Another picture of Hannah (still sp?) for clarification :)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Randomness - Now With Pictures!
Well, I don't really have anything actually coherent to add, but I thought I'd throw up some random thoughts and a pic to let every know that I'm alive, and no more normal than before :)
This here above is Little Hannah. She may be the happiest child I ever ever met - all she does is run around randomly all day, talking like the Spanish channel set on fast forward and grinning from ear to ear. Falling down is no problem, and she's so little that the other kids even pick her up and toss her around and she loves it. :)
And then over here on the right we have a Jeepney (sp?). For 7 Pesos, or about 17 cents, you can go anywhere that they go. And don't worry, there is *always* room for one more.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
off to the mountains!
hey all,
our team (minus Tim, Hana, and Patrick who stayed to help out more with the business development/micro-financing part of the trip) just returned from a 2 day trip in the mountains. the purpose was twofold: help plant banana trees, and assist medical staff with their clinic. the hike up was about 2 hours in humid, muddy, steep conditions. the hike alone was enough to tire one for a day, but we trekked on. we split up into 2 teams...one with the trees, and the other helping with the medical clinic. the community we served had about 100 people, many of whom were young children. there was a recent epidemic there that required immediate attention, hence the medical staff attending. the community's water source also recently stopped working. many of the problems that we saw were fevers, coughs, diarrhea, and open sores/inflammed skin. i think we all agreed that the most difficult thing was knowing that many of these conditions could have been prevented if there was clean running water. to date, the closest water source is a river about 1 km away.
i think the trip provided an excellent perspective regarding the degree of poverty we find ourselves amidst here in the Philippines. it's sometimes hard to gauge what "poor" really means until you see a different version of it.
i think will be posting a little bit later about some other things we did during last week - specifically the business development and early childhood education workshops.
it's hard to believe that our time here in the Philippines is coming to an end. tomorrow, our team will be heading off for our debrief. this will be a time to prepare for re-entry back into Canada, and our Western lifestyle. the most important things about debrief would have to be reflecting on what you learned, and what you will do with it when you return home.
please pray for our team as this is arguably one of the most important parts of a short-term missions trip.
much love,
deb
our team (minus Tim, Hana, and Patrick who stayed to help out more with the business development/micro-financing part of the trip) just returned from a 2 day trip in the mountains. the purpose was twofold: help plant banana trees, and assist medical staff with their clinic. the hike up was about 2 hours in humid, muddy, steep conditions. the hike alone was enough to tire one for a day, but we trekked on. we split up into 2 teams...one with the trees, and the other helping with the medical clinic. the community we served had about 100 people, many of whom were young children. there was a recent epidemic there that required immediate attention, hence the medical staff attending. the community's water source also recently stopped working. many of the problems that we saw were fevers, coughs, diarrhea, and open sores/inflammed skin. i think we all agreed that the most difficult thing was knowing that many of these conditions could have been prevented if there was clean running water. to date, the closest water source is a river about 1 km away.
i think the trip provided an excellent perspective regarding the degree of poverty we find ourselves amidst here in the Philippines. it's sometimes hard to gauge what "poor" really means until you see a different version of it.
i think will be posting a little bit later about some other things we did during last week - specifically the business development and early childhood education workshops.
it's hard to believe that our time here in the Philippines is coming to an end. tomorrow, our team will be heading off for our debrief. this will be a time to prepare for re-entry back into Canada, and our Western lifestyle. the most important things about debrief would have to be reflecting on what you learned, and what you will do with it when you return home.
please pray for our team as this is arguably one of the most important parts of a short-term missions trip.
much love,
deb
Sunday, December 2, 2007
hopeless vs hope-full
Yesterday, our team was able to serve in a really unique way. We woke up shortly before 5am to pack food packs for the poorest of the poor in Davao. Like in Vancouver, the downtown core has a plethora of marginalized, homeless and sick people. Every so often, the people here at Hope for the Nations wake up early in the morning to our Filipino friends. The key to this approach is to do it early enough that we catch them before they go off to work...because once they leave, they probably would have not eaten already.
