Renew Recap

My second week at Renew was a LOT more uplifting. I actually got to live at the shelter house where they keep the girls that have been rescued from prostitution and my time there was amazing! I had already met one of the girls the week before when she took us to the bars and since I liked her so much I figured that I would like the others as well. But as I learned about the other girls I realized that it might be a little bit more difficult then I thought. The one that I had met had come the farthest out of all of them. She had been rescued for almost 3 years already, while another girl had only been rescued for a week when I arrived. Another was trauma induced schizophrenic due to the life she's had, 2 of the girls had kids, and several were struggling with depression. I took all this information in on the Jeepney ride to their house and was preparing myself for a really tough week. I prayed for my attitude to be respectful to the girls and to be able to put myself on their level as friends, as they were almost all within a year or 2 of me. I wanted to leave them with the feeling that I cared about them and that I would have a positive impact on them while I was there. But I was pleasantly surprised as I grew to love each of the girls SO much throughout the week making it especially hard to leave. I had so much fun with them that I completely forgot about their pasts and tough lives they had experienced. We bonded over watching "Princess Bride" as they gasped and laughed the whole way through. I immersed myself in their culture and their lives to the point where I ate their prized Balut (fertilized duck egg) to get the "true Filipino experience". I learned a lot of the language and so awesome to see how the simple act of trying to speak to them in their native tongue meant so much to them.

I didn't realize how difficult the language barrier would be for me. I was told that most Filipinos speak English and that it wouldn't be too difficult to communicate. This was true, but since their native tongue is actually Tagalog, that's what they spoke to each other most of the time. They were always laughing and giggling about something and knowing the language would have crated far more opportunities to connect with each other. (Since I've been home I've been trying to learn some Tagalog through youtube videos and it helps a little but I'm hoping to someday get the RosettaStone to do it easier and faster...in case I can come back some day! :] ) Despite this difficulty I wasn't going to give up. Instead of journaling in my room I sat outside with them and tried to speak to them in English and they did their best despite their broken, simple English. I quickly realized that this was the furthest outside of my comfort zone that I've ever felt in my life. I was 3 hours away from anyone that I knew, in a room full of girls who have lived a completely different life from mine, speaking a language that doesn't even resemble anything I've heard before... what did we even have in common? The answer to this question I discovered was "Babies"!! hah. 10 month old Paula was the ice breaker as she

would get us laughing with her adorable giggle and easy going personality. Before we knew it we were taking pictures of each other and making silly faces in every shot. We ended up laughing and goofing around just the way I knew how! From then on we were officially friends. We did the best to communicate but somehow it became far easier after that. They taught me as many words as they could throughout the week, and the girls that spoke better english translated to the others for me.

Being in the Philippines has been one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much in the short time, and full of ups and downs. The girl that was schizophrenic was difficult to understand as I spent half of the 2nd morning I was there trying to convince her to go to her doctors appointment. It was so important b/c she was on the wrong medication and may be moved to a different house if they couldn't get her to a stable condition. The day ended unsuccessfully and very frustrating as I know I did everything I could apart from dragging her out the door by her arms. I tried to explain the gravity of the situation and the importance of going, but she was very skeptical of me and thought that since I was a student that I would "get a good grade" if I convinced her to go. I told her that I had only been there a few days but cared about her and the other girls very much, and I think that was what resonated with her the most. Although she never made it to the doctor she became more trusting of me after that and was so much more open to me and I really enjoyed how much closer we had become. I wonder what time would of done with that relationship...

That was only one of the conversations that I had while I was there. Throughout the week I was

able to have conversations with the girls about Church, God, America, boys, and spent a lot of time laughing! Each of the girls has an amazing story and I haven't gone a day without thinking about them since I've left. My dream is go back to the Philippines (with enough Tagalog under my belt to be able to understand them)! I don't know how much of a reality it is at this point as I would want to make sure that it is something that is part of God's plan for me. I would want to be able to contribute and be able to be of service beyond just being their friend. I did that. That was the easy part. But would I be able to be able to help them in their emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs as well?

