Call Babes!

A trip to Baguio is always refreshing.  I was there a couple of days during Easter Week with our convent staff to cool off from the Manila heat.

Baguio for me is a time of bonding with our Good Shepherd Sisters assigned there (yes, the same Good Shepherd ube jam group!), and “kumusta” time with the Pro-life Baguio chapter group.

Babes Zapanta, the one and only staff member of the Life Line Center (Pro-life Baguio) was there to meet us and to take our convent staff sight-seeing around the city.

Babes has been giving much of her time to our mission, and even if there are months when funds are not available for her allowance, she never misses a day without reporting to work. She says she can’t think of being absent as that might be the day when someone calls or drops by the Center needing counseling – a pregnant girl considering abortion, a teenager being pressured by her boyfriend to premarital sex, a battered woman, or  a potential pro-life member.

A visit to the Center shows how she has diligently fixed up the place to make it attractive and welcoming. Somehow, she has managed to solicit donations of a comfortable couch for the visitors,  nice chairs for her and her counselee, filing cabinet that she keeps in order with small statues of the Sacred Heart, the Sto. Nino and Mother Mary. She has displayed pro-life posters and brochures on the walls to keep those waiting busy and better informed of the pro-life issues, goals and services.

Babes is the “tagakulit” of the pro-life Board officers and members for their monthly meetings and activities.  She keeps them up to date with the latest announcements from Pro-life Philippines and international groups,  making sure they keep up their commitment to Life Line Center since she knows that they are very busy people involved in other organizations besides their full time jobs.

I listened to Babes relate how she handles the pregnant girls and women who go for counseling.  She guides them into understanding their own situation, lessening their panic and fear of the pregnancy, helping them discover their own resources – an aunt who will take her in during her pregnancy, courage to reveal to her parents her condition, getting back to her boyfriend to face his responsibility, etc.  If the girl seems helpless, she offers alternatives – financial assistance for the delivery, referral to a doctor or a hospital, arrangements for her to stay in a Maternity Home or foster family during her pregnancy and soon after delivery.  What to do after delivery is not discussed too lengthily during the first meeting even if she mentions the possibility of adoption or foster care. Very often, she says, the mother ends up deciding to take care of her own baby, especially if she gains the support of her family.

Sometimes, she is anxious and depressed when it seems the girl walks out of the Center with the decision to abort.  She says she has done all she can to help her choose to give birth but if that is her decision, all she can do is pray …and text the other pro-lifers  to pray for that special someone to save her baby.  And what a joy it is when she gets a call some months after from the same girl announcing she has given birth, thanks for listening and guiding her that day!

Babes sometimes stays in the Center till late at night, waiting for a girl to come for her appointment after office hours.  She accompanies them to the hospitals where she has networked with through the years, ensuring that they will be attended to.  She has traveled with them to their hometowns to meet their parents, explaining to them the need to understand and accept the condition of their very contrite daughter and helping to make the proper arrangements with the boyfriend or others involved.

Though not a social worker, I am sure that Babes has rendered so much service in our life-saving mission that she deserves to be named as one of our Pro-life Heroes!

To our readers who are in the Baguio area, do take down this number.  Who knows when you will need to refer someone to Babes for her compassionate and confidential assistance!  Life Line Center, Baguio: (074)444-2523 or 0920-787-2638.