I was blessed to be in a group with Patrick, Tim, Cory (another missionary), and Dexter (a 17yr old volunteer here with Hope for the Nations. The first person we approached was in a city square area sleeping on a piece of cardboard, on a platform by a water fountain. He couldn't have been older than 12, and was disturbingly dirty. As we approached him, my heart began to feel heavy as i grieved his situation. As he awoke, he told us that he was cold...he was sleeping in shorts, and no shirt. I wondered, "where is his family? does he go to school? what does he have to wake up to?!"
we visited more people/families later and came across a family of 4 - Grace, Charlie, Vincent and Precious. here we had an ENTIRE family sleeping together on a piece...several pieces of cardboard. As Grace began to share her story with us, she began to cry. We were humbled. I think my confidence in God and yet the frustration with the degree of poverty was meeting at that moment. I found myself in what seemed to be an utterly hopeless situation.
Later in the afternoon, KP and I made our way to to the home of Bryan, the child that Tenth sponsors. we were there to film his story to take home to Vancouver to show our church family what their money and prayers are going towards. Bryan is 13. His favourite subject is Math. He likes to play basketball and chess. He hopes one day to be a pilot. He began volunteering here at the House of Jubilee in March. the reason he comes? to be with the toddlers. that is precious.
I also met a beautifully inspiring young boy named Dexter. Dexter is 17, and will be graduating from highschool in the next year. Right now, he's trying to decide if he will go to university, or if he will spend some time with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS). If he studies, he wants to pursue Political Science, and one day become a lawyer. In deciding if he wants to go on a DTS, he told me that he wants to make sure that he's NOT going for the wrong motivations. Most people he knows come back from a DTS unchanged because they went with wrong motivations, mostly because they want to leave the Philippines and travel. Dexter, however, really wants to deepen his faith and understand God in this new context, still serving in his country, just a different province. WOW. what youth do i know is so aware of themselves at this age?
and so my friends...Saturday was an overwhelming day. the morning saw many hopeless people. the afternoon saw dreams, ambitions and desires rooted in faith and the strong foundation of God.
incredible.
deb
I was blessed to be in a group with Patrick, Tim, Cory (another missionary), and Dexter (a 17yr old volunteer here with Hope for the Nations. The first person we approached was in a city square area sleeping on a piece of cardboard, on a platform by a water fountain. He couldn't have been older than 12, and was disturbingly dirty. As we approached him, my heart began to feel heavy as i grieved his situation. As he awoke, he told us that he was cold...he was sleeping in shorts, and no shirt. I wondered, "where is his family? does he go to school? what does he have to wake up to?!"
we visited more people/families later and came across a family of 4 - Grace, Charlie, Vincent and Precious. here we had an ENTIRE family sleeping together on a piece...several pieces of cardboard. As Grace began to share her story with us, she began to cry. We were humbled. I think my confidence in God and yet the frustration with the degree of poverty was meeting at that moment. I found myself in what seemed to be an utterly hopeless situation.
Later in the afternoon, KP and I made our way to to the home of Bryan, the child that Tenth sponsors. we were there to film his story to take home to Vancouver to show our church family what their money and prayers are going towards. Bryan is 13. His favourite subject is Math. He likes to play basketball and chess. He hopes one day to be a pilot. He began volunteering here at the House of Jubilee in March. the reason he comes? to be with the toddlers. that is precious.
I also met a beautifully inspiring young boy named Dexter. Dexter is 17, and will be graduating from highschool in the next year. Right now, he's trying to decide if he will go to university, or if he will spend some time with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS). If he studies, he wants to pursue Political Science, and one day become a lawyer. In deciding if he wants to go on a DTS, he told me that he wants to make sure that he's NOT going for the wrong motivations. Most people he knows come back from a DTS unchanged because they went with wrong motivations, mostly because they want to leave the Philippines and travel. Dexter, however, really wants to deepen his faith and understand God in this new context, still serving in his country, just a different province. WOW. what youth do i know is so aware of themselves at this age?
and so my friends...Saturday was an overwhelming day. the morning saw many hopeless people. the afternoon saw dreams, ambitions and desires rooted in faith and the strong foundation of God.
incredible.
deb
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