. Sadly, the country was not spared from COVID-19 this year. Other countries that had experienced an outbreak in the past years were prepared for this, but overall, most countries in the world were not prepared for COVID-19, thus, the whole world was in crisis.

The community quarantine started on March 15th, and some areas ended it on May 15th. Some areas ended it a bit late due to a high number of cases.

I prepared before the quarantine took effect. I finished all my deliverables like filing my annual tax, delivering orders, purchasing materials needed for my project, shopping for food, and giving my son a haircut. However, there are still a lot of people who were not prepared for this especially those who earn on a daily basis.

Now that the government has placed some areas of the country in general quarantine, we still cannot do our regular activities.

A lot of people have lost their jobs, and yes, lives are also lost because of COVID-19. These days, we couldn't comfort families who lost their loved ones and pay our last respects to the deceased during this time because mass gatherings are not allowed.

To date, the number of cases in the country has been increasing. There are no signs that it will go down in the coming months. With this, everyone is still encouraged to their part in limiting their exposure outdoors and to take necessary precautions by keeping the surroundings clean, wearing a face mask when going out, and keeping hands clean regularly.

Some people are not used to staying at home. They do not know how to focus on working at home. Some felt boredom. There are some who also felt like they are a prisoner in their own home.

In my case, staying at home is not new to me. I have been working from home for the past 12 years and my son is homeschooled ever since. Don't get me wrong; we also feel abnormal too. We also miss going out, like going to church and to the shopping mall. We are also supposed to go to Japan in April but because of the pandemic, we have to postpone our trip. Kib is supposed to enroll in enrichment classes and I am supposed to continue with my swimming lessons. My mom is also stuck in the country (she is already based in the United States).

Rich and poor are affected by the situation, but we have different ways of coping.

I also made this downtime an opportunity to reflect on where my life is at right now. It made me realize that there are things that we don't have control of the outcome. It also made me ponder what are the things that I have to prepare should another situation such as this happens in the future.

During the community quarantine, here are the things that kept us sane:

1. Rediscovered our talent in watercolor painting.

2. Planted new plants and rearrange the plants in our garden.

3. I encouraged my son to practice guitar.

4. Did the movie marathon.

5. Work! Thank God I have work during this time.

6. Eat! A lot of friends are selling food, so to help them, we buy what they offer.

7. Discovered new dishes.

8. Shared my thoughts about homeschooling on social media.

9. Bonded with my mom.

10. Played with our dog every day.

As a person who would always see the glass half-full, here are the things that I have learned during the community quarantine:

1. Be thankful always. No matter how small it is, be thankful. Every time you wake up, be thankful. Surviving the quarantine without getting the symptoms of COVID-19 is something to be thankful for.

2. Be content with what you have. No matter how simple it is, the community quarantine made me realize to appreciate the things I have. We are also thankful for the food packs given to us even if we don't expect it at all.

3. Be patient. The community quarantine period is indeed a test of patience. A lot of people wanted an instant response. Patience is truly a virtue that everyone should have. It is a downtime period, so expect that we cannot get the results that we wanted in a short period of time. There

4. Be creative with the resources on-hand. There is no need to buy new things, make the most of the available resources. This is one way of saving up too!

5. Be emphatic. Don't feel superior nor inferior about what's happening around us. You may have different experiences but it does not mean that you're better. We're in this together, let's help each other bounce back!

6. Be willing to help others in need. No matter how small it is, let's help a fellow in need. God will give it back to you tenfold.

7. Be positive. Always thinking the other way around will add wrinkles to your face. Instead, smile more, appreciate what you have, and don't feel poor about yourself. Most importantly always think that God loves you! It'll help in bringing positivity into your life.

8. Be a forward-thinker. Prepare for uncertainties, in all forms. This will give you a sense of security when there are trials and challenges in your lives. Save, invest, get life insurance--these are the ways to prepare for the future.

9. Be appreciative, even on small things. Now that our activities and resources are limited, let us find things around us and be grateful for them.

10. Be healthy. This is the most important thing that we need to do at this time of the pandemic. We need to stay healthy so that we won't contract the deadly virus. We need to survive for our family.

Our battle against the COVID-19 is far from being over. With the new strain discovered, we need to be more careful with our interactions outside our homes. The best thing that we can do now is to learn to live with the virus and do the necessary precautions and health maintenance. Stay healthy and safe!