I'm really glad that I was placed with RENEW. It's been so stretching for me and taken me the one step further outside of my comfort zone and onto the stormy, uneasy waters as God was commanding me. Even if I never go back I know that this was exactly the place that I needed to be. It changed me so much and the knowledge I gained from this trip needs to be shared. The situation of prostitution is so sad and angering and would constantly weigh me down with this helpless feeling. But I've been learning to not let these emotions to take over me but instead to ask further questions and learn what can be done to stop this misery from occurring and change the world for even one girl. Now that I've actually seen the issues with my own eyes and I've placed a name and face with the horrible statistics that I could barely comprehend before, I have now felt burdened with the many issues in the Philippines; Orphans. The hungry. The impoverished. Prostitution. They are all people whom God loves and asks us to care for. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" -Edmund Burke.

A Whole New World

This blog entry is about what I witnessed of the intense prostitution scene on the street's of Angeles City, Philippines; the #1 city in the country for prostitution. I censored a lot of it, mostly because I didn't even know how to put it into words. Please feel free to ask me in person, I love talking about it and I feel like it's something that needs to be shared.

Here's a clip about RENEW and what they do for the girls of the city. The song at the end of the video is just beautiful! One of their main forms of help they provide is outreach, where they visit the bars where the girls work to try to get them out... which is exactly what I did today.

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Nothing could prepare me for what I would see occur today, the things I would learn, the sadness I would experience, and the most surprising thing of all, how much fun I would have.

My day started by being introduced to a group from YWAM that was there visiting RENEW for the day. We went to visit the city of Pampang, a city feeding off of a dirty, trash filled "river". This was one of the main city's where the girls that become prostitutes come from. RENEW goes to visit these communities to find girls that are at risk to enter prostitution. They hope to

help them and their families economically to prevent them from having to work in the bars. When you see it yourself you realize the severe situation they are in. They truly have nowhere else to turn to survive except prostitution. I came across children digging in the mounds of garbage scavenging for food, and men fishing in the tiny stream that they call a river; lucky if they catch even one fish. It helped me understand the life the girls have come from before I went that night to meet the women in prostitution myself.

I'm so glad that the YWAM group was there that day. They were a really fun bunch that kept the day from getting too depressing. After dinner began one of the most confusing... saddening... angering... greatest nights of my life. Angeles City was literally a whole new world. The 18 of us divided into groups of 4 and 5 and we each had a "guide" to take us through some bars. Our guides were amazing girls who had been rescued from a life of prostitution and took us through the very same bars where they used to work. I can't imagine what that was like for them to be there again. Later they told me that it keeps them forgetting their past and how far they've come. Our guide, only 10 days older then I, had an amazing story whose life of prostitution began at age 13. She has come so far and wants to use her story to help others like herself. She is now going back to school with the help of RENEW, and will study social work so she can do what she can for others that were in her situation. She is so intelligent and such a charming person, and was so great for me to see the real soul of a person that I was watching on stage.

We walked into the first bar and tried to be discreet and get seats in the back, but being the only white females in the entire place, discreetness was not an option. The bar owners, or mommasans, saw us and pulled us to front row seats. My first exposure was to an enormous man that had just purchased 2 girls to take home with him. All the girls could muster were souless smiles as the drunk pig cheered for himself as they walked out the door, the girls with their heads hanging. Nothing too eventful happened for awhile so I just looked around the room, examining the people while the dancers studied us. The men young and old had goofy smiles on their faces while the girls just looked sad. They might flash a smile at a guy and wink at another but their temporary appearance of happiness was replaced by concerned and sad expressions. I could tell how torn they were by their body language. The last thing they wanted was to get picked so some stood in the back trying not to get noticed. But at the same time they knew that they wouldn't get paid unless someone picked them. And sometimes a girl would get picked... and my heart would ache for her. One minute a group of guys are sitting around hanging out, and then the next minute the dreaded lazer pointer appeared on stage and bounced around a few times from girl to girl as the mamasans asked the customers which girls they wanted, only to land on the next victims. It was so barbaric! Even the way the girls are ranked in the bar is so inhuman! Based on how popular the girl is, they are given a different footwear so everyone will know their "quality" and pricing. Black boots are given to the most expensive, white to the middle price, and bare feet for the least expensive... It just makes me sick.

