LATEST NEWS

We were driving along the 'main' road to the dump site today, shanty housing lines the sides of the road, communities selling items they have scavenged, setting up stalls selling food and generally surviving.
As we past one row of shanties we saw crowds of people carrying small bundles climbing into trucks and lots of men in blue shirts knocking down the houses, often just a few pieces of board, but homes to these people.
 When we asked the driver what was happening he said the houses were being knocked down by government officials as they needed to widen the road. When I expressed concern for the people he said " they will be shipped somewhere else", and he seemed unconcerned.
This sort of thing is being threatened on the dump site as well, the thousands who live there are after all illegal squatters and have no rights. Just the other day the Livelihood workers could not come in as there was a 'tagging' day. Officials 'tag' people in their shanties and if you are not there at the time they allow someone else to move in.
It ponders the question who was moved out of the house that they now live in. Left us feeling very sad about how people can be treated as disposal assets, out of sight, out of mind.
Some good news this week :

• M, the girl with Dengue fever, is recovering

• We've paid the salaries and the payments to the creditors this week

• The HR issues are slowly being resolved

• Supper at the home of the British Ambassador - all we can say is it was heartwarming to see where our taxes go - made sure we had a second glass of Chateau Lafite and loved the lemon sole (where on earth did they get lemon sole in Manila?)  -- and the oddest thing was the patio air conditioning instead of a patio heater!

We thank the Lord for his continual guidance and you for your prayers.

We have some great work going on at PCF this week:

• British School parent arranging funding and installation of shower blocks

• British School parent painting rainbow murals and furnishing the Rainbow Room (for trauma counselling)

• The Sholing School from Southampton (28 students and 10 teachers) and a volunteer from Playdale Playgrounds painting and decorating classrooms and a library and installing two playgrounds on the dump site - we watched as they removed the ropes at either end and  we saw the children stream over the (thankfully very sturdy) equipment.

• For Viva Films who recorded at PCF before Christmas. Their film was shown on cable tv here in the days leading up to Christmas. When they came they said it was just a job, but when they saw the conditions on the dump site they all left in tears and said they had no idea of it's existence (they are all Filipino). The film co-stars a certain Mr Stan Rothwell.

We thank the Lord for putting PCF on all their hearts.

Love to all, thank you as always for your prayers and support.
Sue and Stan xxx

KEUNG HEI FAT CHOI

Happy New Year - again! 

Chinese New Year celebrations big here -there is a large Chinese population. We have seen the most amazing lion dancers, beautiful costumes, Chinese writing and lanterns - and that was just at the British School! A group of our children were invited to spend the day there so we went too.

We were guest speakers at the all school assembly and prize-giving the following day and came away with 100,000 pesos and two new child sponsors signed up, plus a parent is paying for a shower room at the school and another is helping us to decorate the 'Rainbow Room' next week - room for counseling traumatized children -to make it less clinical. They are amazing, they feature PCF in every issue of their magazine - trying to attach it to this - we feature on pages 4/5 ish - under Primary News.
(Not working, so you'll have to take my word for it, will show you when we come home!)

 Other good news this week:

• Target Philippines have given us $25,000 for books
• Local business given lots of canned food
• One of our creditors has written off the bill
• The new headmaster at the British School has agreed to adopt PCF as their only charity (before they supported a number) so they can focus just on us
• Our wheezy coughs have gone

We really feel there is light at the end of the tunnel, supporters are appearing and things are stabilizing a little. However, a very difficult couple of weeks involving staff issues to overcome which have caused a lot of anxiety.

We do thank the Lord for his faithfulness in all of this.

Some things that have amused us this week:

• Sign outside an apartment building a few miles away, 'Warning - you are now crossing the Philippine Fault Line, please ensure your earthquake preparations are up to date'

• People we have come across this week - Cinderella Balorum (pronounced ballroom), Muttley Yap, Kay Figuracion (an accountant!) and Jesus Christus.

• sign outside the bank 'please turn off your cell phone and deposit your firearms' 

• At the petrol station sign saying 'no security cameras' - because there was a guy with a pump action shotgun watching our every move - would you drive off without paying?

Not sure we will ever get used to the amount of guns around - even the guard outside McDonald’s in Manila - would you want to steal a burger?

There is another view of course - as one of the social workers said to me yesterday, " I don't think I'd like to go to the UK, how can you keep safe without any guns".

Prayers please:

• For the HR issues to be resolved amicably

• That the February salaries and bills can all be paid

• For M (one of our 4th graders) who has Dengue fever 

• For a containment of the mercury problem - the levels are now increasing around the school 

• For the barangay leaders who are giving some awareness training to the dump-site foragers regarding the treatment they should give long life light bulbs (which is where the mercury comes from) - it is a first that something so positive should happen amongst the leaders (like mayors), they command a lot of respect so will be listened to much more than us

• For Stan's meeting with D & L Industries this week - there is a possibility they may fund the teachers salaries for a year.

• For the scary event this month - we have been invited to attend a reception at the British Embassy. The previous ambassador was a great supporter of PCF, this one not interested so far, so this is a very positive step

 For a taste of life in Manila - go on You Tube and search for 'British bus driver in Manila', a friend asked if it is accurate - it is!

The girl on the ladder is one of our PCF students going home to live on top of the tombs in Navotas - just reminds us there is still so much to do.

Love to everyone

Sue and Stan xxxx