(a blog I started sometime ago and got the chance to finish tonight)
Sometimes the amount of need in the communities we serve can only be summed up as overwhelming. On the way home today in the car we both had tears in our eyes. Every time we are there we are confronted with people who just need hope and practical help. It's as simple as that.
The residents living in the rubbish dump and cemetery are brave, strong and resilient in spite of the horrendous living conditions.. They just need support to better develop their community and provide for their families
To say "that's sad" or,"i wish we could do something" honestly doesn't cut it when you feel the heavy burden of people that are suffering more than most of us could imagine.
It pains my heart to the core when I hear individuals express how "bad" they think Tondo is. Educated people who in fact are so uneducated allow lies to trip off their tounges without having ever been there. Recently I met a very misinformed Doctor who spoke out her stereotypes and fears and ended by saying;
"..never mind trying to help them. If you really want to do something they like just give them food. They like that!"
Her tone was sarcastic, full of judgment and lack of knowledge.
I wonder if she has ever experienced days of hunger?
I don't think so.
Oh how God loves this precious community with a burning unending love.
He has called each one of us to DO something about the injustices caused through such extreme poverty.
True compassion moves us to action.
Sometimes the amount of need in the communities we serve can only be summed up as overwhelming. On the way home today in the car we both had tears in our eyes. Every time we are there we are confronted with people who just need hope and practical help. It's as simple as that.
The residents living in the rubbish dump and cemetery are brave, strong and resilient in spite of the horrendous living conditions.. They just need support to better develop their community and provide for their families
To say "that's sad" or,"i wish we could do something" honestly doesn't cut it when you feel the heavy burden of people that are suffering more than most of us could imagine.
It pains my heart to the core when I hear individuals express how "bad" they think Tondo is. Educated people who in fact are so uneducated allow lies to trip off their tounges without having ever been there. Recently I met a very misinformed Doctor who spoke out her stereotypes and fears and ended by saying;
"..never mind trying to help them. If you really want to do something they like just give them food. They like that!"
Her tone was sarcastic, full of judgment and lack of knowledge.
I wonder if she has ever experienced days of hunger?
I don't think so.
Oh how God loves this precious community with a burning unending love.
He has called each one of us to DO something about the injustices caused through such extreme poverty.
True compassion moves us to action.
You don't have to look far to find need, in fact sometimes we feel we are falling over it... But God.....
Every family there has a story. In every family we have known we have found urgent needs.
I will try to create a little bit of a picture of the kinds of situations our team are confronted with on daily basis.
Every family there has a story. In every family we have known we have found urgent needs.
I will try to create a little bit of a picture of the kinds of situations our team are confronted with on daily basis.
- A mother bringing her children to the feeding programme because they hadn't eaten anything in days and the hunger pangs had become so unbearable they tried to fill the emptiness with mud and insects.
- Children who rattle our gate needing festering wounds cleaned because they are playing naked in trash where there is glass, sharp objects and syringes. Sometimes their mothers can't wash the clothes because they are forced to make the decision that they will buy drinking water instead of water to wash their clothes in.
- A baby who just can not stop crying because he is just too hungry. The mother cant breast feed because she is undernourished and so has only been able to give rice water to her son. He has no tears because he is dehydrated, just the sound of a weak cry.
-Parents asking for medicine because they cannot afford the transportation to the pharmacy or clinic and having to make the choice for their children to either stay sick or eat that day.
- Hard working fathers in need simply of rubber gloves because there hands are being cut to shreds as they clear the sewers to try and stop the stagnant, human waste filled water flooding their homes.
- A woman in need of money after giving birth because she is losing too much blood. She is unable to afford to pay for the bags of blood to stop her bleeding to death.
These are just a few examples at random. There are thousands of situations like these.
These are just a few examples at random. There are thousands of situations like these.
Overwhelming.
 |
| Playing on our church roof in the middle of the rubbish dump. pic taken by KCM visitor Gerard Jean-Claude Clarey |
The good news is, everyone I just wrote about can be helped and has been helped by Kalayaan Community Ministries. But we can only help as much as we are financially able to. We constantly have to pray for wisdom to priorities where the needs are most critical.
The harsh reality is we cannot always meet the needs.
We are located in the middle of what statistics say is the largest and densely populated slum in the whole country.
The most recent stat puts the figure in Tondo at half a million people.
We cannot reach them all, but we do believe God puts certain individuals and families very obviously in our path. He is a caring Jesus who stopped for one blind man, one begger, one child.......
Daily we are faced with people who need extra help and that's why we respond to each family on an individual basis. It's not a one solution fits all environment. If only it were that easy. We have to access the needs and then meet them. How can you turn people away who at times have no where else to go for help?
As they need our help. We need your help.
We do need you to be a voice and raise awareness for the children we love here.
We do need more people to commit to giving on a monthly basis so we can use it for the areas of most need.
We do need people to organize fundraisers throughout the year.
Above all we do need you to pray for this work, the team and communities.
The more partners we have the more people can be relieved of some of their burdens.. At times the needs are life or death. This is reality.
