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ECHOES FROM LEYTE Autumn of our lives
Source: Inquirer
Author: Loly Isiderio-Perez
Date: 1999-09-16
 
IT is now September and in temperate

countries, autumn has set in.

Although we live in tropical isles, we

are no strangers to the four seasons

of Western countries.



We knew all about spring, summer, autumn and winter from our

school days before World War II. I always thought spring and

autumn were the best seasons and that if ever I went to those

countries, I'd do it in autumn.



After reading Keats' ''Ode to Autumn'' in college did I develop a

special feeling for this season. The song ''Autumn Leaves'' is my

favorite, as well as my friends'.



Now we have reached the autumn of our lives. It is a beautiful

season when we feel still full of vigor and much-inspired to

continue with our endeavors, though mellowed by time. But we

are aware that winter is not far off--only three full months from

the end, not just of a year but also of a millennium.



So my friends and I--sexagenarians and septuagenarians--make

it a point to get together as often as possible and talk about the

good old days in the defunct Divine Word University, once the

biggest university in Eastern Visayas.



We are still many, each doing her full share and still giving

much to all she can reach. May I name a few of the most active,

highly productive of them.



There's Aching Jimenez, trying to recruit me to her laudable

work of tourism promotion. Leonor Almeria, professor of music,

who has been a mentor to most of the young professionals

hereabouts.



Ching Arce, Tacey Cinco and Linda Almaden, through whose

hands passed many a young child, have graduated to being

doctors of education and now mostly doing their parts to bring

up our youth in the old traditions of Christian life and humility.



This year, declared ''Year of the Elderly,'' is soon to end.



We started the year with the birthday bash of Nena Baqez, who

brought her children and grandchildren from the United States

to celebrate her 80th birthday in January. She said that Leyte

was a very good and kindly place for those in the autumn of

their lives. She worked for a while in a nursing home for old

folks in the US and, like most Leyteqos, she would not like to

live in one.



Times have changed, though. Many old people live lonely lives

by themselves, mostly by choice as they often refuse to go

where their children want to relocate them for a better life.



In Leyte, we have at least two institutions devoted to the care of

the sick, incapacitated and elderly.



One was donated by Msgr. Antonio Mate for children, the sick

elderly and the abandoned. Mate gave the lot and the buildings

for the institution being managed by the Missionaries of

Charities of Mother Teresa. The facility serves the whole region,

but mostly Leyte.



Many wealthy and charitable families contribute to the upkeep

of the institution. Those who need hospital care are brought to

government health centers. The ultimate aim is to bring back

them to their families, if they have any.



Another facility to serve the lone and lonely elderly is the

Senior Citizens' Village to rise in Diit in northern Tacloban City.

It is to be built on a half-hectare land donated by the family of

Nicolasa Reyna, one of the prominent philanthropic residents of

Tacloban.



Felicidad Legarde, Senior Citizens president, has been at this

work almost forever, having been engaged in promoting the

welfare of the elderly as early as 1982.



Why did I get into this subject? Because I saw the autumn

leaves, green and gold, dropping from the trees, leaving them

bare for next spring. Well, as we say in our group, we feign we

would linger a little while longer, for as Robert Frost says: ''I

have promises to keep, and many miles to go before I sleep.''
 

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