I tried to imagine what the girls could have possibly thought of us being there. Here was a group of 4 American girls that were obviously not here for the same reasons as everyone else. We sipped on our non-alcoholic mango drinks and munched on the popcorn and just observed. Who did they think we were? Did they know about Renew and know why we were here? Did they think we were judging them for their lifestyle? I hope not! I smiled I one and only got a half smile in return. Off to the side I saw an older man receiving a lap dance from one of the girls while a younger man was sitting with his arm around his girl for the night. As I was soaking all this in, the most amazing thing happened... 2 of the girls from the YWAM group came back from the bathroom with 2 of the girls that worked there. After a short chat with them they decided that we needed to hop on stage with them. "WHAT? nooooo... sorry. We cant..." But after MUCH deliberation we decided that it wouldn't hurt. Besides... at this point we were basically being dragged on stage and didn't really have much of a choice anymore! The club immediately transformed from a lonely sad bar to "goofballs gone wild!". One girl even grabbed my camera and started taking pictures, so I have a forever memory of these shenanigans. Everyone was just laughing and dancing around us... I just couldn't stop laughing! (Those pictures will never make it to the internet by the way... I mean, we were dressed appropriately but that wasn't the problem :) hah.) And zooming in on all of the girls faces in the pictures the next day made me so happy. Every single one was laughing or smiling. Whether it was our amazing caucasian dancing skills or they were just happy to be having fun with some new friends, I don't know. But looking back I know that that's exactly what we came to do. We created a judgement free zone and showed them we cared about them.

Sometime during that night, the long, strategically planned phallic shaped balloons (same ones that clowns use at birthday parties) were brought out. The girls used them to shoot around the room at each other, but we turned it into a different kind of fun :) Dogs, flowers, hats, hearts... all of the above were made and more. But our favorite of the night was the Jesus fish that we gave to a few girls before we left. We were having so much fun and we could tell how much they girls were enjoying themselves too. The excitement calmed down a little bit we were suddenly reminded of where we actually there when the laser pointer appeared on stage yet again...

The walk to the next bar was awful and I saw one of the hardest things I've ever had to see in my life. Don't keep reading if you don't want to be as scarred as I was... There were many points in the night when all those came together and I almost burst into tears was when I saw the fear in a young girls face. I looked toward the entrance of one of the bars we were passing and I saw in clear sight a middle aged man that had a small girl by the nape of the neck. He shook her firmly as we past him to keep her from causing a commotion in the midst of her sobs. I would better be able to guess her age if her face wasn't buried in her hands and her face not drenched in tears, but judging by her height she couldn't have been more then 12 years old. I looked at this scene unfolding in front of me. This poor, terrified, innocent girl was being carried of to be raped right before my eyes and there was absolutely nothing that I could do! I don't think I have ever felt more helpless in my entire life!! We were currently on good terms with the bar owners and mamasans, but we would no longer be allowed back if we were to instigate any problems. I haven't been able to get the image out of my head since it happened. Everyone knows rape happens in the world but when I saw it unfolding in front of me it stirred something inside of me that I can't silence. I want to do something for these people but I have no idea what I can do with my minimal skills and lack of experience right now. Although I couldn't do anything for this poor, innocent girl today it did something in me that brought me to reality and is helping me understand how severe the situation actually is. The day left me sad but strangely hopeful. All I wanted to do was go back to those bars and try to make them smile again.

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My next week was far more encouraging as I lived at that shelter home where all of the rescued women live now. And it turned out to be one of the most amazing, special, greatest experiences of my life.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

This post is about my first day in Angeles City, the #1 city in the Philippines for prostitution. The next couple weeks of posts are going to be filled with things that happened and things that I'd seen. Ironically, this day that I was exposed to this whole new world was also "National Human Trafficking Awareness Day". It was so very appropriate. I don't know how much you want to read. Feel free to skip parts if you must. I will try to say it all gently but I feel like I shouldn't. I just want to give a clear image of the world here where I spent 2 weeks of my life that taught me so much and I hope you learn something too.

