HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hi all
It's 9am on January 1st 2012 here - and the fireworks are still being let off. They started at 6pm last night and were still going at 1.30am mingled with lots of gun shots. According to the press more people are killed on New Years Eve by fireworks or gun shot than on any other day of the year which is a sad fact. We stayed in. Bit of a non-event for us - not even a glass of anything!
Daily getting reports of more bodies found following the typhoon in the south. The only sign here was high wind, a lot of rain and a few floods. Thank you for your prayers.
We managed a staff and volunteers Christmas party at PCF thanks to a donation from a visitor from the UK who wanted to bless everyone. It's amazing what can be done for so many people on so little.
We had karaoke (very popular here - had to hold Stan back), each department did a 'turn' (they are very talented), and all the volunteers had a certificate of thanks which we were made to present in a very grand ceremony.
After a sort out of the stock rooms we managed to give 160 people a goodie bag to take home with toiletries, tins of tuna and a bag of rice.
Very little time off over Christmas as many of the operations still continue as they are a life-line to many, school closed for lessons until Jan 3rd but everything else carried on.
We took some donors around the dump site on the 24th to visit their sponsored children and the 'Merry Christmas' we got from so many people was humbling. You cannot imagine what any of the people living there have to be merry about, and yet they continue to be cheerful and genuinely pleased to see us. I don't think I will ever get used to how proud they are to welcome you into their 'home', which in many cases is one room made of packing cases (and that's one of the solid ones), often housing 8 + people, no utilities of any kind close by.
We manged to get a Christmas lunch without rice, and a beer, at the ex-pat sports bar Howzat (google it!), even sprouts! And a teacher at the British School Manila gave us a Christmas cake - happiness!
We had our first full day off a couple of days ago, all we've managed up to now has been a morning at church. Our driver insisted we get away for some fresh air as Stan has been coughing for ages (the air is so bad here). We went up into the mountains to Tagantay where there is a volcano inside a lake. So beautiful and the air so clear, you wouldn't believe it's only a couple of hours from Manila.
On the evening of the 3rd Will arrives, so looking forward to seeing him, and we are taking a few days off although have promised we will check in regularly otherwise panic sets in!

Blessings to everyone for 2012, we continue to pray for wisdom and guidance - next challenge is to pay January salaries and start a repayment schedule that Stan has arranged for our creditors - up to now it's been one or the other, now we are aiming for both!
More photos soon.

Sue and Stan

OUR FIRST TYPHOON

Hi all
Just a very quick note to say don't be concerned if you saw today on the news the typhoon sweeping the Philippines. At the moment it is in the south in Mindanao, 300 killed there and they say it's a big one. Officially the typhoon season is over, but someone forgot to tell the typhoon! It's due to hit here tomorrow, already very windy.
 Please don't worry, but prayers would be good. It is likely that the power will go out but will try and update once it is on again.
Just looking at prayer points from last time:

• Creditors - God is good, most of them have agreed we can pay them over a long period
• The bitten child is improving
• HR problems - still ongoing - we pray about this daily
• Christmas lunch - sorted thanks to our wonderful president of the Philippine board who has a part share in a sports bar for ex-pats - 'proper' Christmas lunch with no rice has been booked:)

High points from this week:

• went with 200 of our children to see 'The Wiz' performed by pupils of the Chinese School of Manila. It was performed in a theatre in 'Resort World', which is the Manila equivalent of the London Palladium (needless to say in the rich 'Makati bubble' area). The kids were enthralled. We loved it to although it was quite strange having a Dorothy (and tin man etc) with an accent that belonged in a take-away!
• Explanation of 'twice dead' chicken - we have been trying to source alternative suppliers for our chicken, we were warned not to go to Divisoria, which is the market the locals go to which has extremely cheap chicken, but are 'twice-dead'. It is chicken that has died of disease and then used for food - nice.
• A 'situations vacant' sign asking for 'Financial advisers - no experience necessary', which explains the following -
• trying to extend our visa which cost £22 in the UK for 90 days but here cost 'starting from' 8,000 pesos (about £120) for a 30 day extension because officials charge what they like, quite acceptable practice here,  it is Christmas soon (Tagalog for I have presents to buy!), and there was a Y in the day (I made that one up!). We collect them Monday so he will let us know the 'extra's' then. They will expire on January 16th which is very soon, so will either have to do it all over again or come back to the UK for a cheaper, longer one. Will keep you posted.

Christmas blessings xxxx

PHOTOS FROM TONDO

SEVEN WEEKS - IS THAT ALL!

