We started by leaving KIMS at 7.30 am. This was a challenge for some as Liza, Abbey and Bec had been up nearly all night at the birthing clinic with a girl that was in labour. Running on about 2 hours
sleep, they all rallied and decided to come on the trip. That in itself was a huge effort.
Getting to Tondo requires a car trip to the Marikina Mall, a walk to the station, two trains and a Jeepney ride. The day was extremely hot with very little cloud cover which made the sun crazily hot. Getting 29 people on and off trains was always going to be a challenge, but Transam Mike (as he is affectionately known) did a great job getting us sorted. He and Lara bought the tickets and made sure that we were all able to get on through the turnstiles at the stations. It was terribly hot and this gave rise to one of the great quotes of the day. We were chatting in the Jeepney about how desperate we were for a frozen coke. It was at this point that Rusty came out and said "If I had a frozen coke right now, I'd pour it down my undies." That generated another entire discourse which I won't got into.
The community that we visited in Tondo is known by the locals as Happy Land. It's a crazy name on so many levels. It's just about the worst possible place that anyone could live. As it had been quite wet for the past few days, the streets and alley ways were muddy and wet. We found a spot and were met with the food for the feeding. The purpose of this trip was to feed the local kids, hand out clothes and generally interact with the community. It was an eye opener for everyone involved.
Melissa was the designated story teller and she read a book to the kids that had gathered. We all enjoyed walking around the community and meeting people. As with most places that we go, we experienced kids that were smiling, parents that seemed content and spirit of resilience that defied logic. The surroundings were so oppressive and yet people were just getting about their business with little fuss. The clothes that we handed out were super popular and we could have used more. It wasn't just the kids that wanted clothes in this community. Adults and teens were constantly asking for a pair of shorts or a tee-shirt. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough of these.
After our time here, we headed back to the Jeepneys and made our way to Trash Mountain. Trash Mountain is in Tondo as well and is a former tip. It operated as a city tip for many years and is now a large mountain made almost entirely of rubbish. As you climb it, you can see the layers and layers of plastic bags in the earth. Many families live on top of Trash Mountain. It's an interesting place. It actually feels much less oppressive than Happy Land. It had a breeze, there was lots of space and greenery and it even had a view of the bay. But, there is no running water and people there are super poor. What we did notice was how dirty the kids were. A number were naked and just covered in mud and dirt and grime. We also met two little kids (that we had met last year). Pete and Liza and family connected with a grandmother and her disabled grandson last year and loved being able to catch up with them again. We handed stuff out, served up some food and mucked around with the kids. I found myself getting very emotional as I stood there amongst it all. It's hard to put words to what we saw. Words like hopeless, overwhelming and oppressive kept coming to mind.
This little boy on the right is 12 years old
The day was very hot and it took a toll on most of us. Unfortunately Simone became very unwell while we were there. She had pushed herself too hard and was fighting a bug. She had to be helped off the mountain. This was difficult for her and for our team as it was hard to see her so unwell. Everyone was eager to get her out of the sun and to a place where she could rest and recoup. Having one of our own team members so unwell also highlighted how difficult it must be for those that live in that community. There is no easy way to get medical help. Even if you desperately needed it, there is no ambulance or Nurse on call or 24 emergency medical help on Trash Mountain. It really was a very isolating experience. This is the reality of thousands of people in the district of Tondo and beyond who just have to make do and deal with the limited resources that they have.
We eventually made it back to the Jeepney and back to Maccas. Maccas has never been such a welcome sight. There was aircon, cold drinks, food and somewhere to sit that was clean. Despite being only a few km's from where we had just been, it was a complete world away. So stark was the contrast that you almost felt guilty sitting there when so many people that we had just met would never have been there in their life. The price of a single meal would be more than most of those people would make in a day or even a week for some.
Maccas never felt so good
In amongst all the sites, sounds and smells that we had encountered during the day, we saw many glimpses of hope. Most of them came in the form of the young people that are living and working to help the marginalised. They were remarkable. A number of us were fortunate to have met Ben. He is a deadset legend who moved to Tondo 4 years ago because he felt called by God to serve the poor. He's from a professional background and has an economics degree. He's from the US and he's worked in Hong Kong. He has the capacity to live a privileged life. And yet here he is, serving the poor and discipling young men and women in his community. He lives it every day and there is no escaping the reality of Tondo. We were fascinated and challenged by his radical calling and a number of us decided that we wanted to catch up with him again if we had the chance.
This is Ben - He's a legend
We reversed the process and caught two trains and then walked back to the mall in order to drive back to KIMS. We decided to sit at the Mall and have a cheeky Starbucks or a Dairy Queen. Again, were were all struck by the incredible contrast of this place. Only about 20 km's away we had been in amongst the smell, dirt and heat of Tondo and here we were in a massive and beautiful shopping mall that would rival anything we had in Australia. The locals were doing aerobics and the music was pumping. We were smashing down tasty treats and it was all very hard to reconcile.
By the time we got home it was around 5.00 pm. It had been a massive day. Bec, Abbey and Liza had done an incredible job on very little sleep. We were all so pleased to be home. Wednesday was Charlotte Starr's 16th birthday as well. It's one that I'm pretty sure she will never forget.
We celebrated after tea with some tasty birthday cakes and a swim.
While we were all pleased to be home, we all carried the events of the day quite heavily. The challenge is in the unpacking of a day like this. While it is easy to list the negatives about what we had seen, in actual fact there are so many positives about it all as well. Norman (our host here at KIM) helped us to gain some perspective on this. We all have a choice as to how we characterise what we saw and in a sense, it's all a matter of perspective. I don't think too many of the people we saw would describe their community or their existence the way that we initially did. They seemed content, connected and engaged. Maybe Happy Land is not such a ridiculous name for this community after all.
On Wednesday evening, Corinna, Bec and Abbey managed to get to the clinic moments after a birth and Bec got to cut the chord. Abbey got to wipe the very fresh baby down and Corinna administered something important - While I am quite knowledgable about immediate post birth care, it may be best to ask Corinna directly which particular injection or vitamin she administered. Not a bad effort after a massive day in Tondo and very little sleep for Bec and Abbey.
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