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Wow. What a day. So much to process. First I had the MOST FRUSTRATING conversation with the driver about poverty and he believed that people are only poor because they are lazy. As this conversation progressed I became more frustrated as he blatantly insulted my career choice and telling me that I was wasting my time and literally laughed at me the whole 3 hour ride. I later discovered that many MANY people think this way! It was most enraging and I couldn't believe it as he stood his ground. If you want to open this conversation up feel free... I have a whole soap box rant about it now :) I arrived in Angeles city mid-afternoon with my food from Jollibee and got introduced to the staff. They happened to be eating from the same famous fast food chain as well. They all seemed great and I became more excited to be there. I spent the rest of the day talking to Paulo about his organization and it was so interesting. They help women escape from the bars and help educate them in getting an education and a real job afterwards. I learned so much today that it's difficult to recall it all now. I'd need to write a 10 page paper to fully explain everything... Oh heey! Good thing I am! :)

My first impressions of Angeles was basically shock. I had sat down and talked to Paulo for hours about the city and everything about it and what I should expect. But seeing it in real life was a little overwhelming. To see how plainly, unhidden, and open prostitution was in this city was truly a whole new world. I can continue to explain it in words but it just doesn't do it justice. It just feels like I'm repeating what everyone already knows, and what I knew before I went. I knew it all yet it was still shocking to me. I rode down the street on the back of a motorbike and we didn't even pass half of the 300 bars lining the roads, prompting people to go in. There were white, caucasean males everywhere and here for one reason only. "There are no beaches here" Paulo said, "why else would they come here?" It was disgusting. And it wasn't even 3 o'clock, and yet the bars were busling with unattractive, large, and older men. One man was still zipping up his pants as he walked out of a bar. We stopped to get a fruit drink (4 seasons became my choice drink) at one of the 5 star hotels (that they have EVERYWHERE for all the rich folk that come here...) and sat out by the pool. There were countless men hanging out by the pool, laughing with their friends, some with 1 or 2 women that they just bought for the evening. Just sitting out there in front of everyone else, unashamed and unembarrassed. You think they'd care a little more but it's so accepted here... and this is all in a city that claims that prostitution is illegal. It's just so sad.

I became more frustrated as I let it all sink in. What kind of men would come here?? There's a whole retirement home for retired American soldiers right down the street. Do they really have nothing better to do with their lives? If I had a pension like that I'd use it to retire where its pretty, like the beach...

This world is going to take some getting used to. I had the night to process as I prepared to actually go inside of the bars of Angeles City the next day.

Chill Day #2

I was suppose to leave for RENEW, the agency that rescues women from prostitution, today but due to a few unforsceen issues I wont be leaving till tomorrow, creating another day mostly for myself. It's a Monday so all of the social workers are at work and I got to catch up on journaling and email T'was sweet. I had the day to process and get mentally prepared for the next 4 days of my life. I know it might be intense, but I don't know how much. I dont know how much I can help due to my lack of experience, but I am going to learn a lot this week.

After lunch I went to hang out at the childrens home with the other social workers after they got home. I was hoping my buddy Paulo would remember me and I was overjoyed when he did.

He didn't leave my side all day, and when I walked away for a minute I came back to a confused boy scanning all the faces in the yard until he saw me and ran toward me with arms wide open :D And the most precious moment of the day occured when my very chapped lips started to bleed. My little 4 year old friend ran and got me a tissue and held it on my lip until it stopped. The concern on his face was my favortie as his "big-little" heart shown through. When it had stopped he asked, "better?". Yea buddy... much better :)

