Working with His Hands for the Philippines!

Working with His Hands for the Philippines

We met our hosts Jamie and Merilee at the Manila airport as they arrived from the USA two hours after us. At midnight we set out for our first stop Calistan several hours away to the north. At 5 a.m. in the morning we arrived to a warm welcome from the Pastor and his family. They had set up mattresses for us to sleep on in their tiny home and Elva and I fell into a much needed deep sleep for a couple of hours. We were meant to wake for their early morning church service but they let us sleep through and woke us later to a cooked breakfast of omelette, hot dogs ,bread and rice.

 

Next we had to learn the routine of getting the details and measurements of the children in the sponsor program and the details of the new children joining the program. The children sat quietly waiting their turn, then watched as the rest of their friends were measured eating their lollipop Jamie gave them at the end of their turn. The Pastors home was simple but beautiful, around his home were masses of intricate bonsai plants. They were warm and gentle people who made us very welcome and comfortable. We left the pastor with some of the sound cards and readers which the children loved and then we were on our way again to the mountain and Baguio.

The scenery to Baguio was stunning, sheer cliffs raising hundreds of feet into the air, with little cottages balance precariously on the edges of the road and cliff edges, thick forests of pine trees and then the cool humid air of Baguio.

The routine of each day was much the same we would go to a little church community and measure and photo the children in the sponsorship program. The children were delightful even though they spoke only a little English they were friendly and wanted you to play with them. When we met our sponsor children in the various communities they were so friendly and caring and often their family also came to meet us. One child was away at camp and once a sibling discovered her sponsors friend was there he contacted her. Within half an hour she arrived to meet us. She was delightful such a sweet, humble and gentle girl who was delighted that her sponsor had sent her a little gift. Shortly after this her mother and grandmother arrived then an aunt and cousins, all chatting and sharing their world with us and asking about our world. They all waited for the hour or more it took to register the children to have time with us again before we left and blessed us with a lovely family photo to take back to her sponsor. Every community loved the cards and readers we left with them even the pastors joined the children in making them work.

The thing that stood out to me most was the kindness of the communities and how clean the children were. With the exception of only a couple of children they were all clean, their clothes were spotless and their hair clean brushed and tidy.  For us this is not extraordinary but when you consider most of these children living tiny tin sheds no bigger than a double bed and only a few have the luxury of a cement block house of the same size, they don’t have running water or electricity. There is no bathroom, the lucky ones have a toilet (but no flushing you just pour some water from a bucket in it after using) no showers or baths just a basin of water and a container to pour it over themselves. There are no washing machines, you have to boil water to get hot water and hand wash everything. Mostly their homes only have windows that are holes in the walls if they have any, they cook over a wood fire or gas bottle. Many have some electricity but it is unreliable and can go out for a couple of days. We lost electricity for 2 days when we first arrived.

Their kindness and generosity was overwhelming at times, here were these lovely people who had nothing by our standards yet they would each day prepare us a feast of delicious food for lunch and I am sure they would have used all their food for the next week to prepare it. Often the community would share the meal with us, but we would be served first and they would eat what was left over. We were treated like royalty, they met our every need from cool drinks, to umbrellas to keep the sun off us to chairs and a hand to help down steep slopes or getting off jeepy’s.

We had one day when we didn't have children to register and on that day the Americans were going to the tourist craft market but we weren't going to be able to go because that was the day we were going to meet our Compassion children. Our American hosts kindly found time at the end of a day to take us to the market so we didn't miss out. It was quite an experience with stalls in every direction selling everything from food to souvenirs and clothes. Dotted throughout the rabbit warren of stalls were police officers keeping an eye on what was going on and keeping tourists safe.

We were well cared for by our Filipino hosts who organised and protected us throughout the mission. We were with them at all times and only went is safe areas. Even when we visited the churches in the slums we had our own transport and several Filipinos for protection. The only evidence we saw of the danger was the police presence in several places, we saw a policeman with a machine gun in the mall standing watching and another in La Trinidad standing in a market area. Although I believe there was danger and violence in Baguio we were unaware of it due to the care of our American and Filipino hosts.  We always felt safe and enjoyed every minute of our stay.

