Racquel Sarah A. Castro's Blog, page 2

Missing Dad

Dad died last January 13, 2020. A day after the TAAL eruption. How can I forget? I can picture his last hours and things are never the same. Coping with our lost, we cling to God’s promise to never leave us nor forsake us. The baby steps of grieving and moving on becomes harder and harder.

But due to the pandemic, his death is a testing of our faithfulness to God. I realized what Dad kept on saying to us… to me… Blessing is an inch away from testing. It’s true.

I may kept on missing Dad but things just work out according to God’s plan.

Thank you Dad for your life. I may not see your smiles but these kept in my heart.  For Life. I love you.

Please intercede with us as we face tomorrow with God’s mission through your example.

Be a Dialysis Champ #DialysisChamp

During the months of November and December, while festive events should be anticipated, Dialysis patients and their families struggled to make their family member live.

Save Lives. Be a Dialysis Champ

[image error]

Through the grace of God, my family and the nurses of B-Braun Dialysis Center – Southwoods have conceptualized a fundraising event. It is a kick-off event for our new ministry. God has pulled it off. Through Him, we are now counting 3 more days.

Thank you to Southwoods Mall, Gender and Development Office, GMDP INC, WeSolB, Zin Jeff, Laguna Waters, JCRBCC and Connect Worship Night!

Purpose of the Initiative:

Raise awareness that Dialysis is only the beginning of a purposeful life
Raise funds continually through events, trainings
Prepare for the November and December cash-out of persons with CKD which undergoes dialysis for life.
Encourage families to support and spend time with their family member with CKD.

Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/39897219744237

Tickets: PHP 200.00

Reserve Dialysis Champ Tees. Get the White tee for only P. 100.00 and Green tee  for only P. 150.00 until Saturday

[image error]P. 150.00
[image error]P. 250.00

Purchase dialysis Champ Tees: P. 250.00

Pre-order until Friday

Donations are encouraged. Please contact Racquel Castro, Carlo Cayco, and Maria Teresa Castro.

The future of Be a Dialysis Champ

Quarterly Fundraising Events

Dance for a cause
Walk for a cause
Fun Run
Concert for a cause
Dinner for a cause


Trainings for Dialysis Patients and their Family members

Digital Literacy
Digital Marketing
Web Development


Project Oximeter
Project Dialyser

 

Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/39897219744237

BFF Material ba ako? (Am I a BFF material?)

Most of my friends are guys. Yes. I am simply one of the boys. I don’t have a problem with that. What bothers me is  the idea that I am a BFF material or best friend forever material.

As I watch “Hello, Love, Goodbye”, I realize that I can be more. (LOL) More than a best friend material. More than a friend. To whom? I will try to figure that out. But how can we say that we can be more than friends if we do not know what he/she feels about you and your presence in your life.

I am not desperate to have “THE ONE” in my life. I have my masters to finish so I can’t fell for someone right now. (and in the following years). But I have crushes. yes, that’s plural guys. LOL But there’s one guy…  Oh well…

Here’s what I am praying for a “More than a friend guy”:

Someone who loves me as me.
Be a travel buddy cause I always wanted to travel
Matakaw. Let’s explore the culinary roots of our ancestors together. LOL
Share his day everyday. (Really important here is our communication)
Give me a dose of chocolate monthly.  (AKO kasi bumibili this past few months. I was buying chocolates this past few months)
Not intimidated at me. Most of the guy friends I know found me intimidating (I dont know why?)
Supportive.
Prayerful. Because I am looking for someone who can pray with me.

Hey you. yes you. I know God is preparing you for me. No need to hurry. I will be patient because at the end of the day . . . I know you are worth the wait.

 

 

Crumpled Love: A Short Story

[image error]

Crumpled Love

by: Racquel Sarah A. Castro

 

I am Trisha Yambao, 24, a certified recycled paper artist. The garbage that you put in that black plastic bag are my raw materials for my art. I grew up in an environment where my parents treated filthy, bad smelling trash as gold and our mining site is your garbage bag.

