Part of our ministry here in Manila is doing two feedings
every day. The teams here decided to each take responsibility for a couple
every week. My team had our first team feeding this morning. I thought I would
be completely comfortable at the feedings. I thought that I would know what was
going on and know what to expect because I had gone to many feedings when I
interned at Dry Bones. How wrong I was.
We drove about 40 minutes or so to get to the community that
the feeding was at today. We found out later that the community that we went to
are all displaced people. When the typhoon hit a couple years ago, their
community was flooded and they were forced to relocate until it dried up enough
to return. But when it was safe enough to return, they were told they could not
come back. The Red Cross ended up stepping in and building them houses in this
new location. It looked exactly like what you would see on TV. The tiny homes
were identical, all within probably a foot of each other. The people came
running as soon as we got there to get their food.
There were probably at least 100 or 150 people that came to
our van, most of them small children. They would bring a bowl and we would
serve them a pretty large portion of food. The part that hit me the most was at
the end of the feeding. We were running low when several children came running
up with their bowls. We didn’t even have enough food for all of them. I had so
many thoughts running through my head. How long has it been since they have
eaten a meal? How long will it be until they eat because we ran out of food?
What is going through their heads right now? How could we have done better?
Ironically, the day before this happened, our contact told
us that he usually does an exercise with the groups that come to him. He said
that he likes to put dinner out on the table for them and have them pray over
it, but when they open the bowls, there is nothing there. It makes you think
about what it would be like when you don’t have any food. The despair and the
feelings that come from never knowing what or when you will eat again. He has
them go and take an hour to pray for the people going hungry in the world, and
for the people who won’t get to eat tonight. Then they eat dinner after that. I
heard that one night, then the next morning I saw it. It changes your
perspective.
