I had the opportunity to spend the morning representing
Jeepney magazine in the heart of Manila in Chinatown. Jeepney is the Philippines first street paper. According to Jeepney magazine,
“Impoverished people sell street papers in major cities worldwide. A minimum of 50% of the coverprice
from a sale goes to the vendor, and in turn they use the money to buy
additional papers
and sell yet more copies. This concept builds a structure of entrepreneurship,
savings, accountability and self worth; all things people need to be successful
in an urban society. Our magazine
has one goal: To create and
provide jobs for the homeless community that meets or exceed the minimum wage.”
The Jeepney magazine office is in the ministry complex where
we are living this month so we have the opportunity to work with them in
whatever ways they need. Today the
vendor relations representative, Reah, was headed to Chinatown to find more
vendors. Chinatown is a new market
for the Jeepney so Leisa, Jillian and I had a goal of helping spread the word
about the magazine and finding some new vendors to sell the magazine.
Upon arriving to Chinatown we quickly found out how much we
stuck out in the crowd. Everyone
stared at us and wanted to say hi.
At times I felt like a celebrity.
Later Jillian and I were told by a women that tourist don’t come to
Chinatown so it’s rare that they see an American, which is why we were so
popular. However, it was a great
opportunity to speak about the magazine.
As the morning was winding down, Leisa and I met
Thelma. She had perfect English so
we started asking her about her life.
She told us she worked for MGM Studios in 1959 as an assistant
secretary. She was promoted after
8 months and had the opportunity to escort Charlton Heston 
around Manila when
he came for the Philippines premier of the movie Ben-Hur. She had the opportunity to travel
around Asia and visit the US. MGM
in the Philippines was bought out in 1972 and she lost her job. With her degree in journalism, she
quickly found a job working for Time magazine. After a few years her mother got sick so she had to leave
her job to care for her mother.
After her mother passed away, Thelma developed asthma and was not able
to do physical labor and jobs were not easy to come by. Now she begs for money in the streets
as a way to pay for her medication.
I was blown away by this women’s story and her smile. Despite her circumstances she loves the
Lord and has joy. Today she became
a new vendor of the Jeepney magazine and sold her first copy while we were
still standing there! She is also
going to write stories for the magazine.
I’m so excited that God led us to the right street corner to meet
Thelma!
For more information about the Jeepney magazine or to subscribe and make a difference, please visit www.thejeepney.com.
