TRIPLE 8 LUCK BROKEN

TRIPLE 8 LUCK BROKEN
Excerpts from my Nigerian Diary

8/26/78 – two plus six was still eight but I thought the good vibrations and the good fortunes earlier brought about by triple 8 was beginning to disintegrate. This day we were pulled out from the Federal Government Special Guest House to give way to some Heads of States coming for a conference. The new place was Puma Hotel at Plot 15 , Oyadiran Estate, Sabo-Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.

It was far from my idea of a Hotel, not even a 5th class one following Philippine standards. It was similar to some low class motels in Ongpin, Manila but the smell was truly out of this world – a combination of that of a warehouse, a catacomb and a forgotten cabinet. The crafsmanshift was undeniably done by amateurs without supervision at all. We hoped against hope that our stay at Puma Hotel was only temporary. It looked worse because we came from The Federal Government Special Guest House. We all felt downhearted and totally disappointed. I promised myself not to tell this to my wife until she discovers the truth through my diary.

The following day was a hectic one. Early in the morning, together with Dr. Elizabeth Rivera and Dr. Agustin Lumbay we went to Massey Street Children’s Hospital to negotiate for our transport but the Chief Consultant, Dr. Rilwan was not accommodating. He was very negative concerning our request. Thanks God Dra. Basilio, an old-timer, was there to help us. She accompanied us to the Health Management Board where she brought our problem. But the Chairman of the Board only promised to help without formal communication with Dr. Rilwan who in turn, denied us again. We went back to the Management Board and did not leave the place until we got a letter from the Secretary.

Then we moved from the ‘prison-like’ Puma Hotel to Palm Heights Hotel which was o.k. except for the fishy surroundings. After all the past glories in the beginning, problems were now sprouting one by one like mushrooms on rainy days.

1. We felt we were treated unfairly like being accommodated at a prison-like room of Puma Hotel and the fishy surroundings of Palm Heights Hotel.

2. We, who were assigned at Massey Street Children’s Hospital, were not sure of our transport.

3. Because we reported the case to the Health Management Board which in turn wrote to the Hospital about our complaints, the Hospital Authorities reported to the Management Board that we were not up-to-date in our duties last week (since we have no transport). So there were a lot of confusions, misunderstandings and heavy hearts along the line.

4. The group turned disorganized as each one tried to look for a better accommodation and tried to do what ever he thought was good for him. As a result, the different Hotel Managers became irritated and reported the “childish and irresponsible” behavior of some Filipino Doctors. So, reports and counter reports and confusions after confusions followed.

5. We were all running out of money and you can imagine how it felt to be in a foreign country without money.

6. This was the time we thought of our love ones left in the Philippines. This was the moment we were seeking for shoulders to lean on.

I just prayed to God, because He was the most powerful and the most knowledgeable to show us the right thing to do. He was the only one who could protect and guide us all especially now that we were on the foreign land.

I was confident that God was guiding us all. He possibly was only teaching us a lesson not to be abusive, not to be stupid and not to be childish in making our decisions. He allowed us to come to Nigeria, He would show us the truth, the path, the light and the way.

I just hoped that the authorities at the Massey Street Children’s Hospital would always be surrounded by the peace and love of Christ so that they would always be understanding, friendly and accommodating to us. (to be continued)