Manila is a world with strange mixtures. There is all of the Spanish influence, but all of the Asian people. There is all the police and government of a big city, with all the corruption. There is great wealth, and there is great poverty. The “A class” lives in gated communities, in 3 or 4 story houses with maidservants and drivers, and visits the nice malls (malls are all over the place!). The “D class” lives on the street, often sniffing “rugby,” a turpentine or glue mixture used to get high, and begging or stealing. Manila’s poor make up one third of it’s population. The shanty homes and shacks they live in, which look like the could fall over at any moment, don’t just dot the city, they are everywhere they fit. The government often simply bulldozes them if they have a need for the land, many times taking what is inside the homes for themselves if there is anything of value.
Our third week in the Phillipines, some of us got the privilege of working with the Jeepney magazine. A jeepney is a large public transportation vehicle used as a small bus/taxi. The Jeepney magazine is a street publication, sold by vendors who are homeless or in great poverty, and the content of the magazine deals with homeless issues and issues of poverty in Manila. It is just about one year old, and the editors and minds behind it are still trying to get it off the ground so to speak. They have 5 vendors currently, as it is difficult in Manila to put vendors on the streets, so no one is bothered by them. These people living depends upon their sales. They get to keep 50 of the 100 pesos from each magazine sold, and in doing make money to support their families and themselves. There is more to this story which I will have to tell later, but their website is found HERE. Please pray for this publication and the people involved. If you happen upon a street paper in your town, one of the best things you can do is talk to the vendor, and buy a magazine or paper.
