I never would’ve thought that in our 5th year of our Bliss Scholarship Program operation that we’ll have a website with a blog! Setting this website up was excruciating and a bawling-from-frustration experience. However, after multiple mistakes here and there, I finally connected the dots on how this works. Now, the possibilities are endless. How exciting!
Today, our world is devastated by COVID-19 and our hearts go to all who are afflicted by the disease, all the front liners having to work despite the pandemic and everyone all over the world . We cannot deny how this had and continues to impact our lives. With vaccines being developed and more research on the disease’s pathology, I really hope to see the light at the end of this tunnel.
We were supposed to meet with the kiddos (we call them kiddos because they’re younger than us. They are actually over 18 years old and are all in college) on March 15. Social distancing just started then and we had to cancel our event. It’s our 2nd and last meeting for the semester. Every time we do meetings is a time for us to get together to get to know each other better (especially now that we have 24 kiddos), do team building activities, check in with the kiddos how they’re doing in school and at home; and lastly, give their grants. With the event cancelled, our hearts were all heavy. I personally could not bear not having an event but what’s worse is not being able to give them their grants at this time of crisis.
There were no cases in Pangasinan (our province) then however, Manila (capital of the Philippines) have already locked down. And by March 16, classes were already suspended.
After speaking to one of our 2016 graduate, Janseen, he was willing to take all safety precautions and drive his motorcycle around the cities to deliver them individually to the kiddos needing their grants. It was scary on my end planning Janseen’s route and coordinating times and places for the kiddos. Also had massive amount of instructions how to keep themselves safe and healthy.
Janseen got all the envelopes and calculators from Bryan’s (managing the scholarship in the Philippines) that we were going to give out and met up with most of them (there were 4 students who lived way too far, 1 who came from Manila and had to self-quarantine. I had to make different arrangements for them). After the nerve wracking 3 hour driving and delivery process, even if they were continuously updating me, I was so grateful it was finally over.
Forever grateful for our Janseen and his efforts. The following day, the 3 kiddos got their grants and calculators by picking it up at my cousin’s dental clinic which was in their home town. And the other two, I had to do direct remittances.
Whew. All of them have stayed home since then, everyone is healthy and we keep constant communication through fb messenger. I still work because I have to. I work in health care. Stay safe everyone! Stay Blissful!