The work on His Hands for the Philippines is certainly making a difference to the lives of the children who are sponsored. Without the sponsorship these children from very poor families could not afford to go to school. They could not buy the uniforms and stationary that are mandatory to be able to attend, nor could they pay the levees and fees for various compulsory activities required during the year. Ten dollars a month wouldn't even buy a family one meal in Australia yet in the Philippines it goes a long way. The families are so grateful for our help and glad their children will be able to go to school and have a better future. I met many college students who have been able to complete their education due to being sponsored and are now going to university because they are still sponsored.(just $20 a month) Their families are so proud of these children and they are working very hard to do their best for their sponsor and their families. There seemed to be many children doing accountancy and teaching among the college children I recorded.

As we recorded the children’s updated information we also often heard the stories of their families and their situations. So many of these children had one or both parents working away and they were living with grandparents or relatives. We met one grandmother who was looking after her 7 grandchildren ranging in age from about 12 to 2 years old. Another little girls father was a miner and away mining most of the time, she had an older sister who worked in another city but their mother died in December so now she live with her 7 year old sister fully responsible for both of them. She is only 14. As I watched her with the other children in the church she had such a gentle kind heart, with her little sister close beside her she was the one helping the younger children to write their letters to their sponsor even though at the time she didn't have a sponsor. She has now as by God’s grace one of my children left the program giving me the perfect opportunity to sponsor this precious child.

I also found when I was taking their details that many of the children wanted to be doctors, nurse, teachers and policemen in the younger age group. The older children seemed to be doing very well at school often in the top 10 of their class and many excelling in mathematics and English. These children don’t take their sponsorship for granted they all want to do well to please their sponsor. Although these children don’t write very often to sponsors there is no doubt that sponsorship is having a very positive influence on their lives and they appreciate what sponsors are doing for them. They love receiving letters and cherish them, rereading them and know they are loved by someone across the sea.

The days we spent with His Hands for the Philippines will always remain with me, a wonderful experience with beautiful people and caring thoughtful Pastors. Our American hosts took great care of every detail with fellowship and humor

 we had so much fun in amidst the work we were doing, every day was full of new experiences to take in our stride and Jamie gave us great grace in our differences and made every day a pleasure taking into account our needs and different culture. I think we all learned a little more about each others countries both the similarities and the differences. I am so glad I took the leap in faith and headed to a far away country, way out of my comfort zone as I have learned so much and been totally blessed by the experience and wonderful people I met. Actually meeting the children I sponsor in person, talking with them and sharing some time with them was the most amazing blessing to me. It is one thing to write to a child and receive letters but it is a totally awesome experience to meet them and their families.

Manila byNight

Manila by Night

Path down the valley to a house

Early on Sunday morning Tristan took me to the Sydney International Airport to take my flight to the Philippines with my friend Elva. Elva arrived a few minutes before me and we went through the paperwork and checks to leave the country. As we waited the weather turned to storm clouds and rain. Flights from Brisbane and Melbourne being delayed by bad weather but not our flight.

We were only delayed by 10 minutes before we set off on our 8 hour flight to Manila. Due to a mess up with our boarding pass we ended up sitting in different parts of the plane. I had an isle seat which was perfect for my wrecked knee to be able to move. Elva had a window seat so she could watch as we passed over Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia. The flight seemed to pass quite quickly despite my technology not working with meals and chatting with a Filipino family from the south that were in the same row as me.

Crazy bus ride

We arrived in Manila on time, found our luggage and went to wait in terminal one for our American friends. The terminal was empty, baron not a shop or refreshment in sight and within no time we were almost the only ones there except cleaning staff and a few officials. Two hours to fill in sitting on a seat at almost midnight Australian time. A couple more planes arrived but still nothing really happening and we thought this very strange for an International Airport. About 20 minutes before the Americans were due to arrive Elva went to look at the only flight screen behind a barricade to see if their plane was on time only to find no Emirate flight listed. We found an official that said the Emirate flights came into terminal 3, miles away. No we couldn't walk it would be too far, yes we could go by taxi if we could find one. It wasn't looking good with only 20 minutes to be there. Then another worker came along, she said we could catch a shuttle bus free just outside the terminal. Great so we rushed out there.