Hi all
We can't believe it's only 7 weeks since we arrived, seems so much longer, and apologies for delay in blogging, seems so little time. When we get home at night all we want to do is eat and sleep.
 With every day comes a challenge and a highlight, fortunately the highlights are tipping the balance, but only just.
I have just looked at our prayer points from last time -to update you -
Finance - still ongoing issues, still things coming out of the woodwork, Stan spent the last 2 weeks visiting creditors and coming up with rescue packages and payment plans. Interesting that all the local businesses have been supportive and delighted that a westerner is interested in helping Filipinos. The only difficult one to deal with has been a westerner!
TB nurses - thanks to those of you who gave us money before we came out, saying 'you will know what to use it for', our two nurses are now undergoing treatment and are no longer contagious so back working. Bless you, you know who you are.
Coca Cola -Stan's new 'best friend' is the man from Coke! They have given us some funding to make some improvements to the Livelihood department including new sewing machines, and to improve our 'day-care' facility - grand name for the bit of the room at the back  where the mum's are working and their babies and toddlers can play. Bless Coke (I've been drinking a lot of it since I came here as the water is decidedly suspect!).
Jane -is back in the UK supposedly resting, but emailing every day and fundraising every spare minute. She is coming back out in January so are preparing for a whirlwind!. Bless Jane and her amazing vision.
The staff -apart from one or two we are finding out are not the team players we thought they were (but they will be, we are working on it!), they are amazing and working so hard. Bless them.


Brief details of highs and lows in the last 3 weeks -

• Japanese guy from 2nd Harvest Asia turned up to give us  soya based, nutritionally balanced breakfast food for our feeding programme. The US sent it to Japan after the tsunami but the Japanese wouldn't eat it,  he said it's because they are such picky eaters! Our kids not so fussy, they are wolfing it down.
• Volunteers here from a church in the New Forest, when they left they agreed to pay for the food for the staff and volunteers to have a Christmas party.
• Group of 15 gap-year volunteers here for a week from the US with a group called 'Up with People'  - left agreeing to sponsor some children. (If I can manage the technology you may see a photo of them in their jeepney - local mode of transport here, much prettier than a Stagecoach bus and much cheaper)
• All of the creditors we have seen so far (apart from the westerner:() have agreed to let us pay them over 7-12 months.
• Netsuite (computer people) hosted a party in their tower block for 64 of our kids, with Jollibee meals (Philippine's equivalent of McDonalds) and a visit from Jollibee himself (a bee!). They sent a bus to collect us and all of their staff adopted a child for the day and bought them gifts that the kids had put on a wish list. What reminded us all where the kids come from was (a) they had never been in a lift, and (b) they only ate half the meal, the rest went in a bag to take home.
• Netsuite are coming out to Tondo on the 17th to put on a party for all the rest of the kids they couldn't take to the tower block.
• This week we have 25 students from ISM (International School of Manila) helping with teaching, sorting ring pulls for bag making, helping to serve lunches and anything else we ask - they came with bags of rice, clothing, new plates and mugs for the kids.
• BSM, (The British School in Manila) that we have got to know well, have invited  groups of our kids to the school regularly for swimming and art lessons. Six of their parents have just sponsored children, one is helping us to install a new computer system that Netsuite has donated and another has just raised 30,000pesos to complete two blocks of showers at the school (which is a real need as all the kids arrive in the morning straight from the dump site where there is no water).
• The Chinese School of Manila who have given us 200 tickets to see their production of 'The Wiz' next week, and supplied buses. 

        BLESS THEM ALL

Not so good news (1)

 This week one of our kids was bitten by a rabid dog, nurse comes running in to ask for money to take them to hospital for treatment, no money to spare so Stan had to empty his pockets and we just found enough.  Bundled nurse and child into our car to go to hospital.

Good news is that the child has survived, but very poorly, has to go for 6 more jabs (total cost 5000 pesos (about £65) and neither the parents or the dog owner has so much as a peso, so you wonderful people that we mentioned above have not only paid for the two TB nurses treatment but also this child. An option that was suggested to them at the public 'hospital' (and I use the term loosely), they could find them some other patients to share the needle! To give you an idea of the conditions in this hospital, two weeks ago they had a ward of 22 women who had miscarried; one week later they had all died from preventable infections. It reminds us to be so grateful for the NHS. In the words of the child's parents, " the people who paid are angels sent from God to look after us". 

Not so good news (2)

This week in the Manila Enquirer (a 'proper' newspaper not to be compared with the National Enquirer in the US), the bishop of Manila asked for urgent action by the government to address the problem of the poor and quoted the number living on 52 pesos a day (under £1). The government's answer? The next day they reduced the threshold to 46 pesos.

Not so good news (3) - a reminder for us to take care in Tondo

(a) A 41-year-old woman was shot in the head and killed Friday evening as she was about to board a passenger jeepney on her way home in Manila, police said.

Marilyn Esponilla  of Duhat Street in Tondo was declared dead shortly after arrival at the Mary Johnston Hospital.

Senior Police Officer 1 Mario Asilo  of the Manila Police District homicide section  said shooting happened around 6:50 p.m. at the corner of Zamora and Chacon streets in Tondo

(b) The Manila Police District is investigating the motive behind the fatal shooting of a 58-year-old businessman in front of his hardware store on Tuesday night.

Luis Ang, owner of Louiemar Hardware store on Torres Bugallion Street in Tondo, died from two bullet wounds on his nape after he was shot by an unidentified gunman

PRAYER REQUESTS

• for the children, the staff and the volunteers to have a blessed Christmas break (only a few days) - we finish on the 23rd and are back on the 27th :(
• that Stan continues to receive positive support from our creditors.
• that the bitten child continues to improve.
• that the two HR problems we have can be resolved amicably.
• that we can get a Christmas lunch that does not include rice.

Love to all our friends and family - have a blessed Christmas

Sue n Stan xxxx