Hey Everyone, I miss you all very much! The last 4 months
have gone fast, but so much growth has happened in my family, my heart, and my
desire to serve the Lord. The following
is a brief family update: Elijah lost 4 more teeth, has performed two dances at
his school, and practices Tagalog everyday (He loves to communicate with
Jeepney drivers in Tagalog). He is growing up so fast! Noah is so curious. She loves to observe people, and ask me why they
do certain things. Chloe also is growing up a ton. She can speak in full
sentences…they may not be spoken back-to-back, but she knows them J. Shaun is doing great!
He’ll come back with more grey hairs, but it won’t be from living here, it will
just be from making the kids sit down to eat J.
Caring for my family in a new environment is accompanied with challenges and
learning curves, but overall I am doing well.
This past week I was able to visit the dumpsite and red light
district in Cebu City. So much injustice takes place in these areas of needs;
it’s hard to even know where to begin my processing. Here are some of the
things I observed while in the dumpsite. I will post in a couple days about my
visit to the red light district.
The
Dumpsite:
This place has the worst living conditions one can
imagine. The men, women and children
living there literally live in, eat and breathe trash all day long. Their
houses are made of trash, their walkways are made of trash and the clothes they
are wearing often come from the trash. It’s hard to describe all the horrific
things I witnessed while there.
-I
saw newborn babies and children of all ages covered in dirt.
-I
saw barefoot children running around on broken glass and animal feces.
-I
saw women bathing their children in the sewer water that lines the streets.
-I
saw children covered head to toe in soars, scratches and scabs.
-I
saw flies swarming all over a newborns face but the mother seemed too hopeless
to shew them away. (Which makes sense because there weren’t a few flies, but
thousands. When people tried to shew them away it did no good, because there were so many.)
- I
saw little girls sitting and playing in piles of trash with NO pants or
underwear on.
These are just some of the things I
witnessed that should NOT BE HAPPENING. But
I also saw these things while there…
-Mothers
loving on their children.
-Children
laughing and smiling.
-Children
playing with broken toys, but seeming to care they were broken.
-I
saw women smiling and talking together while cooking over a single open flame.
-I
saw older folks playing dominos and chatting.
These sights made every thing worse to me. I was so confused
on how people could find joy in such a terrible place. How can children smile
when their bodies are so infected? How did they find the strength to get up and
live another day? These are still
questions I am thinking through. I think
a lot of the reason is they don’t think they deserve better. We have to free
these people from the injustice they live in.
We learned that the government has tried to relocate the people living
in the dumpsite to another location, but it didn’t work because education and subjective
liberation weren’t included. Their mindsets are going to have to change before
moving from the dumpsite makes sense to them. I want to help fix this mindset!
We have to fix this mindset! But I am aware for us to be able to help people in
situations like this our own mindset has to be changed. We can’t be a people
who complain, we can’t be a people who take education for granted, and we can’t
be a people who say we want to make a difference but don’t want to put in the
work.
Lord, please help us to realize everyday is a new day to pick
up our cross and follow you. Help us to wake up everyday more eager than the
last to learn your word and not grow weary in doing good. I pray this is the
best semester for everyone! We are so privileged to live for Jesus and share
his goodness!
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