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COVID-19

Rise Brighter PH: Sun Life Foundation's Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Challenges

By Mommy Donna and Kib - August 30, 2020

COVID-19 has hit the Philippines hard. A lot of Filipinos have lost their jobs, businesses are closed, people get infected with COVID-19, schools shifted to online learning, among others. There is a slowdown in our economy, which caused a slump in the overall GDP and GNP. We all hope that sooner than soon, we will be able to go back to our everyday lives again.

Despite all the negativities that are happening around us, some institutions are willing to lend a helping hand. One of the companies that are true to their promise of alleviating poverty is Sun Life Foundation.

On its 125th founding anniversary of Sun Life Philippines, Sun Life Foundation has recently launched Rise Brighter PH. The initiative is Sun Life Foundation's way of helping the country rise to a brighter future. Rise Brighter PH was introduced via an online media conference last August 27, 2020.

Rise Brighter PH has two significant projects: Sun Pera-Aralan 2020 and Sun Life Barangay Health Stations.

Sun Pera-Aralan 2020

Sun Pera-Aralan 2020 is a behavior-based financial management program that aims to address financial insecurity and indebtedness among public school teachers. Sadly, the majority of the public school teachers are in massive debt, that they are having difficulty stretching their monthly budget. Mr. Alex Narciso, President of Sun Life Foundation, can relate to the public school teachers' dilemma as he was a former high school teacher.

Sun Pera-Aralan 2020 makes use of Peso-Sobre, a simple and straightforward budgeting tool that helps teachers to properly allocate their monthly salary into weekly funds. There is also a Facebook support group for the public school teachers under this program so that they will be connected with their fellow teachers and volunteer Sun Life advisors. AHA! Behavioral Design partnered with Sun Life Foundation in this program.

Sun Pera-Aralan was launched last year with 10,000 teachers, which yielded remarkable results. The teachers under this program were able to properly manage their budget and stretch it until the next payday without needing to borrow money. The project also taught teachers to save; thus, they were able to have funds during the time of quarantine.

For this year, Sun Pera-Aralan is targeting to help 125,000 public school teachers.

Sun Life Barangay Health Stations

The Sun Life Barangay Health Stations will be focusing on providing sustainable health care solutions to the most impoverished areas in the Philippines.

Barangay Health Stations are the most accessible source of primary health care in the Philippines. However, not all barangays in the Philippines have the luxury of providing health care to their constituents. As of March 2019, only 21,053 out of 42,045 barangays in the Philippines have health stations. There is still a need to provide health stations to the rest of the barangays in the Philippines.

Sun Life Foundation has partnered with Health Futures Foundation, Inc. to make the Barangay Health Stations project possible.

Sun Life Foundation aims to build eight Barangay Health Stations this year, and the first beneficiaries of this project are the barangays in the province of Batangas.

A few of the services that the Sun Life Barangay Health Stations will provide are free vaccines, medical consultations, and seminars about health care and maintenance. Sun Life Barangay Health Services also aim to train barangay health workers and health cluster leaders so that the project would be a sustainable one.

In the next five years, Sun Life Barangay Health Stations aim to serve 125,000 Filipinos.

Beacon of hope

Sun Life Foundation wants to be a beacon of hope of the Filipinos during this time of the pandemic. This is Sun Life's way of giving back to society and helping the nation rise again.

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barley

Business Opportunities From Santé

By Mommy Donna and Kib - August 18, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected a lot of Filipino families. According to the latest statistics, 45% of the Filipinos lost their jobs. As a result, these people are now looking for other ways to survive and to be able to provide for their daily needs.

In addition, one of the realizations that people have during the pandemic is to give health importance. Nowadays, people are paying attention to their health by taking supplements and eating nutritious food. Households are also starting to grow their own fruit and vegetable garden.

One of the ways that people think of to earn money is to sell commodities.

People must know first what is the most popular item bought by people. Since there is a need to boost our immunity to be able to fight COVID-19, food supplements are now one of the popular commodities in the market. Santé is one of the active companies in the whole world selling barley drink and supplement and vitamin C supplements.

I have read a lot of health benefits in barley and I want to try taking it to improve my health. In addition, we already know the health benefits of vitamin C. Santé's Vitamin C contains 568 mg of Sodium Ascorbate. It is non-acidic and can be taken with an empty stomach. Apart from the barley juice and supplement, Santé also sells nutritional drinks, body care, oral care, and skincare products.

