neXtDRAFT 62. Our Beloved Rosemarie

Published: Tue, 10/01/19

Welcome new subscribers. If this is your first neXtDRAFT you'll find poems, stories and pics about my life as an adopted mum (and freelance writer) living between Australia and the Philippines. Each edition I share a few tips for creating a writing business and working as a professional writer serving clients from all over the world.

Here in the Philippines I support about 20 kids from a rural municipality with food, books, uniforms and love -- it's my way of encouraging them to go to school and maybe one day out of poverty. You'll read their stories here too.

neXtDRAFT is delivered to your inbox most Sundays and I hope it will inspire you to get writing and create your own writing practice. Again welcome, I'm so glad to have you part of the neXtDRAFT community.

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Melinda J. Irvine

https://melirvine.com.au/

Welcome back to neXtDRAFT, # 62.

Our beloved Rosemary.

It's been a while since I last wrote, and I've actually started this edition of neXtDRAFT many times over the past months -- but could never seem to get past the heading. Today I have.

When I last wrote, we were in middle of a Dengue outbreak and our sponsored boy Ronald had spent 15 days in hospital with Severe Dengue. A number of our other kids contracted Dengue Fever alsi, but luckily it was the milder strain. Dengue seems to have settled down and the number of new cases is gradually dropping.

While little Ronald is back to health now, his sister Rosemarie -- who my regular readers would have seen many times in neXtDRAFT and on the blog -- died suddenly on Sunday morning. We are all heartbroken.

Her mother had taken her to hospital Saturday night, as she had been vomiting the whole day and complaining of chest pain. Sunday morning she ate some rice and vomited, then suddenly went into cardiac arrest. The doctor was quickly on hand, but she could not be saved.

Rosemarie had a seizure at age 9. Before that she was a regular little kid -- bright, social, and happy. Being so poor, and living a long way from medical facilities, it took a long time for the family to get her medical care. She was left with permanent brain disabilities and unable to speak. Here are some of my favourite photos of Rosemarie, she remained very talented at drawing.

Jerry and I arrived in Estancia on Sunday night to a devastated family. Death in the Philippines is an unusual experience for we westerners -- it's a very ceremonial time, and the family and their friends will spend weeks with the body.

As is custom we were taken up to the 'morgue' about 8.30pm to visit Rosemarie. Rosemarie's brother loaded us into his tricycle (mother, 2 x little brothers, Jerry and me). The morgue is on the other side of town and you have to navigate a narrow bamboo ramp in dark, which extends up over an old drain to get to the entrance.

Everyone told Jerry to calm down as he charged up over that ramp and started banging on the big metal gate to be let in. Oh it was creepy and awkward.

Rosemarie was in a non-airconditioned room down an alley past a heap of empty coffins. She was stretched out under a well-used Disney blanket on an old table, and I recognised one of her dainty hands poking out from the blanket.

Another man was lying on a table nearby, but no one had managed to pull his Disney blanket all the over way over, and quite a lot of him was sticking out. I started wondering who he was and where was his family.

We rolled back Rosemarie's blanket and Jerry stroked her forehead then ran away. Neda, Rosemarie's mother left quickly and sat on the step outside with her sons Nilson (6 years) and Rolando (12 years), unable to come back inside. Her heart pounded and I worried for her blood pressure condition.

Jerry was called back and I stood and said a prayer, but the formaldehyde was so overpowering that Jerry kept interrupting because he couldn't understand why his eyes were stinging, and there was a funny taste in his mouth.

Neda's boys didn't want to come inside, but I carried in Nilson and lifted the blanket so he could see his sister. We said a prayer. Then Rolando relented and agreed to come with me, again the blanket was lifted and this time I made sure Rosemarie's hands were fully covered before we left.

It was about this time that the girlfriend of Rosemarie's older brother turned up. Her boyfriend indicated with a nod of his head, the direction of his deceased sister -- and when I realised no one was getting up to walk this young girl down into the body room I offered to accompany her. Good thing I did, because she went immediately to the wrong table and I managed to stop her before she made an awful mistake.