I used to collect old newspapers and recycled them. I turned them into beautiful recycled stationeries. I did the design it and sold them to my friends. My brother, Francis, was into recycling too. Together with Dad, he would collect plastic bottles to transform into art pieces. Mom collected bio-degradable trash and turned those into fertilizer, which benefited our farm. She also considered herself to be an artist, I remember seeing her working on her egg shell artworks and she really influenced me to become an artist.

Although my playmates back when I was in grade school used to laugh at me, I remained firm and expressed myself in my artworks. I had this weird habit of collecting crumpled papers and putting them in my bag. And when I got home, I would transform them into beautiful recycled paper. They thought we were rich because I always had stationeries as scratch paper. Well, I didn’t need to explain my side.

I remember I had this classmate that always gave me his crumpled paper. When he has scratch papers, he automatically puts them in my bag and he would wink at me. He always accompanied me when I collected paper from trash cans. He never laughed. He understood me and my passion for recycled paper. 

But when we were in Grade 5, he told me that he was going to Greece with his family for good. I never saw him since our Grade 5 recognition day. Maybe he did go to Greece without saying goodbye. 

I graduated from Philippine Women’s University in Manila with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts and now I work as a design consultant in Taguig. 

I have visited Japan several times for origami and paper-cutting art classes. I am now saving money to attend a paper fair in New York where I will be one of the exhibitors. Although my family would be helping me raise the funds, I wanted to save for myself and be independent. 

I was in my room when I heard my door open. “Darling, I am discouraging you from going to New York,” Mom honestly said. “Maybe not now.” 

“Mom . . .” I started with a sigh, “I want to do this for myself.”

“But you need to rest.”

“I know. That’s why you are here to remind me of everything?” I smiled at her and she got teary-eyed.

She said, “I know you love paper art. But New York is a new place for you.”

“It’s just like Japan, Mom.” I said, grinning. 

Dad shouted with a loud voice, “But Japan is in Asia!” 

”That’s what I am pointing out, Love!” Mom shouted back.

“Okay, Mom. I’ll consider that.”

“Good girl!”

 

“Miami in December or New York in March?”

“New York with me?” My brother, Francis just arrived from his work as a call center agent. He continued to annoy me by saying, “I saw your crush just this morning.” 

By the way, my crush is a neighbor of mine who just arrived from somewhere in Europe. Sweden, I think. But he is a Filipino. I don’t know his name though. All I know is I want to get his number. He might become a buyer of my stationeries. Yeah, right. Well, I have to admit this. I was dying to meet the boy-next-door.  

I looked at Francis with disgust and this made him laugh. 

“Way to go, Kiko the Monkey!” I rolled my eyes on him. 

He looked serious this time, “I want to go to New York, Ate!”

“Save for your pocket money then. I will take care of our tickets! And you’re welcome.” I smiled while he stared at me in disbelief. 

“No way, Ate!”

“You don’t like?” I asked in an inquisitive tone.

“Can we come too?” My mother and father approached me and both held my hands.  They have this way of telling me they want something when they both hold my hand.  

I nodded. 

I slept after I submitted some design ideas that my boss needed via e-mail.

I have to save for the plane ticket to New York. I must raise $1,365 per person. Knowing my parents, they would shoulder the tickets. But I requested them to give me a chance to raise it on my own. 

Though it was so hard to convince them, I did my best and my best was good enough. Well, they said they would be shouldering Kiko’s ticket and I agreed. I would be saving his pocket money as a surprise for his 21st birthday.

 

The next day, I tried my best to recall my childhood friend’s name. Was it Juan or John? On my way to get a cab, I crumpled paper at the side of the road and I immediately ran to it. But then, I also saw my crush running toward it. I really wanted to get it, so I ran as fast as I could. He got to the crumpled paper first. I pouted and when he saw it, he laughed out loud. 

“I am Daniel,” he said.  He smiled at me and went on. “You want this? I remember one of my classmates in elementary. She always wanted crumpled paper too.”

I tried to be calm and listened. He sat beside me on a bench. “Tricia Yambao was her name. I wonder how she is now.”

