In Manila we visited some of the poor neighborhoods with a pastor and
his wife that serve among the people that live there in underprivileged
conditions. We first went to their “Church”, which happened to be a small space
in the entrance of a building, where they had gathered some of the kids and
their mothers. We did a small program for them with some songs and games and
gave them gifts and Christian booklets. Then we installed a water purifier at
the pastor’s house, which will provide clean drinking water for this community
because the water they receive in their homes is not clean and undrinkable.
This situation put those people in front of two decisions, either to drink the
infected water they receive with all the health risks it caused them and
specially their children or buy clean drinking water, which was an extra cost
for them that most find hard to afford. By having the water purifier they can
now have clean drinking water freely.
Smokey Mountain is a large garbage dump in Manila and it is home to
around 30,000 individuals that live in the dump area and make a living by
scavenging through the garbage for plastics and other material that they can
sell. With an organization called “Young Focus” we were able to go and visit
the families that live there in extremely poor conditions. This organization
sponsors some of the kids in the slum and provides good education to them as
well as a place to study and teaches them some basic craft work that they can
sell to support their families. Apart from the garbage that is everywhere
around and in their tiny and modest wooden homes, they also produce charcoal to
sell, breathing with their children the smoke all day long. We were the first
team to go and many teams from the ship followed later and were especially
involved in feeding ministries in the slum area.
