Day in the Dumps

This weekend has been one of the most amazing, incredible, exhausting experiences I've ever had. Saturday, I had the extrordinary privelage of joining our school's Eco-friendly Council on an expedition into the largest slum in Asia- Baseco/Tondo. We went with the intention of scouting the terrian for future field/mission trips and also with the intention of getting film footage to show our school. So, valiantly equipped with a video camera, a microphone, and all the annoying cords and gadgets that go with filming, I set out to exploring the dumps. Literally. The heartbreaking, horrific conditions I witnessed were completely unreal and beyond disturbing. I witnessed a real life version of a horror film...

Entire cities built on trash. Children covered in ash and soot from being forced into child-labor making coal. Infants hacking and coughing from the suffocating smoke. Entire rivers and bays covered with so much trash, that the kids floated ON the trash instead of IN the water. A community shrouded in white and black smoke from smoldering waste. Hundreds of stories of those who have fallen through the trash and burned alive beneath our feet. Kids diving into the backs of dump trucks, risking being crushed just to get the chance to pick out of the trash. OUR trash. Women hand sorting OUR trash without gloves or masks because we are too lazy to put glass and plastic in something called a recycle bin. Adults and children alike with massive, oozing sores and cuts on their bodies. Cities built on top of cemetaries where the bodies and bones have been scattered on the ground. Skulls and bones and hands and feet mixed in with the rubbish I walked through.

It was a horrificly jolting day. A serious wakeup call. Our whole group came away so sobered and different than the care-free group of laughting teenagers that rode into Tondo that morning. It aged us all greatly. I plan to be doing much more work down there this coming year with my film and stuff. There is a great, GREAT, great need for support and helping hands willing to wade through rubbish and help these people. In some places, because of the illegal child labor and stuff, cameras were prohibited, so I missed some great shots, but I will post a video on Tuesday or Wednesday of some of the footage I got.


On a happier note, I spent Saturday evening and Sunday in an incredible village that is just overflowing with love and joy, and is completely on fire for God. I went home with one of our guards, Lito. He and I aren't very close, but his daughter and son and wife have been texting back and fourth with me for the last few months. I took three buses, a jeepney, a trike, and a scooter to get to his remote village where I enjoyed the company of incredible people. This morning I was blessed to be able to attend their church which was founded by a Korean missionary family. I enjoyed amazing worship and a three hour service after which the whole youthgroup came over to Lito's house to sing, eat, talk, karaoke, play games, laugh, and get to know eachother. Today was the most refreshing day I've had in a long time, but after Saturday, my long commute Saturday night, very little sleep Saturday night, a 5 o'clock wakeup and jog this morning, a full day of exertion and fun, and a veeeerrrry long commute back home (which consisted of a scooter, a trike, a jeepney, 2 buses, and a taxi), I am nodding myself to sleep as I type.

All in all, I couldn't be more thankful for a shower that has running water (and hot water at that!), a toilet that flushes, toilet paper, towels, pillows, blankets, my own room, and air conditioning.

There is a big world out there, and it's not very pretty. No, it's more like a heap of rubbish with skeletons of people 'living' on it.

50% of the world lives on $2 or less a day. Something to chew on when we feel like complaining, eh?