My heart skipped a beat as I listened to him. His brown eyes smiled as he reminisced about Tricia. Oh, I mean me. The question I have been waiting for him to ask was not asked. He immediately stood up and said goodbye.

“Wait!” I said. He stopped walking and turned. 

“I am Tricia Yambao,” I said. 

“Are you kidding?” He asked, with a curious glance. I shook my head and showed him my ID. He immediately hugged me. “Sorry Trish! I really had to go to Greece with my parents. I wasn’t able to say goodbye.” 

I awkwardly smiled when he let go of me. “I have to go to work,” I said.

“Where? Can I pick you up? We have a lot of catching up to do,” he said. 

I gave him my calling card and said,“See you!”

I went to get a cab. That morning, I haven’t had breakfast, so I immediately went to a restaurant near our office to grab something to eat. 

As a design consultant, my task was to help customers purchase interior design products. These include window treatments, home furnishings, shutters, rugs, and anything that our company specialized in. One of the enjoyable parts of my job was greeting customers. I was also expected to order inventory and schedule installations. I also helped my parents by suggesting to our clients the art works they have worked on.  

I enjoyed uncapped commissions and good employment growth. Our company offered me certification and additional training.

I have to work in the office for reports before I meet my clients on weekends and evenings. My job requires long periods of time on my feet. I receive PHP 30,000 as my monthly salary.

Daniel was at the office during lunch time. He said he wanted to spend time with me before he went back to his office, where he works as an analyst.

At the nearby restaurant, we conversed and talked about my passion for recycling. 

“I hope I could go to New York as a paper art exhibitor,” I said to him.

He was very attentive.  He smiled. “You continued with making stationeries?”

I nodded and he smiled at me. I asked, “When did you come back to the Philippines?”

“Just a year ago.” He took my hand and held it, “I have been looking for you since then.”  He stared at her. “Thanks to that crumpled paper this morning. It brought us together again. I miss my best friend.”

I didn’t know whether I should be happy that he held my hand or I should be disappointed for the ‘I miss my best friend’ statement. I asked him bravely, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

He nodded and that nod just disappointed me. Why look for me when you already have a girlfriend. I asked him again, “Who’s the lucky girl?”

“You will meet her later. She’s on her way here.” He said with a smile.

What the . . . His girlfriend was coming to meet me? Justice for Tricia! I smiled back to hide my dismay. 

After a few minutes, I saw a girl with cerebral palsy. She was coming toward us. Is she the one? Why? I mean, why not me? 

“Honey!” Daniel shouted at her. 

I felt their love for each other in the way they looked at each other. . . the kind of love I longed to have. Instead of complaining to God, I admired Daniel more.

With stiff movements, the girl waved at him. She asked, “Is she your elementary best friend?” Wow, she could speak well but her mouth has stiffness.  She beamed at me and asked, “Are you Tricia Yambao?”

I nodded and extended my hand for a greeting. She shook my hand and Daniel assisted her to his corner. “Valerie Santilian.”

“We invited my best friend too,” she said while looking gladly at me. 

“Ah, okay!” I looked delighted to her. I have admiredd her since then. Daniel,  proud boyfriend, said that she was an IT manager at their firm. 

I immediately exclaimed, “Impressive!” I was about to order when I saw a good looking man approaching our table. He was lean and a Jake Cuenca look-a-like. He was so handsome that I couldn’t help but stare at him. 

“Tricia, I want you to meet Robbie Ramirez. He has this passion for art too,” Daniel reiterated. 

“Hi, Tricia . . . ” He beamed at me and I remembered seeing him in Japan. 

“Were you in Japan last year?” I asked.

Robbie nodded. I suddenly remembered that it was him–the one I admired for his contribution to paper arts.

He asked, “Are you passionate about recycling paper too?”

I nodded. Valerie and Daniel looked at each other and exclaimed together, “A match there!”

 

Since then, Robbie and I were inseparable. He helped me raised funds for our trip to New York. Yes, he accompanied my family there while I was busy arranging the exhibits for the Paper Fair.