Waterfalls

Just a fantastic day! We gained a further appreciation of the beauty of the Philippines today when we went to a waterfall called Daranak Falls in Tanay, Rizal. The water was a bright blue and looked gorgeous as itflowed down the rocks into the lake. Some adventerous folkd decided to scale the rocks surrounding the falls and jump in from about 15 feet. It didnt look lik the easiest climb, but Hannah, Christy, and I were feeling brave and gave it a try. After the first slightly hesitant climb, we lost all sense of fear and spent the rest of the day leaping from the rocks and trying out new ones to scale. We met some Filipinos ding the same thing that encouraged us in our adventurous nature. Afterwards we sat down to talk to them and it was so cool to hear about their life in the Philippines. They grew up in Mindenow, the most dangerous area in the Philippines. There is a lot of fighting there between the Musslims and Christians. So as Christians themselves,the felt very persecuted. They now live on an island east of Manila. They told me about the best places to go in the Philippines and it sounds like a fantastic place to spend more time. My new goal will be to take my family back for a vacation someday! Maybe for Eric's graduation... :)

It took 2 whole Jeepney's plus a truck to carry us all there.

Chill day #1

My practicum with RENEW felt like it was going to fall through. I had to decide if I still wanted to go on the trip to the rescue house for sex trafficking. It is a 4 day long trip that I'd spend at a city 4 hours north of Manila so I would not be spending as much time with my group. 3 girls from "The World Race" that are living with us, who would have been so much fun to go with, can no longer come. And so I have to decide if I want to still go by myself. It not the safety that I'm worried about, but my competency to dothis alone. I have very little knowledge as to what I will be seeing and experiencing. I wont want to pass this opportunity up if they will allow me to go alone because I know it will be an experience unlike any other.

Since Christy and were the only 2 without assignment for the day we went to the children's home orphanage which is not more then 50 steps from where we live. The kids were more active then they were yesterday, and were a joy... what's new? And I got to hang out with one caretaker, Rona, whose main job is to run the nursery and other job is to entertain us :) I got to talk to her more and she ended up telling me her story of how she came to the children's home and how beinghere has changed her life and impacted her and her son. She used to be Muslim but became a Christian after seeing how much God has done for these children. She questions sometimes why God doesn't help more then he does. "There is so much bad things happening in my county" she said "why doesn't God do more". This is actually something that I've been thinking about for awhile now. "Sometimes God doesn't act directly from heaven but uses people like us to help". It is up to all of us to do our part and her prayer should be for other people to be changed and moved to help the needy. Tom Davis' book "scared" gives a very vivid image of this.

The rest of the day was Rona day and we accompanied her to yet another homeless feeding. I even tried the sloshy type stuff we were

serving and it wasn't that bad! The group of us after dinner went went back to play with the babies again and WOW (Rona's fav word :) the kids were OUT-RAGEOUS!! They were in these giggle fits that we could not snap them out of! I dont think I really wanted to either... My little friend, Paulo, who I met earlier was the source of it all. He and another boy, KenKen would start singing the Justin Bieber song "Baby", and would sometimes instead would sing "chicken" sending all the toddlers into a hysterical fit! I had to video it b/c it was worth remembering :)

A day of firsts

We didn't have any plans for the morning so some of us went to the children's home (orphanage) to spend time with the kids. And as I expected I loved it :). They all called us "Tita" which is an endearing term for "big sister". They grabbed us by the hand and showed us around and spent the day having fun with us. I found the nursery and the babies just melted my heart! They have the biggest eyes and are so playful. I was talking to the director about how adoptions are done in the Philippines and as it turns out, it is very difficult for Americans to adopt. The younger kids are given to Filipino families while only special needs and older kids are allowed for adoption to America. And even then, a lot of family's aren't approved due to strict regulations. It's very sad but the nannies here love them and only want them to be happy.We still had time on our hands so we decided to make our way to the market. It was exciting as I got to take a trike for the 1st time. It is essentially a motorbike with a side cart to the right where they put some of the passengers. We were told by several people that it's make to seat 6 so we will all fit in one. "Oh yea" one girl said, "we've done this before. We can do it.". Looking at the thing I thought "there is no possible way!". 2 people sat sidesaddle very cosily on the back of the bike and 4 squeezed into the cart. It couldn't be wider then 2 1/2 feet and we were supposed to fit 2 in the back and 2 in the front? I just laughed and repeated over and over again, "you've GOT to be kidding me!". I'm pretty sure they didn't account for the fact that us Americans are about double their size! The ride probably wasn't more then 15 minutes long but it feels longer when your leg is going numb... :P. As we got out we POURED out of the cart like soda from a can that had just been shaken. It was good to get out and experience more of the Philippines. And although I didn't buy more then a few snacks to hold me over during the day it was a nice time.

