Where to even begin. My journey began waking up at 5:30am on Saturday, January 10th in Atlanta. We flew from there to LAX and had a 9 hour layover, then an eventful 15 hour flight to China, including a few medical issues with out team (One who ended up having to have an appendectomy in China as soon as we landed). Needless to say it was an “exciting” start to the race. After hanging out in the China international terminal for 9 hours, we boarded our 3rd and final plane for Manila. We landed in Manila at 4:45pm local time, a little more than 50 hours after leaving Atlanta.
After making it through customs, it took about 2 hours for us to get the luggage and the SIM cards for our satellite phones working. We then met our contact for Kids International Ministry. After putting all the packs in the bus and piling as many of us in there, we ate our first meal in the Philippines – KFC. Haha. We each at our meal for about 80 pesos a piece – $2.
After dinner, our bus ride back to the ministry was about 2 hours, which was only 12 miles. Everyone passed out on the ride. We made it to KIM and then hiked up to the “penthouse” on the 4th floor for our team.
Falling into bed, we slept really well. Dani and I got up at 5:30 to take showers on Tuesday. One team had already gotten up and taken off for Tacloban in the south. Dani and I ate breakfast with the team of student teachers here from Taylor. They are super fun and energetic. I’m so glad to have met them. I am sad we don’t get to stay here with them all month. There’s also a group of three friends that I’ve gotten to know. They are so great with the kids. I am said to say goodbye to all these new friends! After breakfast, Emma – a former world racer – took us to the New Faith Family Children’s Home, across the street. And there I met some of the most beautiful babies and toddlers I’ve ever seen. Not just physically beautiful but sweet kindhearted kids. They have such resilience. One of the caretakers told me most of them were obtained at only a few days old. They currently have a baby, Matthew who is 10 weeks old. He has some serious rash on his face but he is so cuddly – I could just eat him up.
We played with the kids for several hours, with the other racers from our team coming over as well as some of team The Fellowship. We are together until this Friday when we will split up in Mindanao. Playing with the kids was great, but exhausting. I have no idea how the nannies do it 24/7 with only 2 of them there at a time and 16 kids (give or take). Taking them outside was a whole new game. They run wild but have so much fun. My favorite part was the rendition of “Let it Go” they sang. That song literally is everywhere in the world. After playing with the kids in the morning and afternoon, Dani, Lydia and I went to a village feeding. This is where the ministry delivers food high in protein to some of the poorer areas of the community. They do this morning and night, 7 days a week. You would think soap was candy, the way the kids fought to get it. One girl definitely walked away with 6 bars, even though they were only supposed to get 1.
That night, we had a fabulous dinner with our friends from Taylor and then were told about the spa and fitness center the ministry has. SPA you say?!? Massages? Yes please. My back was dying from plane rides and my feet were swollen so much I just had to slide my Chacos on, no tightening of the strap. I went down at 8pm and got a great massage. It’s definitely not an Amy Swink massage (my masseuse back home), but I fell asleep, which is the sign of a good massage for me haha. And it cost …… $6. For an hour. Yes. This is real life.
I then loaded up on Nyquil (I have had a cold sine we got here) and took a shower and slept gloriously. This morning, we got up and went to a feeding in a village farther away. Russell, an Australian here helping, explained its one of the poorest areas in Manila. There are no words to describe what I saw. People walking through the dump heap. A little boy running around naked. Two boys walking, one supporting the other who had a large wound on his leg that could potentially be the cause of his death. And this was all from the car as we drove deeper into the village to see the kids.
We pulled up and kids came RUNNING with their mugs, cups, bowls, and bags. Anything they could fill up with the food. They lined up as we prayed and got their food. Jess and Rick filled up the bags as I went and took pictures of kids and talked with them. These kids were so eager to be loved. It’s still very nerve wrecking to have the kids say something in Tagalog and then laugh while you are around, cause you know they are most likely laughing at you. There’s not room to be self-conscious.
I wish I could describe it but I can’t. This afternoon we went swimming in the pool at KIM and I jumped off a 30-foot ledge into the pool twice. It was fabulous. Scott let me take a go pro video so look for that on facebook.
This afternoon was more loving on the kids. Tonight we are going with Edwin, Tristan and Becca (3 of our friends who are here working with KIM) to work with some kids for worship and a message. I will update you again soon. I am still getting used to all I’m observing and so I don’t have any deep spiritual revelations yet. But it is just day 2. J Love you all!