Death brings with her these tragic, ridiculous and comical moments. Probably in years to come, I'll have forgotten everything else but will distinctly remember Rosemarie and her unknown morgue companion lying under old Disney cartoon blankets and a scared girlfriend mixing up the bodies.

giving kids clothes for dengue protection

You may remember this photo of the kids from the last issue of neXtDRAFT. Rosemarie [left] was so thrilled with her 'dengue' clothes, especially the green jacket she's holding. She was wearing it when she died.

So for the past few days the men have been busy putting up borrowed tarpaulins, cutting down bamboo trees, and gathering pieces of discarded lumber to support a resting place for Rosemarie's coffin at the house. She will stay for 15 days until the funeral.

Family, friends, neighbours, (and curious passers-by) will all visit the body in the coming weeks. They'll eat the food, and drink the drinks Rosemarie's family will be expected to provide, then leave donations to help with the expenses.

As I write this Jerry and Rolando (Rosemarie's brother and Jerry's best friend) are swimming and we are waiting on a text from Neda to say Rosemarie's paperwork has been approved and can be released to the house. We will be there when she arrives.

While the men work, the kids play. The next few weeks are a strangely joyful and sorrowful time for all. There is something comforting in these preparations.

In the coming weeks Rosemary's mother Neda will campaign to local officials and more affluent neighbours to assist with the burial costs. And we all do contribute. But imagine how this must feel for her? It's a terrible reality of life when you have had no education and can only wash clothes, fillet fish, and carry boxes in the fishing port to earn enough money to feed your family.

Enough to feed them, but not to bury them.

Living here in the Philippines has changed my whole understanding of poverty, and foreign aid. I hope in some small way my newsletters can provide a greater understanding for you as well.

Till next week.

Mel (and Jerry) xx

PS: that's a blurry shot of Jerry and me Sunday afternoon, on the rugged (4 hours non-aircon) bus to Estancia. It actually wasn't too bad, though we did have to sit next to live chickens.

PSS: I've only been back in the Philippines 7 days so this week's neXtDRAFT has a few poems from my time in Australia.

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

There are times when we (all of us) fall behind, stumbling on our own shadow.

seated
the sunshine
flecked, with salt

Wandering the beach track to Stuart's Point, NSW last month.

I’m a professional writer making my way in the world of business. Each week I share a few WritingBiz and freelance tips -- as well as the odd content hack. At the moment I'm busy building an online learning centre and digital download service, and thrilled to tell you that once it rolls out, my sponsored kids will be able to access all the education content for free.

Tax Tips for your Writing Business

Still one of the most popular and shared posts on my blog -- it's really just five simple (but essential) tax tips:

Register your writing business for tax
Use proper accounting software and Apps
Schedule your key compliance, tax, and reporting dates
Know your primary tax deductions
Get professional advice from a Tax Agent or Accountant

Take care of these things early in your career and you'll spend more time writing and less time tracking down invoices and receipts.

#taxtips #WritingBizRealities

WRITINGBIZ TIP #26 optimise your writer (or business) website for mobile

Does your text look great on a mobile site? Is the font big enough, and sits nicely on a small screen with proper spacing? Since mid-2018 the Google algorithm has been giving ranking priority to mobile-friendly sites; here’s what Google has to say about it:

“Mobile-first indexing means Google will predominantly use the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking.

Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page’s content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user’s query.

Since the majority of users now access Google via a mobile device, the index will primarily use the mobile version of a page’s content going forward.”

What this all means is that most people will use their smart phone or tablet to browse your website -- so make sure your website uses responsive design technologies and works perfectly no matter what device your reader has in their hand.

Writing tips, poems and stuff on the blog

For more stories, poems, articles and book reviews follow my Wordpress blog. Please share with your friends too.

Back Issues of neXtDRAFT

https://melirvine.com.au/nextdraft-back-issues

From the vault: July 2017

little white sail
inside a green sea
aloft