Frenchman with a golden heart

It is not unusual to hear stories about gazillionaires like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet giving away zillions of dollars to different charities. After all, they are listed in Forbes magazine as among the world’s top wealthiest men. It is but right that they share their blessings and donate to different worthy causes, among them, scientific research to find cures for cancer, HIV, Alzheimer’s and other diseases, feeding the world’s hungry people, helping the tsunami and hurricane Katrina victims, and building schools in underdeveloped countries of the world for the education of the world’s "illiteratti."

Inasmuch as I admire these rich men’s philanthropic pursuits to make a better world with their over-funded foundations, their efforts are short of overwhelming. It is so easy to give when the well is overflowing with megabucks. There is not much effort involved when a multimillionaire writes out a million-dollar check for a worthy cause. What impresses me no end is when I hear about busy individuals giving up their precious weekends or holidays to spend time with the world’s unfortunate ones.

During one of my visits to Mother Theresa’s orphanage in Tondo, I caught a glimpse of low-profile businessman Anton Roxas seated on a chair, cuddling an autistic child while chatting with other orphans who seemed to know him well. The world is full of surprises but this one was a refreshing sight. In my many conversations with Roxas, he never once flaunted his charitable endeavors. If I did not see him that day, I would never have known that he is a frequent visitor to this orphanage, giving his precious time to personally feed the orphans, play with them and give the nuns valuable financial assistance.

"It is so easy to write out a check when one has the means, but to give of one’s self and devote precious time to these orphans is another matter," says this impeccably dressed gentleman.

It is difficult to give up our comfort zones to spend time in an orphanage with deformed, autistic, mentally retarded children. Or give cheer to the old and sick in a home for the aged.

So when I met Francis Pelissier, a French national who loves the Philippines and the Filipino people, I was reminded of my conversation with Roxas.

Pelissier is a man who has sacrificed so much of his time, his energy, his hard-earned money (from his job as a physical education teacher in Barraqueville, France) to help alleviate poverty in a country that is not even his.

Pellisier’s philanthropic work started in the 1980s when he first came to the Philippines. He loved to climb the volcanoes in our country, so it was a good reason to travel all the way here. He has gone to the top of Mt. Mayon and Mt. Apo three times. But what made his travels to the Philippines unforgettable was not the beauty of the volcanoes but the poverty that he encountered on every trip. He vowed to make the Philippines his lifetime mission. He met people at the French Embassy who connected him with Sister Luz Emmanuelle Soriano, president of the Assumption School at San Lorenzo. Sr. Luz, who was involved with the education of poor children, helped him to start his NGO. They started by giving scholarships to 15 children in Balete, Aklan.

Over the years, his NGO grew to have 1,300 listed members. They gave scholarships to 522 children from Grade 1. But the problem was lack of schools and classrooms. With the help of Sr. Lilia Cuachon of the Sisters of Charity, Pellisier and his members looked for schools in Barrio Obrero, Negros.

Not enough classrooms was the perennial problem. His NGO members volunteered to build the classrooms themselves. They would come for a month and with their own hands build classrooms for poor children. They built solid classrooms with ceilings, glass windows, and equipped them with electric fans, desks, chairs, blackboards. This was from 1989 to 1991.

One day, Pellisier came across a student who was covering his mouth with his hand. This poor student had a complex because he had a very bad case of harelip. The sight haunted Pellisier, and when he got to France he contacted a specialist in this field, Dr. Andre Chancholle from Toulouse. He was soon putting together a team of specialists to come to the Philippines for a surgical mission. Dr. Andre Chancholle and a famous cosmetic surgeon from Nancy, Dr. Michael Stricker, headed the first surgical mission in 1992. They brought with them anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses, all volunteers, paying their own way to Guimaras, Iloilo. With the help of Dr. Ramon Guerra, who was the head of West Visayas State University Hospital in Iloilo, this first surgical mission for harelip and cleft palate was a huge success. Unfortunately, they could operate only on 48 children during the one week that they stayed there. There were 100 or so applicants.

Since then, Pellisier’s NGO, which he calls CSEP (Comite Soutien Enfance Philippines) makes a yearly pilgrimage to our country. They have moved their operations to Guimbal Hospital in Iloilo City because it has better facilities. Hospital chief Dr. Antonio Garibay and social worker Eva Gelpe are two staunch helpers of Pellisier’s medical missions.

From 1992 to 2007, CSEP has operated on 1,137 children. During their surgical mission last February, they operated on 92 applicants. In the process, they have also improved the hospital by bringing in better equipment for their operating and recovery rooms and they also have put up three pediatric rooms.

Francis Pellisier has now retired as a physical education teacher at a Catholic school in France and lives on his savings and pension. He has one son, an 18-year-old Filipino boy whom he adopted when the boy was only two years old and who lives with him in France. He now devotes his time raising funds for his NGO so he can continue his surgical missions to the Philippines annually. He hopes to do this for many more years but is also looking now to training his successors so that his NGO could continue his good work after his good life on earth. This is his legacy to the poor children in Iloilo who are afflicted with harelip and cleft palate conditions.

We are lucky that this Frenchman with the golden heart has chosen to love our country and our country’s poor people.