Thank you to everyone who already partners with us. Without exaggerating, you are helping save lives and spread good news in a place looked on as the outcast of the nation. We are so grateful for your financial support. We appreciate every person and group who gave in 2013. Thank you to those of you who organized fundraisers, took offerings, funders that have committed long term and people who have made a monthly financial commitment.
We are a small ministry with very little administration costs. We function completely through donations. There is no CEO getting a salary, no fancy office. All staff who are paid are from the dump site or cemetery community.
We know that God is the source for everything. We are continually amazed at how he provides to sustain and develop KCM through the kindness of people. Over the past 6 years He has provided in the most amazing ways- time and time and time again He is faithful. Never early. Never late.
If you feel you would like to know more about what Kalayaan Community Ministries are doing or to commit to monthly financial giving in 2014, please contact us through kalayaancommunityministries@hotmail.com
KCM are committed to being good stewards of the funds entrusted to us and we have set up an online transparency page where everyone who donates is added and can view incoming funds and what the purpose of these funds are for.
Thank you so much to everyone that continues to partner with us in prayer, giving and volunteering (local and overseas). Real compassion moves hearts to DO something and there is so very much more to do here.
We are so grateful too to the friends who support us personally to do this work. Maybe someone reading this feels they are called somewhere as a missionary, but are worried about how they could possibly manage. If God has truly called you to be somewhere - he WILL provide for you. He will do it in the most unexpected ways in which you will have no doubt he has heard your voice in prayer!. He will test your trust and faith in Him and then do things that will just blow your mind and heart!
We often still wonder why we are doing this when we know there are people much more qualified, more experienced, more Christ like than us.
All I know is we still feel so out of our depth in our selves and I hope that means that anything good that comes of the ministry or us being here is because of God.
I thank God for the many faithful organizations that are working around Tondo and other slum areas in Manila.I thank God for the dedicated missionaries who have gone before us who we can learn from and I thank God for those He will call here after He decides our season is over.
Whatever country we are all in. Whatever work/ministry, we are there for a reason and God can use each one of us (weaknesses and all) to be a blessing to those he has planted us around.
You can catch up with updates through our FB page
https://www.facebook.com/KalayaanMinistries?ref=br_rs
The harsh reality is we cannot always meet the needs.
We are located in the middle of what statistics say is the largest and densely populated slum in the whole country.
The most recent stat puts the figure in Tondo at half a million people.
We cannot reach them all, but we do believe God puts certain individuals and families very obviously in our path. He is a caring Jesus who stopped for one blind man, one begger, one child.......
Daily we are faced with people who need extra help and that's why we respond to each family on an individual basis. It's not a one solution fits all environment. If only it were that easy. We have to access the needs and then meet them. How can you turn people away who at times have no where else to go for help?
As they need our help. We need your help.
We do need you to be a voice and raise awareness for the children we love here.
We do need more people to commit to giving on a monthly basis so we can use it for the areas of most need.
We do need people to organize fundraisers throughout the year.
Above all we do need you to pray for this work, the team and communities.
The more partners we have the more people can be relieved of some of their burdens.. At times the needs are life or death. This is reality.
Thank you to everyone who already partners with us. Without exaggerating, you are helping save lives and spread good news in a place looked on as the outcast of the nation. We are so grateful for your financial support. We appreciate every person and group who gave in 2013. Thank you to those of you who organized fundraisers, took offerings, funders that have committed long term and people who have made a monthly financial commitment.
We are a small ministry with very little administration costs. We function completely through donations. There is no CEO getting a salary, no fancy office. All staff who are paid are from the dump site or cemetery community.
We know that God is the source for everything. We are continually amazed at how he provides to sustain and develop KCM through the kindness of people. Over the past 6 years He has provided in the most amazing ways- time and time and time again He is faithful. Never early. Never late.
If you feel you would like to know more about what Kalayaan Community Ministries are doing or to commit to monthly financial giving in 2014, please contact us through kalayaancommunityministries@hotmail.com
KCM are committed to being good stewards of the funds entrusted to us and we have set up an online transparency page where everyone who donates is added and can view incoming funds and what the purpose of these funds are for.
Thank you so much to everyone that continues to partner with us in prayer, giving and volunteering (local and overseas). Real compassion moves hearts to DO something and there is so very much more to do here.
We are so grateful too to the friends who support us personally to do this work. Maybe someone reading this feels they are called somewhere as a missionary, but are worried about how they could possibly manage. If God has truly called you to be somewhere - he WILL provide for you. He will do it in the most unexpected ways in which you will have no doubt he has heard your voice in prayer!. He will test your trust and faith in Him and then do things that will just blow your mind and heart!
We often still wonder why we are doing this when we know there are people much more qualified, more experienced, more Christ like than us.
All I know is we still feel so out of our depth in our selves and I hope that means that anything good that comes of the ministry or us being here is because of God.
I thank God for the many faithful organizations that are working around Tondo and other slum areas in Manila.I thank God for the dedicated missionaries who have gone before us who we can learn from and I thank God for those He will call here after He decides our season is over.
Whatever country we are all in. Whatever work/ministry, we are there for a reason and God can use each one of us (weaknesses and all) to be a blessing to those he has planted us around.
You can catch up with updates through our FB page
https://www.facebook.com/KalayaanMinistries?ref=br_rs
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