Cristian Niez

Christian Niez is a student in at the University of Cebu Banilad campus school of nursing. I have known him since he was in high school and have been helping him with his tuition there. His mother Glory and brother Jay Ar have shown me around Bontoc and Sogod, and in Cebu I had dinner with him and his cousin Melo who is preparing for her nursing exam in the fall. Nursing and Nautical are two of the biggest sources of jobs in the Philippines and Jay Ar is now on a ship in the Caribbean. Melo is an absolutely charming young lady. She tutored Inday when she was in Bontoc, and at dinner she laughs about how shy Inday is. She was able to make good friends with Inday with her jokes and Inday's math improved greatly with the tutoring she did.
She practices her English with me. In this area of the Philippines there are many people who will attest that their "English is small." I laugh when I hear this phrase, but I realize that if I were speaking Visayan i would have said Bisayan Gamay and sounded even funnier. So I tell her about the movie, Catch Me if You Can. The movie is based on a true story and the main character actually impersonated a doctor. When asked what his diagnosis was, he would question other doctors about their opinions, and then would knowingly respond, "I concur." So I tell Melo and Christian to learn this phrase and pretend they know what they are talking about. Ha ha.

Both Melo and Christian look forward to the day when they can work in America, but I know that work visas are not easy to come by in America. I am looking forward to the day when these two bright students can find good paying jobs in the Philippines and bring medical care to places that are sorely lacking it. If they can provide the best medical care in the United States, they should be able to bring medical tourism to this country. It is something I have seen done in Cuba and India, and it can be done here too.