The Wild East

OK, so no updates in a while.  This is just a quick one to tell a little about our events on the weekend of 21 October.  So, first things first.  Friday we spent a wonderful evening with some new friends at their house in San Lurenzo.  It was a late night after a long week, but was really great.  Ves and I both fell in love with their little dogs.  Really full of fun.

Smokey Mountain

So yesterday I went off with a wonderful group of ladies on an outreach to a place in Manila called Smokey Mountain. It used to be the refuse dump of Manila, and in truth it seems to still be the area where a lot of garbage is sent and sorted. 

We met a wonderful group of people, obviously mostly children, who had lunch with us and enjoyed making gospel bracelets too. 

Admittedly it was really difficult to see what I saw. Not just the conditions that these people are suffering in, but also the look in people's eyes in the area. You could see hardship written on the faces of the people we met. And yet the children still raced around chasing each other, playing and laughing. It really was a humbling lesson for me. I saw one child share her lunch with another who hadn't made it to the event on time. Fortunately, an extra big helping found its way to her! A child taught me a lesson in generosity yesterday!

Mountain Biker gets taken out by a Buck!!!

I totally just had to publish this!!! This is why South African Mountain Bikers have to wear helmets!!! Some expletives, so please excuse the sound in places.

Choices, choices, and the drive to the coast.

So this gives you an idea of what some of the houses are like in the Philippines. Obviously you get much smaller ones with no gardens and you get much bigger ones that look like mansions. This one obviously has a garden, which not all the middle income homes will have. There often seems to be wood panelling in the houses here and the garage is more often than not, underneath the main bedroom usually. Or at least the garage/parking bay would be underneath the second floor of the house.

Front Entrance