So I’m finally in the Philippines! Well, I’ve been here for about 2 weeks now, I haven’t gotten the time to get WiFi since where we are staying doesn’t have it. Anyways it took a long amount of traveling from Albania to the Philippines. We literally spent half a week of traveling to get here in Tacloban. After spending multiple hours on buses to get to the airport to wait for our 12 hour flight, a two day break at a church than to a 34 hour bus ride, we made it!
I got time on the bus to reflect on my experiences in Albania and how it was such a blessing. I’m going to miss Albania and all the big and little things that happened. I’m going to miss speaking my poor Albanian with the members of the church or any passerby that I met, I’m going to miss playing with the my kids in the preschool and teaching lessons, I’m going to miss getting coffee with my friends at the church multiple times a day. It’s crazy to think that it’s over and how fast it all went by. My first country is completed and now I’m here in the Philippines in a city that was devastated 3 years ago by a massive typhoon. The storm had winds up to 350km/hr, whirlpools, tornadoes and three 30 foot waves that hit the shores.There were 20,000 people who died in this event and every person I have met has been affected by it. In one way or another someone has lost a loved one.
Because of the typhoon, Kids International ministries was created to share the love of Christ by doing many feedings for children at various schools and feeding people in villages who don’t have a lot. The poverty here is so much more evident than Albania. Everywhere we go, we see shack houses with dirt floors, built with bamboo and roofs made from coconut branches.
We go into villages that are filled with houses like these feeding the children and all who are hungry. The kids get their food and when they are done eating, we play with them. I consider this a solid work out regiment because we will play tag and run around until we can’t breathe. I sweat through my shirt every time partly because I’m out of shape and also because the humidity here is real. I thought that Albanians were super friendly, but Philippinos are extremely friendly. Once they see you, their faces light up with smiles and they’ll wave, saying hello with this enthusiasm that can’t be captured. Every child we meet has this and the kids who come to our facility to play are all fun loving and hilarious. It’s been so amazing getting to create connections with them (there are scheduled times for them to come and play at the playground here).
One day when we were with the kids, one of them mentioned the typhoon. My friend Sam and I asked them what it was like. They went on to describe traumatic scenes that are equivalent to stories of war veterans. All of these kids described seeing see dead bodies wash up from shore, dead bodies in the streets and on roofs and in trees. They mentioned being without food and water for several days, having no clothes to wear besides a large t shirt. After they described all of this, they said that they were thankful to God for being alive. One of the girls asked us when we were out of questions, “what was your biggest trial?” my heart dropped and I didn’t have an answer. What was my biggest trial? Are you serious? Maybe feeling insecure at school, maybe feeling like nobody liked me for a short period of time but anything I would have said wouldn’t have held any weight. These kids went through hell and they wanted to know if I’ve experienced any troubles. It was sobering. I’ve never met people who have had so much pain engulf them and still be able to have joy. They all lost their family members, homes, they experienced some of the deepest sorrows, but still thanked God for being with them through all of it.
When this happened it opened my eyes to my ungratefullness, it showed me that even when I have food and a nice bed to sleep on, I can be ungrateful towards little things that I take for granted. These kids were grateful through pain and hardship and I’m grateful for them.
Final remarks:
Even though I’m technically here on the missions trip I still have a goal to raise, I need to raise $3000 to be fully funded so if you feel led to donate I would appreciate it immensely. Thank you so much and God bless!