Santé products can be brought via direct selling and it continues to provide business opportunities for those people who are looking for ways to earn. Those who sign-up to be an independent distributor of Santé products can sell their products online. People these days prefer to purchase online than going to physical stores.

Santé is now active in promoting business opportunities to Filipinos who lost their livelihood due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The people behind Santé made sure that their online ordering system is working properly so that they would be able to accommodate new sign-ups and bulk orders. Santé business owners can also transact via a mobile app for easy transactions and monitoring.

Those who signed up at Santé can also sell the products worldwide. Santé is present in 10 key cities in the world.

It's easy to be a Santé business owner! Register on their website at santebarley.com to register and to know more about the product and the business opportunity. Check the live Facebook training sessions below.

There is no harm in trying. Check out Santé barley business opportunity and who knows, this might be the one you're looking for to help you in easing up your life in these challenging times.

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93 days

My Takeaways From The Movie "93 Days"

By Mommy Donna and Kib - March 26, 2020

Since the COVID-19 started to spread in January 2020, I started to get curious about how a certain contagious disease spread across the country and around the world. I have been watching movies and documentaries about pandemics and outbreaks.

After watching these movies and documentaries, it made me ponder about what is happening around the world right now. It also made me think about how one individual can be the cause of an outbreak.

One of the movies about pandemics that I like is "93 Days." It is about the spread of the Ebola virus in Lagos, Nigeria, and how it was stopped in 93 days. Amazing, huh?! Yes, I also got impressed with the quick actions done by the doctors. All in all, only 20 people got infected among that number, eight people died, including four medical workers.

After watching 93 Days, I have realized a lot of things about what's happening right now, in our fight against COVID-19. There are similarities in the issues presented in the movie which everyone can relate at the present time.

Let me enumerate my takeaways, don't worry, no spoilers here:

1. Patients lie. A lot of people got mad when their loved ones in the medical field got sick of COVID-19 after finding out that the patient didn't disclose travel history. In the movie, the index person also concealed the details from his trip to Liberia. Despite the patient's uncooperativeness, the doctors still stick to their initial impression that the person might have been contracted with the Ebola virus.

While waiting for the results, the hospital started to observe preventive protocols. The medical director of the hospital immediately reported the case and closely coordinated with the government to prevent the virus from spreading. They pressured the government to immediately do something about it to protect the 21 million residents of Lagos.

2. Doctors and the rest of the medical team are also scared for their lives. In the movie, they know that they are combatting a highly-contagious disease, but they still performed their duties until they showed symptoms. They immediately observed protocols by monitoring their temperature and isolating themselves from the family members. Once they have symptoms, they subjected themselves for a test.

Doctors, nurses, and aides are also humans. They also fear for their lives and for their loved ones getting infected too. It's hard for them to be distant to their loved ones in order to prevent the spread of the disease.

3. It's all about politics. In the movie, the index patient was a diplomat. The doctors and nurses had difficulty dealing with the patient. The patient even threatened to escape without the confirmatory results yet. The patient also asked for someone to talk to the head of the hospital to release him.

When the patient has been confirmed to be contracted with the Ebola virus, the government was a bit hesitant to take action immediately. The doctors really put pressure on the authorities with a clear intention of protecting the whole population of Lagos.

If not for the doctors, Ebola could've been a huge health problem in Nigeria.

4. The best defense for illness is being healthy. The people who got infected with the Ebola virus were able to recover because while in isolation, they closely monitored their progress and continuously take care of themselves by taking the prescribed medicines religiously and by eating healthy food. The people who died from the Ebola virus didn't take care of themselves very well even if they were asymptomatic at first.

5. The best defense for everything is prayer. The medical team prayed for their patients all the time. When some of the staff got infected with the Ebola virus, their faith in the Lord didn't change. They continued to pray to the Lord while taking care of themselves to recovery.

Our fight against COVID-19 is similar to the fight of Nigerians against the Ebola virus in 2014. Doctors, nurses, and politicians must be proactive in fighting this disease and prevent it from spreading. Everyone must be quick to decide and take the necessary actions immediately. In addition, citizens must also take precautionary measures to prevent passing the disease from one person to another. It is really a collective effort.

Now that we are in community quarantine, let us do our part in stopping the disease from infecting more people. Let us observe proper hygiene, sanitation, and social distancing. Always stay healthy and let's continue to pray for our nation and the whole world.

Take care always!