Kim, Mary, Paula and I.
I met Kim*, Mary* and Paula* tonight. I had the privileged to sit down and chat with them while waiting for our bus to come and pick up the rest of our squad. Kim was telling me about her life and ended it with the saying “Never been kissed, never been touched but totally damaged.” She is a mother of 7 ranging from the age of 7-21 years old. She kept referring to herself as ugly because she is wearing braces to help straighten her teeth. I told her that she was not ugly but beautiful. She thanked me for the compliment and had a big smile on her face. I sat there with the three ladies and we laughed and smiled all night long.
Paula also called herself ugly and said that she was fine with it because ugly people are an endangered species. I told Paula that everyone is beautiful and that she is not ugly. I told her that her new name is Maganda which means beautiful in the Tagalog language, since she despised her name. She referred to her name as a mechanic name with no meaning. Paula wears a scarf around her neck to hide the huge mass. I did not ask her what it was since she is already insecure about it. Since, she did not “look like” everyone else she labeled herself ugly.
By the end of the night Kim looked over at me and said “I am going to miss you”. I replied I am going to miss you too. I had an incredible night with these ladies; a night filled with laughter. Before we left, our squad came together and prayed for them. Here we are in front of a park with two Philippine women standing in the middle of 20 squad members praying for them. It was an amazing night.
***
A little boy in the community named Harold* called me over and said he wanted to talk to me. He started to explain to me how he was afraid of me because of the color of my skin. He proceeded to say “I realize that we are all the same, we just have different color skin. I wanted to be honest to you tita (auntie in the Tagalog language).” I had a huge smile on my face and the word breakthrough flashed before my eyes.
I came to the Philippines with the notion that it will be hard for the Philippine people to accept me because of my skin color. I was wrong Harold may have been afraid in the beginning but now he is my “little nephew”. I’ve been very surprised by how receptive the Philippino people are; they are truly the friendliest people ever.
***
Susie did not want to come outside because she wants to be white. She is not comfortable in the skin that God gave her and wanted something more “acceptable”. Some of the kids in her school teased her because she had her hair braided and she did not like what she was being labeled. She decided to take the braids out and wanted to stay inside as long as possible so that her skin would be lighter. I went on to explain to her how much of a jewel she is and that she is the apple of God’s eyes. We all are made differently and that’s what makes us so unique. I told her that she should not let what others say about you alter who she is. I then told her to go and put some shoes on and met me outside. Marci*(another teen girl) joined us on a little stroll and we chatted some more.
***
Kim never been kissed, Harold never been touched and Susie damaged. It is so painful to hear the stories and trials that they go through. However, I am so happy that we are here to share about the light (Christ) that eliminates darkness.
Kim may have never been kissed, but I really hope that our prayer gave her the kiss of Christ.
Harold may have never been touched by someone of another skin color, but I pray that by the time we leave, his life will be filled with so much love for people of a different skin color that he will not know what to do.
Susie may have been damaged by the words that was said to her about her identity, but I pray that she finds her identity in Christ and know that she is worth more than rubies.
Never been kissed, never been touched, but totally damaged has changed to Always loving, always caring, Christ heals.
* the names has been changed