We found the shuttle bus and waited, and waited, and waited until a few minutes before we needed to be there the bus took off. We sped across the tarmac in-between planes on the tarmac, past planes with passengers disembarking(we did stop to let them cross). At times we were so close to the planes on the tarmac we could have put our hand out the window and touched them. We went from one terminal to the next at top speed dodging anything in our path to finally the last stop terminal 3 and almost on time as our American friends were just coming through security. Next trick was to find our American travelling companions as they had asked us to meet them at the baggage department and we were locked out in the arrivals area. A helpful policeman came to our rescue.

Typical house we passed

By now it was well after midnight and we still hadn't eaten since lunch was served late due to turbulence. The Filipinos who were our hosts eventually found us and we were on our way to Calistan about 2-3 hours drive away. Manila by night was not well lit but from what I saw it was a very different country from anything I had seen before. Wide cement highways edged by houses some in good condition but much of it was broken ruins either destroyed and crumbling or with people living in the midst of it with light shining out of their broken homes. Many looked like they had been victims of the typhoons with plastic, cardboard and pieces of wood replacing what would have once been walls. As we drove north I was amazed at all the little road side stores consisting of a table and a shelf set up outside homes with various good for sale ranging from food to cans of soft drink or hand made goods. They were open all night as we passed at about 3 a.m. and still people sat waiting for a sale. We stopped for a quick snack at a chicken place similar to KFC with a McDonald's also near. Coke and McDonald's were everywhere. We passed many dark streets with people milling around, there was a brothel at one point with large blow up figures and scantly dressed girls. This was at about 4 a.m. but about 200 meters down the road were two little girls sitting on the pavement beautifully dressed sitting by a child size table and chairs with an empty bowl in front of them. They would have been about 4 and 7 years old. One was asleep slumped on the table the other just sitting. I felt so sorry for them what sort of short life will they have?

We drove into the night bumping along thee road changing sides regularly to avoid traffic and roadwork's that was marked by men with flags for signs or pot of burning something with the flames being the warning. We passed community after community all with little stalls still working and lights in homes that were no more than rubble and tin.

We reached Calisitan about 5 a.m. as the sun was rising. The family there had prepared 2 little rooms for us to sleep in with foam mattresses on the floor. Elva and i fell into a deep sleep for a couple of hours as we hadn't slept on the bus there. Jamie and Marilee rested but didn't sleep. We were woken to the news that they had prepared us a meal of rice, bread, hot dogs, omelette and coke. 

Children waiting

After our meal we went up to the church, a small 3 sided building with a beautiful carved pulpit and lectern made bu one of the family. The children were quietly waiting to be measured and photographed. They watched and joked as their friends were photographed and then disappeared as we finished. They were quite shy around us and didn't say much.  

Rice on the road

Once the measuring was completed we headed off for the mountains to Baguio with the ministers wife and little one year old daughter joining us. By daylight we could see much more of the countryside and the communities as we passed. There were miles of rice fields and often rice spread on the roads to dry with something placed on the road-at each end of the spread rice to warn you not to drive on it. Once the rice had been harvested skinny cows graze on the stumps left above the ground.

Pastors beautiful garden

the mountains

Slowly the farm lands gave way to forests which reminded me of the Mt Field forests but as we got higher it also looked very different. The mountain ranges were stunning stark with huge caverns and rocks screed slopes hundreds of meters long. Nestled among these rugged slopes were little dwellings carved into the cliff faces or hanging precariously over the edges. Some dwellings were on the other side of the valley and these were reached by three wires suspended across the valley hundreds of feet below was a narrow river. The occupants of these houses carry everything needed across these wires, I can't imagine how they did it, their balance and skill must be amazing as this was the only access to their houses.