Then there's the Jeepney. That's another experience worth mentioning. These colorful buses were modeled after vehicles used in World War 2 and were modified to be a little more hospitable to the traveling public. Each vehicle is unique in it's coloring and each driver takes pride in their designs. They add an exciting look to the streets of Manila as we point out the fun images we see painted on the sides of them. They remind me so much of what "The Magic School Bus" looks like

that I half expect Ms. Frizzle to be driving. Instead we found a smoking man asking for money. There's 2 benches each facing inward on either side of the car. And you climb in and scour for a space on one of the benches that you feel you can actually fit into, and then, what feels like the theme for today is, we squish! I immediately felt like Alice in Wonderland as I had to tilt my head to the side to be able to fit. This particular Jeepney had Filipino music blasting and although I could tell that it was annoying many of the passengers I was LOVING it! It was fun to look out the window, that was at my shoulder height, and notice many of the other beautifully painted cars. They were so detailed and colorful! My favorite so far has to be the Superman one, and although I didn't snap a picture of it I'll keep my eye out for it again :).

There was more to this trip however then just experience the most common form of travel in the Philippines. The Destination for this particular trip was Samaritana. This other "first experience" for me was a safe house for female prostitutes. The organization is similar to the one that I will be working with so it was really cool to hear about. The women don't sleep at the house, which surprised us to hear, but come at 8 am and stay until 5 to work and learn trades that they can use to get real jobs. They learn how to sew, clean, cook, make paper and pottery, and give massages. They are all great skills and they are able to make money while learning them at the same time. But one of the rules for most jobs in the Philipines is to have a hight school diploma. Even to flip burgers at McDonalds you have to be a high school graduate. So every Thursday at Samaritana is a school day to eventually get the equivalent of a GED in America. They work a lot with helping the girls heal and improve their feeling of self worth because many of them feel that this life of shame and poverty is what they deserve. By spending so much time with the other 19 girls at the home they find healing through seeing what other girls have been through. While working at this place the girls are prohibited from working at the bars. They are usually dismissed if they are, but they try to show as much grace as they can b/c they really should be in an environment of healing. There is so much more that I can write, we talked about so much there, so feel free to ask me more! The ministry that I will be working with is very similar to Samaritana.

Afterwards we Jeepney-ed over to a shelter where we would meet the rest of the group fro another feeding for the homeless at a different location then the last. The kids were so awesome and so much fun and from the pictures we took you would never guess that they slept on the side of the road every night. But when you notice their tattered clothes and dirty, calaced feet it's hard to even imagine what kind of life they've had or what they've been through. When the day was done and everyone had their bellies full, we felt pretty happy with the work we had done and pretty good about ourselves... Until we walked down the street afterward... passing the beautiful children we had just met curling up into balls on the side of the road where they would spend the night, looking forward to when we'd be coming back the next week.

