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

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

ONE MONTH IN MANILA

Hi all
Difficult to know where to start, so much has happened in this first month, impossible to keep it brief so please persevere to the end.
 Sorry no more photos, we have loads but just no time to put them on. Usually out of the door by 6.30am (to avoid the horrendous Manila traffic) and often home late if we have meetings.

Those of you who are friends on Facebook, have just put a link on to a video taken on the dump-site, in the school, the PCF church (under water) and the cemetery at Navotas where the children live amongst the tombs. Sorry can't put the link on here but ask someone who has Facebook, it's worth watching and you can see the challenges for yourselves.

• We mentioned Navotas in last blog and said it couldn't be worse than the dump site here - it was. The houses are built on top of the tombs, which are piled on top of each other like filing cabinets, relatives are slid out so a new one can go in. Some of the tombs are broken and a child was seen recently playing with a human thigh bone. Not only that, this area is overlooking the sea and 88 of the shanties, including some families, were lost in the last typhoon. The community is incredibly supportive of each other though, they take families in and there are often 30 sheltering under a couple of sheets of wood with a tarpaulin (if they are lucky) on top. A lot of work went on here when the last typhoon was raging, hundreds of emergency relief packs of shelter, clothing and food were made up and delivered by PCF.
• We are still talking finance, which is very depressing, but when you see what is happening here and how it must continue it spurs you on. Fortunately the board both here and in the UK are very supportive and have come up with some 'rescue packages', we pray for more funding to come in then all will be well. The ironic thing is, there is money in the bank that is reserved for specific projects so can't be used to pay the wages. Apparently in fund-raising speak wages aren't attractive, so no one wants to fund them, but the reality is without the teachers, social workers, nurses, sponsorship team, drivers, cleaners etc etc we wouldn't be able to operate. Anyway the staff are all sure God has his hand on it, so we are not to worry! When we look at the children at the school who are well nourished (they have breakfast and lunch here and take a pack home for the family), innoculated, flourishing and their mum is working upstairs in Livelihood making bags and jewellery and supporting her family you know how worthwhile it is. However we at the moment are serving 1000 families regularly, and a few more when we can and there are 15000 families on the dump-site you see there is still work to be done.
• Stan preached the sermon at the dump site church last Sunday (complete with wellies - it is permanently flooded). It was a packed 'churches together' service and I have to say he did pretty well. To be fair though, part of it was 'borrowed' from Jon Hills - so thanks Jon!). I was asked to preach today and I was competing with Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao, for the ignorant amongst you he is a world class boxer who was from a very poor Filipino family, so is a real hero here. He is also a congressman, and is loved by all. He was fighting this morning, so wasn't expecting a big congregation - had 87 women and children and no men! (Usually hundreds!). I was quite happy about that as nervous enough anyway! (Manny won by the way).
• It is interesting how our jobs are splitting, whilst I was on the dump-site today Stan was invited to a Remembrance service at HTM (that's Holy Trinity Manila!), the Anglican church in Makati, the area that many of the ex-pats live and work. The high rises are a bit like New York and the area is wealthy - if I tell you the church is between the golf club and the polo club you will get the idea. After the service he was invited for drinks with the British Ambassador and then to watch the boxing. Not sure this division of labour is going the way I thought. The positive thing is, when he told the guests where his wife was they were keen to support PCF, so that's very positive (and they do have plenty of money!).
• The Manila throats have cleared up - must be getting used to the smog.
• All Saints Day big here - the evening before (All Hallows Eve) people go to the tombs and scrub them, and then on the following day they all visit their dead relatives and have parties. According to the Manila Tribune over 1million people visited Manila Cemetery that day.
• Interesting newspaper headlines this week (all our solicitor friends take note), "solicitors and con artists banned from Manila park". (As we read on we realised they were talking about people asking for money).
• Good news this week - we did manage to get into the Mall last night and Stan has found a perfect substitute for the Chosen coffee shop - he started with 'Gloria Jeans' and then found an even cheaper one 'The Coffee Bean', they even have a little card they stamp for a free one every 7th! Sadly may take Stan a long time to get the free one, much less free time! (Only 65 pesos though - under £1)
• We met a Canadian property developer who wants to buy land and build (legal) houses near to the dump-site. He sells top range properties and has asked the buyers to pay another $1500 on top so he can build a house in a deprived area - and they are doing it! He is finishing a project in Cambodia and then coming here - and he bought us dinner at the Intercontinental (where all the American/Canadian visitors stay) so not all bad news!
• More good news - we have just spent a day showing reps from an Australian charity - Emagine Education Everywhere - round the school and dump-site. They want to kit out a computer room for us (we just happen to have an empty room that would be perfect) and send a trainer over to train people in IT skills (probably as evening classes). IT skills are sought after here, so another way of getting off the dump-site.
• Employee of the month - we don't really have one but maybe we should. One of the social workers, Christopher, who is usually the one who comes with us round the dump site, is the nearest thing to a saint I have ever seen. As he walks round the dump-site the kids fling their arms around him, adults want to shake his hand. He is paid a pittance, most of which he gives away to them as he is walking around. He has damaged lungs due to the time he spends on the dump (there is always stuff burning) but just loves the people and says God has sent him here to help, so he must. He just loves them all. He was interviewed recently by a university doing a project here, do watch it. We are thinking of starting a 'sponsor a member of staff' scheme to run along the child sponsorship scheme and I think people will be fighting to sponsor Chris.
• Bad news this week - Sue bought a shirt - she is XL in Asian sizing - had to go out the back to find one big enough - she won't be buying any more (and she has lost weight on the diet of rice and beans!).
• Best sign of the week - in the red light district (don't ask!) - a strip club called 'Play and Display'

PRAYER POINTS THIS WEEK

• Finance miracles
• The TB positive nurses - now suspended with full pay until we can get them tested - trying to source funding for that
• Coca Cola - yes a funny one I know - but Stan is meeting with them tomorrow. They want to support us so he's going to show them some our ring-pull handbags and bracelets so they can see they do already! Hopefully they will give us money as well
• For the amazing staff and volunteers here
• For Jane returning to the UK on Wednesday that she knows her 'baby' is in safe hands

PHOTOS - FIRST 2 WEEKS

PCF visit Navotas

PCF visit Navotas

View from our school office window - with central Manila skyline

'Temporary' govt. housing project Smokey Mountain. Built 2004
following international outcry. Amenities still to be installed.

PCF student details - note ironic home address!

The new PCF school - built entirely from shipping containers - a world first!

Navotas cemetery - note dwellings built amongst the tombs

Navotas alleyway between dwellings

Fishing for supper - Navotas

Remains of stilt houses destroyed in 2011 typhoon season - Navotas

PCF communal toilet block - Navotas

Navotas shoreline. Note ship in background beached during
typhoon

Things you don't want to see when living on 20th floor of 39 storey
apartment block