As soon as we pulled in I wanted to leave. I was appalled,
disgusted and shocked. I asked myself, “Do people really live like this? Do
they really raise families surrounded by piles and piles of this awfully
pungent, disease infested trash?” Yes, they do! This is how thousands upon thousands
of families make their homes – in a trash dump just outside of Manila.
“So I’ve smelled this “smell” everyday for 17 years, I’ve
also breathed in this all this methane as well.” The crazy thing is Pastor Fred
said this with a smile on his face. And this “methane” he speaks of is a gas
produced by all the trash that’s been dumped over the years, word is it ain’t
good for the lungs. Anyway, so Pastor Fred is telling me all this while he’s
showing me around the pre-school he helps run. The cost is 4 pesos per day per
student. That’s about 10 cents. However Pastor says not all the parents can
afford it. But he doesn’t force them to pay – he understands, after all he
lives right across from the school. So he knows how these people live – like
scavengers, in fact that’s what 90 percent of them are. It’s ironic really; the
same trash that’s killing them with disease is keeping them alive. Look! What
do you see here?
Trash right, a disgusting mess of you know what. That’s what
I see. That’s what I smell. But to these people they see an opportunity, a job
– they see money! How? Here’s the deal, 80 percent of what you see here is recyclable.
This is the inside of Pastor Fred’s church. On Sunday’s
it’s, well, a church, but during the week it’s a recycling business employing
several folks from the community. Workers get paid 150 pesos a day (a little
more than 3 dollars) to go out and sift thru this utter hell to find plastic
bags, bottles, anything you can recycle. They bring it back to the church where
it gets cleaned and re-packaged. Finally Pastor Fred loads it up and takes it
out of the slums where he sells it to Chinese business men. What they do with
it, I’m not sure, but it pays Pastor enough that it keeps his church up and
running plus provides some income to the people in the community.
And so this is his life – a life he chose, a life God asked
him to live. And through that obedience Pastor Fred’s life offers a chance to sweet,
cute kiddos that didn’t ask to be born in this horrific world. Pastor Fred’s
life offers jobs to people who desperately need a way to survive. Friends,
Pastor Fred’s life offers hope!
What in the world does my life offer? What will it offer? Who
depends on me? Who will I lead? Who will I inspire? Am I being obedient to my
heavenly Father? Only He knows the answers to those questions. But I’ll tell
you this, I couldn’t get out of that trash heap fast enough – the smell, the
sights, THE REALITY of it all was too much. But I’m glad I went though, because
today I met an angel of God named Fred.