In New York, we had a chance to bond more. We became travel buddies. We visited Japan, California, and Mexico for Paper Fairs. I was so glad that Valerie introduced him to me. 

When Valerie and Daniel got engaged, we were the ones who provided them stationeries for their giveaways. 

We shared our passion for recycling and established a recycled paper shop which led to us becoming the powerful couple in paper manufacturing. 

We also held workshops for paper cutting and recycling in campuses nationwide. We also started to be known all over the world.

I guess it was a match made in heaven. After two years of traveling all over the world, I was expecting an engagement but it didn’t happened. I asked myself: Is there a problem?

I was in the midst of breaking up with him when he got my hand, placed a ring on my finger and asked me to marry him. I guess for him, it was the best time for him to make the move. I hugged him and we made different recycled paper arts before we got married in a simple civil wedding. But Daniel and Valerie prepared a grand reception as a gift.

We enjoyed the reception until my parents surprised me with a honey moon package to the Maldives. We started a family and shared with our children the passion for recycling.

Although crumpled paper would be considered trash by most, some people find it a treasure and transform it into works of art.  For me, it was also the bridge which helped me meet my soulmate.

Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference 2019 #PISCON2019

 

The ICT Industry Development Bureau (IIDB) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)  organized the 3rd Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference on July 16-17, 2019 at Royce Hotel and Casino, Clark Pampanga, which aims to encourage LGUs to participate in capacitating their constituents for GIG Economy or Freelancing Industry. Its goal is to gather together influencers that would encouraged everyone to be OFW 2.0 or Online Filipino Workers.

I had a chance to realize my dream of being one of the panelists on the recently concluded PISCON 2019.

[image error]

I was excited to participate because I know I have to be on the freelancing shoes (again) in the future aside from my job in the City Government of Binan.

For Royce Hotel, I enjoyed my stay there. Good food. Rooms are great. I hope I can go back to relax. I will come again.

Back to the conference, I think that GIG Economy will be the next big thing in terms of the solution to the conjestion to traffic. When that industry is encouraged, there will be plenty of job opportunities. It will be one of the answers to poverty reduction.

Think of the future of the Philippines with Freelancers Pinoys enjoying their lives and saving for their families. I think, if given a chance, I will be one of the teachers on how to do it effectively. I want to change lives by God’s designed story for me.

I like to share some of my slides during the conference.

Racquelcastro 3 slides from Racquel Sarah Castro


Piscon 2019 racquel castro from Racquel Sarah Castro

Pictures:

National ICT Month in Quezon City #SeeICTDifferently

National COMSCA Summit in Cebu

Our Lil Courageous Warrior: Liam Gabriel Castro-Sanico

As you all know, we have a lot of challenges to face… Dialysis sessions… Medicines for dad’s diabetes… daily expenses… monthly bills.  And yet when Kristel got pregnant, we faced everyday with smiles.

Born on April 9, 2019, Liam Gabriel Castro-Sanico brought joy to us. Our family became more intact because of his existence. Daddy became glad to see his grandson and become strong. We were so blessed that he came out healthy.

On his 6th day on earth, we were so alarmed that he wasn’t breastfeeding. My mom and my sister (Liam’s mom) with her husband Dada decided to go to the nearest hospital here. They didn’t do anything because there was no room for my nephew. Desperately, Mommy tried to knock on a car parked in the hospital’s dropping area. Sir Deo responded and he did his best to go to the hospital no. 2. The hospital no. 2 was heartless to the point that they said we have to pay for 50,000 pesos before they went through the procedures. We have no money yet. So we decided to go to another hospital near hospital no. 2, Perpetual Help Medical Center-BINAN. The doctors and medical staff did their best to give first aid.

Laboratory tests here and there. But we are so thankful that they found out what really happened to my nephew, a very rare case.

The Bilirubin was so high. 63.7% instead of 1.2 percent. Our courageous lil warrior went on fightingfor his life.
Blood incompatibility between the mother and the baby.

