quick update..

One of the members of the yahoo group.. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group...aylor/messages
went and visited Kev and Charlene!
Here`s what he discovered..



So after following the news about Kevin since about 2 weeks back I decided there was enough sitting on our hands being done and did muster the courage to go pay him a visit.
I say muster the courage because I could have very well ended up detained myself, or that was on my mind anyway.


So, arrived in Manila just before noon and the 1 st challenge had been to find a taxi willing to go all the way to San mateo, but I think good karma allowed me to get a taxi with a guy who knew where the jail was and was willing to wait for me whilst I did chat with Kevin and Charlene.

So we pick-up some burgers and jollibee chicken as I recall Charlene writing that it's kevin's choice of outside food (would be mine too if I was detained)

We then reach the jail and I'm sceptical as it looks nothing like a jail (I was expecting something like we see in the movies) dang, it even has karenderia at the front and signs for iron works all over the gate.

Anyhow, I walk over to the gate and the wardens welcome me inside, the feeling is not of penitential mood but much more relax, inmates already shouting kevin's name by then as they all have view on the gate.

The wardens take my ID and cellphone and ask me to sign the blotter.
No search, no patting down, no metal detectors, it's now confirmed, I have the face of a saint ;-)

I now enter the central court where many inmates are having their visitors, all eyes on me of course.
Again, the feeling is not as I'd have imagined being in a jail, many wives are there to visit (some husbands too, there are 22 females and 196 males there) kids playing around, everyone eating as it's lunchtime.

- Kevin's condition:
First time I met him so it's not easy to tell, but from the few pictures of him online it's obvious he lost weight, he said he actually went down to 62kg in the 1st year, but is now 70kg.
It's confirmed that he lost 1 eye from diabetes and the 2nd one looks kinda veiled with White glaze.
He never see a doc although he did see the jail nurse occasionally.
He does look weak and somewhat much older than his real age.
His spirit seems quite okay but might have to do with getting a 1st visit by a foreigner in nearly 2 years, also my visit allowed him to see Charlene, it's obvious those two are dearly in love!

-Charlene's condition:
She was limping heavily when we went up to the lady's visitor bench, she later told both me and Kevin that she was made to do 200 crunches by the guards, reason being that "someone" sent a complaint to the head warden and this was her punishment, Kevin did feel very upset about this obviously, they also mentioned that she gets harassed a lot and receive suggestive Love letters from other inmates and constantly subjected to "words" that Kevin doesn't understand.
She does also suffer from diabetes and needs insulin on a daily bases.

- the kids and Charlene's family:
Kids are SAFE!!!
They have been split to several members of the family, both of Kevin's biological children are with Charlene's sister, children of Charlene are with her previous in-laws,
Now this is where it gets weird, Charlene's sister does not visit anymore, Charlene's family have now said they don't want anything to do with criminals,
The eldest of Charlene's daughter used to visit but it was motivated by money, every-time Kevin's dad would send cash this daughter would do the groceries for say 1500 php and keep the 500 change, sad way to treat a mother right?
Their last visit from the daughter was January 2, last visit from the sister: a year ago!
(anyone in contact with the sister, please just observe status quo/silence, they aren't in speaking terms but she still has Kevin's 2 kids, Kevin said they will sort things out when they get released, for now it's the best situation one could expect, better than adoption!)

-Their needs:
Boredom is the main enemy, bibles are in Tagalog and the only English book available is Harry Potter, Kevin read that 10 times already.So,
1) BOOKS: loads of them!
2) Clothes: shorts, underwears, and Yellow colour T-Shirts only, they are only allowed bright yellow tops.(XL and L sizes)
3) Razors, shaving foam, soap, toothpaste, shampoo....all the stuff needed to keep clean on a daily basis
4) ideally Kevin would need to see a doctor, cost for this (doc+transport) has been placed at 3000Php
5) Charlene did mention that Kevin could use ointment named Caladril as he sleeps on plywood in a nasty cell and gets rashes.

those are basic stuff that would be highly appreciated by both of them.

from my side i did ask if giving him a piece of foam for bedding would be fine and he said yes, they will just have to bribe a guard to smuggle it in.

the food is appalling as you can imagine but for those who can afford their own groceries they are actually entitled to cook their own food, so the way it works there is that when Kevin's dad send money they cook and feed selected inmates, then they get food from those inmates, on a rotation basis if you like, depending on who's got money.

Charlene mentioned Prisoners abroad, but contrary to what i thought they don't actually go visit there in person, they just send cash through LBC. (money donations can be given to them that way, but will have to be a trickle as Kevin said that the money has to be counted by the wardens and within 5 minutes the whole jail knows how much he has with him, with loans and "fees" being submitted to him non-stop)

last September 20th the other staff got out of jail, on bail, when i questioned the fact that their offense is non bailable Kevin said the staff did forward a request to the judge and it was granted.


that's about it really.

from my side i will be planning another visit to Kevin next week, possibly Thursday, and that will be my last trip to see him (i hope) as I'm not coming back to Philippines for the next year or so.

i was one of the first to pledge money to help him, then when i saw that there was a lot of talk but no action i went ahead and did it, without drumming it up beforehand.

i could have never been cheeky enough to say that i would go if peoples paid my flight, 2 night hotel expenses and bribe money like some have done on here, i think that's sick to make those type of offer, either you help or you don't, but disguising help to Kevin and Charlene as a "free weekend in manila all expenses paid" is just disgusting.

i couldn't care less if they are guilty of the crime, my motivation was fueled by empathy, i just got a daughter 2 weeks ago and trying to put myself in Kevin's shoes for a moment just riped me apart, anyone with the slightest amount of empathy would have done just like i did today.

Now, i'm not a rich man, if i was i would have helped more, so if anyone who did pledge a few weeks back or would like to contribute to this week and next week's expenses all are welcome.

if you don't want or can't send money, you can send a book, a pair of slippers, even just 1 piece of razor or soap.

i know we can get things collected somewhere here in Cebu and i'll gladly bring those to Kevin.

my expenses for today were:
- 1206 Php for the taxi fare (receipt shows 1006 but had to add 200 for the driver to agree going that far and wait at the jail, which seems fair enough)
- 585 Php for the food


i expect much of the same for next week, so donations will be appreciated, thanks

David
(Kevin did see the funny side about the Frenchman helping out the Englishman, we all know the cross-channel poking is just friendly banter, we're all brothers, especially in hard time!)