HELLO PCF SCHOOL!

Hi everyone
This will be very short and sweet as we have very much hit the ground running since we arrived, so here are some very brief bullet points:

• arrived in Manila on the evening of the 21st
• moved into apartment
• now got internet access
• been to the school today
• term has started 
• the children are delightful
• sights and smells and smiles same as when we left
• painting almost finished - looking good
• staff delighted with their 'pasalubong' (in Filipino culture, one way of showing thoughtfulness is by giving pasalubong - travel gift when you return from far away),  of diamond jubilee key rings and lots of English biscuits!
• received update on the UN funded project to raise awareness amongst our young people on birth control 
• secured school books order for 2012/2013 with 'Stan discount' (he is getting so good at securing these!)
• books are paid for! 
• three meetings tomorrow - managers, teachers and rest of staff!
•  following day meeting with an accountant to learn about the Filipino tax system (don't really understand the English one!)
• next week - trying to hire a school principal following a resignation.
• Tropical storm due Friday!

Prayers for the last four in particular please!

Love Sue and Stan

TWO WEEKS TO HOME TIME!

Just realised that two weeks today we will be home. Panic has now set in as such a lot to finish, to hand over, to put in place, reports to write etc etc

Can't believe how quickly these months have gone. It has been an enormous learning curve, frustrating, irritating, wonderful, amazing time.
 We have no idea why we agreed to come, and can't imagine how we could have said no.

Even though we have known Asia, we have known nowhere like the Philippines, in particular Manila and in particular the dump site people. they are in equal measure delightful and dangerous and it has been a pleasure to get to know them and particularly their children.

Too many high points and low points to mention - every day has been different.

The support from the board and the CEO here has been amazing, as has the support from the local schools, in particular the British, International and Chinese Schools in Manila.

The staff at PCF have been amazingly supportive, hard working and with such a heart for the work of the foundation.

Would we come back?

 Hope to catch up with everyone in the next few weeks and we'll let you know!

Prayers of thanks:

• For your messages of support and your prayers

• For the generosity of so many

• For the staff and children at PCF

• For the CEO and board - for everything they do to support PCF whilst doing 'proper' jobs as well

• That the financial situation is turning round - and God is providing

• For the friendships we have made and the support we have received here

Prayer requests:

• For the PCF staff and families of our beneficiaries still trying to rebuild their shanties after typhoon Pendring - every effort is now being made to get them strengthened before the start of the 2012 typhoon season

• For the shanty dwellers in Tondo, Navotas and Baguio for protection when the typhoons come  - there are around 20 a year

• That the amazing work here continues 

• For empowerment of the staff here - that they will realise they can do anything in God's power

With love
Sue and Stan

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

JANUARY 16TH 2012 -BYE BYE WILL

Hi all

We said goodbye to Will on Friday. Was so good to see him, and it gave us the opportunity to take some time out. Apartment very quiet since he returned, although strangely tidy again!

Busy week this week, we have two lovely girls here volunteering with us who are an ecologist and anthropologist respectively.

Although we had tried to prepare them with email information and pictures I don't think they quite grasped how things were on the dump site as they kept sending us plans of greenhouses they wanted to build, 'green' roof projects and digging gardens for the residents to grow vegetables. When we showed them the 'houses' (mostly no roof) and the spaces between them (none) and the open space (none) they were horrified. 

They then suggested bat boxes (no bats, and if there ever had been they would have been casseroled). One of them wanted to get in the river to take some samples to test, we had to hold her back, and after she had dipped a bottle with care and tested it she realized why. 

The mercury levels are dangerously high and according to the press there are 150 tons of domestic waste and 75 tons of industrial waste dumped daily (and we've seen a lot of it going in as it's right outside our window!), effectively a huge sewer system.

Apparently the Pasig is the most polluted river in the world. When we were in Indonesia we were living in the most polluted city in the world - pattern emerging?

Next time I'm putting in a request for somewhere in Switzerland - surely there can't be any pollution there?

On Will's last day here the CEO (who also runs a large high rise office in Makati) invited him, and us, up to the top of the building to take some photos on the helipad.

70 floors and no guard rail - didn't do Stan's vertigo any good! But what a view - in one direction the high rises of Makati (could be New York) with the mountains behind and in the other direction in the distance Pier 18 (the dump site). The contrast never ceases to shock.

We have passed a milestone - this week managed to pay salaries and start the payment schedule to the creditors - PTL. Now for stage two, how to either increase income or reduce outgoings and this is being reviewed now. The boards in UK and here understand the issues and are talking together about them

 which we think is positive progress as it wasn't happening before. They asked us for transparency and by golly they are getting it, they must dread getting another email from the Rothwells!

 

Prayer requests:

• For guidance for both PCF boards on the next steps they must take
• For continued health - we are both a bit wheezy
• That the two volunteers leave here with an insight into the problems - and want to fund-raise!
• For continued guidance for us
• the children and families supported by PCF - may that continue

• For the talk we are giving at the British School of Manila on the 27th - for the right words 

Check back soon, Stan will be adding some photos

With every blessing

Sue and Stan

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