The Miracle of Compassion

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 17, 2007

She lay still and alone, her eyes were partly open with an empty and lifeless gaze. She was alive but barely. Fe, like thousands of Filipinas, recently left her beloved family and country came to Hong Kong fired by dreams of a better life not only for herself but for her loved ones. That dream, unless a miracle happens will remain nothing more than a vain attempt known only to her and her kin. Fe lies comatose at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan, Hong Kong. It was not sickness but a near fatal vehicular accident that led to her present condition. On August 15, 2007 Fe Bachenela Ucab was hit by a car and has remained unconscious until now.

I received word about Fe through Evelyn Cabuscos, a member of an OFW-support group concerned for survivors of life-threatening ailments. Evelyn first sent me an SMS informing me about Fe. She added that I should go and administer the sacrament of the sick to her. The only time I had to visit Fe was last Sunday evening after my mass at St. Joseph Church in Kwun Tong. At around 6:30 p.m. five ladies from the St. Joseph Filipino Community of Kwun Tong came with me. Evelyn was already waiting for us at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Five Filipina OFWs, Lydia Bartolome, Jade Merzo, Felipa Bravo , Rosalinda Villanueva and Franz Fontabla joined me on a different journey. We walked from the church to the MTR station at Choi Hung from where we rode the train taking the Green Line to Mongkok, then transferring to the Red Line towards Central and getting off at Jordan where Queen Elizabeth Hospital was a only a ten minute walk.

We were quite for the greater part of the trip. We did not know what we will see. Fe was just a name without a face. Fe was just another sad story of an OFW dream now precariously hanging on the edge of life. The journey from Choi Hung to Jordan took some time which was necessary to prepare for this unusual encounter. From the train ride to the walk on the streets of Jordan, then finally the uphill trek to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, I sensed anxiety and even fear. I do not know who among the women has ever experienced visiting someone whose condition is similar to Fe’s.

It was about 7:15 p.m. when we reached the lobby of Queen Elizabeth. We had to hurry a bit since visiting hours end at 8:00 p.m. Evelyn came down and accompanied us to the ward in Section G where Fe laid in bed alone. Only four at a time were aloud to enter. When we reached the ward, we saw Fe lying on a corner bed among six other beds occupied by Chinese patients surrounded by their families. Fe was alone and has been this way since she was admitted to the hospital more than a month ago. No family member, friend, town mate has visited her since. Fe’s situation was communicated to Evelyn by Elenita Cleofas, an OWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Adminstration) officer. Thanks to Evelyn, we found Fe and were able to stand around her and briefly surround her with love, care and concern.

Fe’s condition is truly sad and heart-rending, but her circumstance seems to even add a bitter taste to the unsavory story. No one, no family, no friends has visited Fe. This little group of OFWs is one of the few to come and show care and compassion. At first, I asked the four who were aloud to enter to come close as I began the prayers for the sick. I told them that I will say my prayers bending over and speaking directly to Fe’s left ear. I requested them to do the same after me. With some hesitation some of them approached Fe, bending over to whisper prayers and words of encouragement to Fe. Understandably some could not approach Fe. The sight of Fe helpless, unconscious, completely alone felt like a wedge being driven into their hearts.

I stood quietly witnessing the solidarity of pain shared by mothers and women separated from their families by the demands of work and survival. They seemed overwhelmed by an ambivalent, double edged fear. On the one hand, there is the fear of being abruptly taken from loved ones and on the other hand, fear of losing grip on one’s life and future. But they just won’t stand paralyzed by fear. They moved forward, to speak to and pray for one of their own, a fellow woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister and overseas Filipino worker. It was a painful and unpleasant moment where the pain and the fear of uncertainty, loss, and a seriously threatened life was shared and transformed into a circle of solidarity and compassion.

We had to leave Fe who was alone again but not entirely, for even if I did not hear what her fellow OFWs whispered to her, somehow their message may be an echo of what I whispered into her ears, “God is in you and journeys every moment with you. You are not alone. Through your pain and suffering, God’s son’s loneliness and suffering reaches out to us and etches itself in our hearts and souls. We leave and carry you in our minds and hearts….” We left more quiet than when we arrived. We all felt a heaviness, a burden to do more than just pray for Fe….Indeed, as we left, seven walked towards the MTR and the busses that were to bring us home. But in each heart a name with a face and a strange voice speaks in muted yet painfully intelligible sounds. We hear her…she cries and weeps…her name is Fe Bachenela Ucab.