Yesterday we spent the day in Manila. Although seeing life at the garbage dump was sad and humbling, there is something about the way people live in Manila that shocks me. I always have said that Haiti is the worst poverty that I have seen, but here in Manila is awful in it's own way. Although people here can get food and there is vegetation for them to grow crops of some sort, there are so many people living in such a small amount of space. Literally, the homes are stacked one on top of another. If someone relieves themselves on the 3rd level, you know all that waste travels down to the two below. It is a massive sea of people. Walking down the road reminded me of the feeling of walking downtown Chicago on the 3rd of July. We warned our group to take off all jewelry, carry nothing in pockets and keep any backpack on the front of them. When I asked on of the frontline staff if I could have my camera around my neck, he jokingly responded, "it depends if the camera is more important, or my neck was more important." Although I kept my camera around my neck the whole day without problem, Tim, another team leader, had a gentleman come up and ask him for a high five. Within seconds the guy had a hold of Tim's wedding ring and luckily Tim was able to clench a fist just in time to save it.
While we were hanging out, there was a young lady who was 14 years old. She had in her arms a child that she delivered less than a week ago. This baby looked so premature. I have seen small babies but never that small. I sat down and talked with her a little. Within 10 minutes, she put the baby in my arms and just sat with me. There is something about children and babies that melt my heart. I sat there and my heart just broke for this little boy. How on earth will he get the nourishment that he needs? Is he even going to survive? I held the baby for probably a good hour. Most of that time I just prayed that somehow, someway that little boy would survive and that he would grow up to know God and help change that community.
The afternoon was spent with different stations that we split the students up in. The kids drew pictures with paper and crayons that we brought. The other station the kids had their feet cleaned. Although hygiene wise it wasn't the cleanest, our students spent the afternoon washing the children's feet and then putting a brand new pair of flip flops on thier bare feet. In most of the cases, the kids didn't have shoes at all. There were some kids that took off their shoes, hid them to the side and wanted the new ones anyway. Either way, it's fine. At the end of the day, all the kids were given a meal of noodles, chicken and rice with a juice box to go with it.
After we served food the community, one of the frontline guys and another frontline lady allowed me to go for a walk around the area. It's pretty funny how much they protect you while you are walking. One walked in front of me and the other walked behind me. Although I never felt too unsafe, I knew there was a fairly big risk that I might loose my camera. What I saw was pretty discouraging. I can't imagine living there and it makes me sick that people have to live like that. Jeff Pasina (the founder of frontline) mentioned that Philippines is a weird country in that there is a significant amount of wealth and a significant amount of extreme poverty. The lower class is huge, the middle class is super small and the upper class is fairly big. The reality of it comes down to politics. Politically there isn't a whole lot being done to fight the poverty in their own country. There are 4 billionaires in this country (supposedly several countries in Europe don't have any) but yet people live like this. The resort area and beaches in the Philippines are beautiful but yet the city looks like this. It makes me really wonder what this world is about.
After we took a couple hours to grab lunch for ourselves and get a little break from the crowds, we headed back to a different baranguy (neighborhood) and passed out the remaining meals and some candy packets. The area that we wanted to go into was a rougher one that we were in before lunch so we make a quick stop at the police station. We learned from them that a couple weeks ago a mission group from Germany came in and tried to pass out food. They made the mistake of going in on their own and within 15 minutes, all of their personal stuff, the meals and everything that they brought was stolen from them. When they asked for the police help after that, there was nothing they could do. We figured we would ask the police to come with us from the beginning. The crowds of people were crazy. It was almost like the beginning of a riot. Upon police recommendation, we made the students stay in the car but he allowed the leaders to get out to take pictures and help distribute food. We opened the back of the truck that the students were in and allowed them to pass out the meals from the end of truck but they were safe from the mob of people. Like an idiot, I walked into the middle of the mob of people to get some pictures. Even though I got pushed, shoved and stepped on, it made me realize the level of need this borungy has. The police tried to keep control for the most part but after 20 minutes, one of the officers demanded that I get in the van, keep the windows closed and get us out. It was an unsettling experience for all of us. In their viewpoint, all they saw was mobs of people pushing and shoving to get by the van. They heard knocking and banging on the truck and they heard Jeff, Tim and Bob on the roof passing out candy. They though the riot was going to tip the truck and is scared them quite a bit. With a van full of tears, these student's hearts began breaking for what they saw in this community. They were angry, frustrated and sickened by the fact that this level of poverty exsists. As much as I hate seeing students upset, it is good for them to see what the world is like. Now I am just praying that as I continue to help them process that experience it doesn't become an "I hate the world" mentality but rather a "what am I going to do about it" mindset. If our team travels 1/2 around the world to hand out food, and minister to kids but then goes home and does nothing to continue serving, I feel like we fail in part of our experience. Serving is a lifelong process, not a 3 week mission trip.
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