Free summertime service helps boys undergo rite of passage
HE is only nine years old, but John Carl Pelare is already facing a dilemma.
Pelare of Barangay Calajoan, Minglanilla, Cebu was bothered that his friends would often tease him for being uncircumcised.
“Dili kuno ko ka uyab kay dili ko tuli (They would tell me I wouldn’t get a girlfriend because I am not circumcised),” Pelare told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
To finally solve his problem, Pelare made a life changing and pain-inducing decision of his life: to get circumcised.
Along with Pelare, close to 112 boys from Minglanilla availed themselves of free circumcision services provided by the Philippine Urological Association (PUA) Central-Eastern Visayas and the Rotary Club of CebuMinglanilla.
Like Pelare, Nathaniel Bonghanoy, 8, had the same dilemma.
While waiting for his turn, Bonghanoy, who resides in Upper Calajoan, said he was not scared of the procedure.
“Wala ko nahadlok. Maayo nuon nga matuli ko kay malalaki na gyud ko (I’m not scared. It is better that I’ll get circumcised so I can be a real man),” Bonghanoy said.
Dr. Enrique Tenazas, PUA Central-Eastern Visayas president, said his group has been holding free circumcision for the past four years in Minglanilla. It is done during summertime when boys have no classes.
Aside from Minglanilla, he said, the group also provides free circumcision services in other towns and cities in Cebu.
“We are glad that we have been a part of the lives of these boys,” Tenazas said.
Filomena Selma-Cañedo, Rotary Club of CebuMinglanilla president, said they have created a unique set-up in organizing the free circumcision for the beneficiaries.
She said while some of the boys wait for their turn, they were entertained by a storyteller in an adjacent room.
After they were circumcised, the boys and their parents were given refreshments before they were allowed to leave.
Selma said the organizers coordinated with the team of priests from the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish for the event.
The parish, which is located in Barangay Poblacion, served as the venue of the event.