The picture above shows the guys that my team member, Aaron, and I stayed with during the summer. Marvin (second from the bottom left) is the center leader and is second in command to the Jo-An (third from the top right). Jo-An is the Tatay, meaning father in tagalog, and is the main one in charge of the center. I’ll write about some of the guys in a future post.
As I’ve stated in a previous post, our team was split up throughout the big metropolitan city of Manila. Aaron and I stayed in a little town called Payatas in north Quezon City of Manila. Payatas is a village that was initially founded as a garbage village as villagers would rummage through trash trying to find anything to recycle for money. Since it’s an established town now (albeit adjacent to a garbage dump), a lot of people also make a living owning stores in the market area, or they commute elsewhere for a means of income.
Payatas is garbage village on the outskirts of metro Manila.
Living in a garbage town seemed extremely daunting at first. I remember the first two days we were there, it hit me that I was gonna be there for a whole month. The first four days in the slums felt like two months. But there was so much grace in that God helped us to look past the living conditions. It’s funny–when it was hot, we would enjoy a summer breeze, but that breeze was followed by a stench from the garbage. And then when it was hot, we’d hope for it to rain, but when it does rain, all the flies come out, and there were literally about 50 flies around our kitchen table every time we ate. We even called them kaibigans (friends).
Here’s some pics of our house in Payatas:
The view from our room. Pretty nice eh?
Our room for the summer. Those were our beds, and our pillows were our hoodies. Our clothes were hung inside our room cuz if we hung them outside to dry, our clothes would absorb the smells as it dried. We had a lot of friends in our room, from geckos and cockroaches to little rats and rat poop. One time when we lifted the beds up we saw two cockroaches doing it lol. I remember when I woke up one day, I saw rat poop on my bed. Good times. =)
One of the rooms that the guys at our site slept in. It would get really hot here, cuz this was the only room where there wasn't an electric fan!
Our kitchen sink, and the only sink in the house.
The kitchen stove; mind you, most people don't have gas stoves like this one. One of our neighbors still cooked food with wood. The guys that we stayed with can cook some bomb filipino food, and they were mostly teenagers!
Our kitchen. We had a lot of friends like ants and flies that liked to go on our food. We had to make sure we had mosquito repellant every time we ate, cuz if we didn't we were dunzo. For some reason they don't bite locals, but usually foreigners. We had some great dinner conversations here.
This is where we showered. The piece of wood on the bottom right is used for privacy, but as you can see, it doesn't really cover much. Aaron and I showered with our boxers on everyday. There's no hot water in most of the Philippines!
The CR(comfort room), aka the bathroom. You can't see it but there's two toilets there. You had to fill up that blue bin on the bottom right with water, then pour the water on to the toilet to flush. You had to make sure you had mosquito repellant here as well, cuz if you didn't you were dunzo. I remember one time I was doing my business, and then I got bit on my bum. Those things are vicious.
Our laundry/shower area. This is where we hand washed our clothes. You also had to make you had repellant on when you did laundry. Pretty much the whole trip you had to make sure had repellant. I remember our first time washing laundry, I was singing "It's A Hard Knock Life" by Jay-Z haha. Hand-washing clothes was hard at first, but it became really relaxing towards the end.
Looking back, I’m still so amazed that God enabled us to look past the living conditions, and to see everything and everyone for what and who they really are. Though we got bit by mosquitos everyday; though it was difficult using the bathroom; though it was hard not having any comfort from the U.S., I’m so thankful that through that one month, the hardships didn’t plague me. Even though I loved living there, yes, there was some relief in going back to the “comforts” of home. At the same time though, people still have to live there. Even thought I get to leave, it’s crazy to think some people will live in that town the rest of their lives. It’s even crazier to think that our house was pretty luxurious compared to other people’s houses in that town.
As I started the post with this picture, I’ll end with this picture:
I couldn’t have lived a whole month in the slum community without these guys–the people whom I lived with. What I learned from them was so much more than anything I can ever give them. These guys–whom were former street kids, gang members, drug addicts (perhaps simultaneously)–taught me so many lessons about life, and taught me so much about the transformation and sovereignty of God in a person. They embraced us with so much love, and though they might not have much, it seemed like they have everything.
One of the main reasons why people of the slum communities engage in prostitution is because of poverty. They have no other means of making money so they result to prostitution. So they get caught in this vicious cycle of drugs, alcohol, and marketed sex.
