Delna’s Story: ‘My only way to help people’

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Quezon City, where high cases of COVID cases are recorded, World Vision staff Delna never had second thoughts to offer help in packing vegetables to communities.

“I’ve been grateful to World Vision for helping me and my family. I am proud of being part now of World Vision.

This is my only way to help other people. The only thing I can offer at this time of crisis,” she said, hinting that her family has no other means to possibly help. Her husband, Christopher, works as a carpenter and earns around Php700 a day when there’s an offer. Delna was recently hired by World Vision after being on a contract basis for various tasks in Bicol and Manila.

Delna manages the database of sponsored children in a World Vision assisted community. She ensures that each child’s name on her database are well-cared for, healthy, still going to school and visited by World Vision staff living in the area every now and then. The task may sound easy, but having more than 4,000 children in her database, the monitoring becomes challenging at times.

Despite this, she never hesitated to offer her help when World Vision requested for staff volunteers to help in the distribution of food assistance to communities in need.

“On my first day, we packed 5 tons of donated vegetables. We started packing the vegetables at 4pm and finished around 1 in the morning. On my second day,  we packed 3.8 tons of vegetables. We started at 7 in the morning and finished around 9 in the evening. It was tiring but fun especially when you have your office colleagues to joke and chat with during the vegetable packing. I also admired the humility of World Vision leaders, like its National Director, who packed vegetables with us,” Delna said.

A mother of two, Christan, 12, and Christalyn, 3, Delna stayed in World Vision office on some days and undergo strict quarantine protocols before she went home. “My worry is for my family, especially for my two children, is if they become infected with COVID-19. My children are too young. If they become positive, nobody not even me, can get near them while they are suffering from the illness. As a mother, that would probably be the most painful situation one would experience. So, I really rely on God’s power to protect and keep us safe. I also need to practice strict hygiene while I am also doing volunteer work,” she explained.

During weekends, when she was allowed to visit her family, Delna would provide breast milk for her younger child, Christalyn, who still under complementary feeding, and checked on her older relatives’ health. “My children are happy to see me at the end of the week. They only request for Jollibee as my take home gift for them.”

Delna volunteered to World Vision COVID-19 Emergency Response for a month.