We prayed. The whole family hopeful for a miracle went on our knees to pray.

Our lil boy underwent operation for the catheter that would be used for a blood transfusion
Blood exchange took in action from blood type B+ to O+ and his body was responding well
Our lil warrior underwent photo therapy after a series of blood transfusion
According to the doctor, Liam had to be checked by a Pedia Neurologist. There was a possibility that he would be deaf or had cerebral palsy. But we all prayed again so they ruled out the possibility.
Our Liam Gabriel battled again as he underwent series of tests again. One of the tests costed over 20,000 pesos. But we pulled through another day again.

On his 11th day, The battle continues. We want you to be part of our battle for our Lil warrior. He has clothes now and will be staying for days on the ICU. Please leave a prayer that God would touch lives to give us helping hands for his continuous rehabilitation/treatment. We urged you to share this. If you have extra money for instance, may this be a request to help us with our lil boy’s medication.

GOGETFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/help-save-baby-liam-castrosanico

Thank you and God bless you!

Project Oximeter for #dialysis

Dad, as you all know, has Chronic Kidney Disease and is currently undergoing dialysis thrice a week. The thing about CKD is when they took plenty of water, the water would go to their lungs and heart instead downward. The patient would have hypoxia or a dangerous condition that happens when his/her body doesn’t get enough oxygen. Tendencies are they catch their breath.

We thanked a generous heart for giving an oximeter. It saves my Dad’s life many times.

My sister, Kristel, said, “If only we have more resources, we can provide each patient an oximeter.”

What is an oximeter?

 

[image error]Image from Amazon

According to nonin.com

A pulse oximeter is a small, lightweight device used to monitor the amount of oxygen carried in the body. This noninvasive tool attaches painlessly to your fingertip, sending two wavelengths of light through the finger to measure your pulse rate and how much oxygen is in your system. Once the oximeter finishes its assessment, its screen will display the percent of oxygen in your blood coming from your heart—as well as your current pulse rate.

– Excerpt taken from https://www.nonin.com/resource/what-is-a-pulse-oximeter/

It saves lives when you know that the patient’s oxygen level is going down. First, let the person do the inhale-exhale exercise.  When the patient’s oxygen level is not going high, that’s the time when you use an oxygen tank or you rushed him/her to the hospital.

The time when Dad’s having hard time in breathing, we knew that his oxygen level was dropping. Pulse Oximeter really saves our Father’s life.

To give back, we are planning to have a project called Project Oximeter. We will be starting to knock at the doors of your heart to provide us with an oximeter. Then we will give them to our second home, B-Braun Dialysis Center for a start-up project. When we get a lot, we can share it with other dialysis centers in the Philippines.

Thanks Kristel Castro-Sanico for the idea!

Let’s save lives together!

You can contact me or my Mom for details and donations…

We encourage you to buy the oximeter and give it to us or to those in need of it. Please send us pictures if you decided to do it on your own.

Contact details

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/racquel.castro

https://www.facebook.com/mariateresa.castro.77

Email: racquelcastro2884@gmail.com

Let us save lives together!

 

From Bliss to Continuous Battle

Dad has been suffering from Chronic Kidney Failure. He started his dialysis merely two years ago. I know we had financial struggles but through the help of kind-hearted people, we breakthrough that. Last year, merely July, we started paying in cash because Philhealth covered 90 sessions only. The fact that Dad had been hospitalized, the 90 sessions were reduced.

Dialysis is life. We just accepted and turned to a solution. We have to have 10K per week. That doesn’t include injections, medicines and other expenses.

I started wondering what can I do to make it a lessen burden for my parents. I enrolled in Rural Impact Sourcing Technical Training. I participated in the first Hack4PH through RIS.

We, MOM, Ate Sheng and I, conceptualized ways for fundraising not just for Dad but for the Dialysis patients of B-Braun Dialysis Center for the meantime. IT WILL BE LAUNCHED SOON. I hope everyone can support and participate in this kind of cause.

I guess this is the start of a long time advocacy for Dialysis Patients.

With dialysis, there is life beyond the disease!