First Impressions

The Philippines. A place like no where I've never been; yet it feels so familiar. The 1 am drive from the airport to the guest house felt like a small taste of everywhere I've been. The airport's craziness reminded me of what it felt like to try to find our ride, just off the plane in Guatemala. And as we packed about 21 of us in a 15 passenger van I remembered the crowded bus we took tothe volcano in El Salvador. But soon we were off! After a 20 hour journey and the longest, and most uncomfortable flight most of us have been on, we were thrilled to finally be there. We drove through the streets of what felt like Addis Ababa, Ethiopia... without the goats and cows darting in front of us around every turn :). It was the middle of the night, yet the streets were busier then many of our cities in the middle of the day. I had been warned about the crazy traffic in Manila and truly believe that it is the most denselypopulated city after this drive. After we passed through the dusty area city, all of a sudden we were driving through Caracas Venezuela!! The once dirty, bustling, and small sized buildings were quickly replaced by tall buildings, and a cleaner, well kept version of the city. It felt somuch like driving through the city that I once called home, that for a second I was sure that I saw the apartment buildings where we lived. We were thrilled to finally get the "Kids International Ministries" location where we will be staying and were warmly welcomed by our friends that had come about 10 days eariler to help in the orphanage over Christmas. And after barely sleeping for the past day, all I needed was a shower and I was off to bed!

Later that morning we woke up and had breakfast :) The meal of eggs and toast was perfectly delightful and a great way to start the day. The 9 of us social workers went out for the day while the elementary education group spent the day in their class rooms as they will over most of the trip. We met up with several other girls staying at our guest house that were with an organization called "The World Race". They spend 11 months in 11 countries and will be here with us must of the time that we will be too. Their group sounds really cool and I'll keep it in mind if I still dont know what I want to do after graduation.

We spent most of the day between 2 locations handing out food and water (or as they say in Tagalog, Toobig. Some girls at one of the locations, tent village, taught me this word for water along with several others that were too difficult for me to pronounce, so my chances of recalling them are slim. As we learned about how this village it became emotional to hear. There was a flood about a year ago that stripped hundreds of families of their home, belongings, and their farmland for their source of food. The government stepped in and set up tents for them to live in, and eventually built them very small boxes, barely able to be called houses, and not nearly enough room for some of their large families. One girl, about 10 years old wanted to take me to her house so Christy and I went up the hill past rows and rows of the same small house duplicated across the fields as far as we could see. When we got there her family of 7 was living in a small space the size of most living rooms. It's great that they at least have a place to live, but after they were settled the government has not provided any source of food for them! So they are stuck there, without any land to farm or clean water, and many are getting sick and dying. Kids International Ministries came to the rescue and

gotten the funds to feed the people several times a week. It's enough to keep them alive. It was so fun to see all the kids come running out of their "houses" with their little bowls and spoons ready to eat, but heartbreaking to have to turn some away after not having enough to feed them all...

The second place we went to was a small elementary school. The drive there brought back more flashbacks. The tropical feel and mountains in the background reminded me of the roads in rural Guatemala. Around every turn I held my breath as we squeezed past another truck. I remembered the drive I took with my family on the narrow roads, clinging to the sides of mountains, making our way to the waterfalls at "Semuc Champey" and the school "Rosa de Amor". And the kids here only solidified this Guatemalan memory with their slightly Mayan Indian look and their joyful smiles and cute personalities. Sarah and I were TRYING to make conversation with a small group of the kids, but after "What is your name" and "how old are you", we could no longer really communicate. They were giggling as we tried to pronounce their names and we laughed as we noticed a 3 year old boy rocking a rat tail! We were all having fun, not really knowing why kids were whispering and so tickled by whatever they were saying. We were too able to join in the laughter when the orphanage director told us that the kids thought our noses were "so long and pointy"! Haha, Through all the places I've been I've never heard that one before! Haha, It's really hard not to compare my past experiences to this one but I hope to be expose to more new experiences such as this one!

Haha... long point nose... So precious!

I'm off again!!

I leave tomorrow morning for the Philippines! I'll be there for the entire month of January with a group of social work majors from my class at Taylor University. Our internship will involve working with orphans, prenatal care, and other options that we wont find out about until we arrive. We will choose a social worker who's job sounds interesting to job shadow and spend the month learning about how their work is done.

I'm really excited about this trip and to be able to have this amazing opportunity. Through this trip I could potentially uncover a new passion of mine that I would not have discovered otherwise. It's hard to know what to expect from this trip or to wrap my mind around what my life will be like for the next month but all I know is that I'm pumped to find out!

I'll be there from Jan 3rd to the 26th and I hope to share my experiences when I come back!

Julie