I haven’t blogged
yet this month, I’m a slacker, I know. I think I’ve started this blog
about 5 times but I feel like I’m still processing what my life has looked like
this month. But, here’s an overview with more to come.
I arrived in the
Philippines with my entire squad on March first, after over a day of traveling.
We had left Gold Coast, Australia, flew for 8 hours to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
and had something like a 15-hour layover there before catching our final flight
to Manila, Philippines.
This month our
entire squad has been together at Kids International Ministries in Rizal,
outside of Manila. KIM has an orphanage here as well as being very active in
the extremely poor communities in surrounding areas. Director Jeff Long, his
family and staff have been incredible hosts and have given us many
opportunities to minister in diverse ways. We’ve been blessed to take on
ministries such as feeding children in the streets, Bible studies with young
gang members, prison ministries, mentoring and tutoring kids in the orphanage,
vacation Bible school, building homes and so much more. Every team has a
primary ministry focus but have their hands in others as well.
This has all kept
us pretty busy but now and then we’ve had the chance to go out and
see more of
the surrounding areas. Problem was, how do we get there?
Enter: The trikey. 
A trikey is a
motorcycle of sorts with a large side cart bolted onto it. We usually only have
7 of us in this little guy but I’ve seen up to 10 with people hanging off the
sides and riding on the back, which is a lot of fun I might add. The trikey
costs 8 pesos (about 17 cents) and will take us down the road to the nearest
major intersection a few miles from where we live.
From there, it’s all about
the jeepney. This gaudy creature is the primary method of transportation in the
Philippines. It seats maybe 20+ at a time and generally costs about
7 pesos to
get to the nearest mall, called SM TayTay. Jeepneys are also known for having
murals of anything from Britney Spears to Jesus and everything in between
painted on the sides. So, as you can see, transportation in the Philippines is
um, interesting, to say the least.
It is like living
in two different worlds when you leave the general comfort of the KIM compound
and go outside the gate. It is a very poor community, small shacks with tin
roofs lining the dirt roads that also serve as waste runoff at times. Many
parents teach their adorable kids to go out and ask for money when they see a
white person or someone that looks like they have money.
The people here are
very friendly overall, even in the prisons, which has been my team’s primary
ministry this month. Men and women who have been convicted of dealing drugs,
stealing and even murder, greet you with a smile when you arrive and are
anxious to study God’s word… amazing. This has been my first experience being
the racial minority but I doubt that it feels like this in the US. Sometimes
you feel a little bit like a rock star when you take a casual walk down the
street. Kids come out of nowhere to talk and play with you and others just
stare at the group of Americans walking down the street. I’ve even found myself doing the same
thing. I’ll be walking in the mall and will see a few white people and I’ll
take a second look and wonder who they are and what they’re doing here. Maybe
sometimes I feel like I am Filipino, even though I’ve only lived here a month
and speak (maybe) two words in tagalog.
So there’s a little
bit of an overview of what we’ve been doing and what life is like here in the
Philippines. More to come soon with details on our super amazing prison ministry
and recent events on M squad. From here on out I promise I’ll try to stay more
on top of things.
