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Our ministry assignment this month is to work with a lovely woman named Marita who co-founded Kalinga Ministries. Marita is beautiful, full of the Holy Spirit and a pleasure to be around. She beams with love and grace, and her heart breaks for the women caught in the trap of prostitution. 

The ministry is focused on getting women out of the “Entertainment” business in the Philippines and is currently working in 2 cities-originally in the city of Cabanatuan and now also in Baguio City where we are working. It’s amazing that the ministry has an office in the Baguio Health Department building where all the women in the entertainment business are required to report each week for free health screenings. The government is able to regulate the industry a little better by offering these free services and registering all the women (and men) of the night. For Marita and her ministry, this office location provides an easy way to keep in touch with her target audience. 

We spent some time this week in orientation and getting our hearts broken hearing the facts and stories behind the women and kids affected by prostitution. I was overwhelmed with all the real life stories and statistics. We also spent some time praying for the suppliers and demanders of this service. Shortly after, we went downstairs to the clinic to meet and visit with some young girls who are just getting into the business. They were maybe 18 years old and have about a 3rd grade education. In the Philippines, parents must pay to send their kids to school, even public school, and therefore it’s not required that all children attend. You can imagine how there could be an education problem.   

One of the services Kalinga Ministries offers is ALS classes (Alternative Learning System- like our GED program). We were asked to help fill in some of the teaching slots, and so my teammates taught Science (eyes and ears) and I taught Business Math (interest and currency exchange) this week. 

 

The attached pictures are of the location where we are staying. It’s the Philippines Baptist Theological Seminary (PBTS) and from a festival called Penagbenga, which is a big flower festival we attended this weekend. For more info on our exciting experience at the Penagbenga, please check out my teammate’s blog at: http://ellencuningham.theworldrace.org/?filename=americans-where
 

Finally, we did an outreach last night on the streets and in the clubs working with the women.  Look for the next blog describing that interesting night.