Malaybalay are feeding programs. The
feeding programs usually consist of a few people going to various spots around
the town or more rural areas and distributing food we’ve cooked. If it is one of the kids programs we always
like to sing a few songs, teach a Bible story, and pray with the kids along
with giving out the food. Here are a few
pictures from one of the kids programs we did last week…
One of the first days we arrived here our team had the
chance to distribute food outside the local hospital. Directly across the street from the hospital
is a small area of land that has a few trees on it and fifteen to thirty people
on it depending on the time of day. The
hospitals here in the Philippines work a little differently than the ones we’re
used to. The person checked into the
hospital is allowed to have one permanent visitor who is essentially their
caretaker. Only that person is allowed
to be with the patient and they are responsible for many of the things we
expect nurses to do.
Because only one person is allowed to visit and people may
travel far to get to the hospital, the other family and friends that are
visiting have to wait outside the hospital. Some will stay and sleep there on boxes or on the ground and wait until
the person gets out of the hospital. We
like to go and take cooked food to those who are waiting since many of them may
not have had a meal in quite some time. One of the men I met when I first got there told me that his two month
old son was in the hospital and had been there for almost a month. He was sick with something and had diarrhea
but didn’t seem to be getting better. The medical bills were expensive and he didn’t have much money before
his son got sick, so he was forced to sell his home in order to pay for the
hospital costs.
He was now homeless and sleeping outside the hospital hoping
his son would get better quickly since he had no idea how he was going to
continue to pay for everything. In the
midst of all this he was grateful we had come out to bring him food and share
with him about God and just talk about his situation. As we fed the people that were there they
went in and made sure everyone knew that we were there giving out food. It was cool but heartbreaking to see the
community that had developed over the dismal circumstances they were living
in. But we also saw how they cared for
and looked out for one another as a larger family.
There are so many stories like this from our time here in
the Philippines, from Asia, from the World Race. Wherever you are, please be available to
those God puts in your path and who He wants you to interact with and love
on. We have the privilege and responsibility
of being the hands and feet of God here on earth….let’s represent Him
well.
