By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Amba Mindy (in white) with members of the FBC led by Jenny Gafate (5th from left) |
Sport-minded overseas Filipinos
should add value to their organizations by supporting charities, especially
those that need financial help the most, according to retired Ambassador Minda
Calaguian Cruz.
Amba Mindy, the country’s
ambassador to Australia
when she retired last September, was the guest speaker at the opening of the
Australasia Filipino Bowlers’ Friendship Games 2019 at the US Dacos Bowling
Centre in Tsuen Wan on Apr 6.
She praised the Filipino Bowling Club
chapters that launched the annual competition nine years ago in Singapore,
where she was the head of mission, for sticking together and continuing the
tournament. But she urged them to do so with a noble purpose.
“It is good to affirm that we are
good in bowling, but I think it is greater to affirm that we are human beings
who love others,” the diplomat said after reminiscing the early years of the
FBC and her serendipitous trip to Hong Kong as
a guest at the event.
Amba Mindy said she got an email
from an FBC officer who mentioned the upcoming event, and suddenly old friends
in Singapore who are now in the SAR vied to host her and retired Ambassador
Louie Cruz, her husband. But she turned them down.
Instead, she decided to return to
Hong Kong, where she once served as consul, for a special project – to drum up support
for a Davao-based foundation that is helping Mindanao’s
cancer-stricken children.
“What we are doing now is more of
charity and humanitarian work, we have been supporting a foundation that is
(helping) a group of children with cancer in the whole of Mindanao,”
Amba Mindy said to describe the couple’s retirement preoccupation.
“Cancer is a deadly disease, it
can destroy your body and soul… And we believe that we can do our share,” she
said, by helping the House of Hope – Kids of Hope Foundation based in the
Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao since 2004.
It is a cause close to her heart,
as her daughter, Natasha Ria Cruz-Gutteridge, died of cancer in 2017 at the young age
of 31.
Amba Mindy said the foundation was
set up by a young oncologist, Dr Emily Portilla, who sought her help to look
for donors for the project.
From having just four beds, the
foundation now has its own building and is the “center of excellence in Mindanao” for treating young cancer victims.
Amba Mindy said despite the
expansion and improvement of the center’s facilities and increase in its
doctors with capabilities, the number of afflicted children is also rising.
“So, we think these kids all the
more need a better way to help, to involve our time,” Amba Mindy said. For
those who have no resources, “we don’t have money to donate, but we have the
time to donate and be able to bring in more people on board to help”.
She appealed to the bowlers to do
their bit to help the less-fortunate children. She said that even if the
players had not yet reached the top of their hierarchy of needs, they can still
help the children.
The diplomat suggested that
instead of spending their funds on trophies and other prizes, they should find
a charity of their choice to support.
“Just give small medals to all
the bowlers, but the huge part of (the prize fund), try to find a charity where
you believe you can make help change lives,” Amba Mindy said.
She said by doing so, the bowlers
would be adding more value to their purpose of holding the annual tournament by
supporting a charity.
The House of Hope occupies a renovated old dorm within the
SPMC compound which serves as a transient home for children with cancer.
The foundation claims more than 2,700 patients and 4,000
caregivers have benefited from its clean and wholesome environment since 2007.
Amba Mindy said she uses her time to look for people to
support the foundation, which believes that cancer in children is curable but treatment
could take months and even years.
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