The Hidden Manila

I am trying not to fall down. Cha, Rogel and I are following a woman named Dalia as we wind single-file through a dark labyrinth of shacks set too close for any sun to get in; she is taking us to her aged mother who is too weak and sick to get to the clinic that we have set up in a basketball court. Only 50 yards from the court, I have stepped into another world. After a few twists and turns I am completely disoriented. A very large dog bares its teeth at me and snarls menacingly. In the gloom, I almost trip over a laundry woman crouching beside a large bowl filled with clothes. The alley is so narrow that I have to turn sideways just to pass. Children are everywhere, but they are eerily quiet. I am so intent on not losing my footing that I hit my head on a low hanging metal roof. Another sharp corner and suddenly we are in front of a low door. Dalia invites us in to meet her mother, Lola. The old woman is tribal--she was raised in some distant village in the hills. Like all nations, the Philippines have a First Nations population; and like all nations, they represent the poorest, most disenfranchised in the country. Lola seems to be waiting for us; perhaps her daughter had promised to get help somehow.

Lola can’t see, can barely hear and she has constant pain in her hip which is the result of a fall she had escaping the fire that tore through this area two years ago. After prayer she still can’t see, but her hearing has cleared up completely. (She told us that everything was suddenly too loud!) We have Lola walk and she thinks her hip is better, but without sight, she is reluctant to walk very much. Cha asks Dalia how we can pray for her. She earns a living by washing clothes, but sometimes there are no clothes to wash. When this happens, Dalia and her mother do not eat. While we pray, her tears begin to fall. Cha simply holds Dalia as her pain and fear come out through her weeping. We go back to the clinic to get her some vitamins; this is all they have asked for. Like most of the truly poor, these women expect so little and are so thankful and surprised when any care or attention is given.

“The poor you shall have with you always”. This is such a misunderstood scripture. How often I have heard it quoted by church members to justify not giving the poor much attention. How could any thinking person believe that Jesus was excusing us from ignoring the poor because they are always there anyway? Jesus, who fully identified with the poor. Jesus, who chose to be born into the servant class, to become a political refugee in Egypt, to be homeless (Luke 9:58). Jesus was giving disciples their identity. True disciples are those who have the poor among them, who see the poor and make room for them in their lives. Jesus said that true disciples must be where He is. And He was with the poor. He still is. I have been reading the Beatitudes over and over again for a few months now--in both Matthew’s gospel and Luke’s. There is something very disconcerting about Luke 6:20-26. Jesus blesses the poor and warns the rich. As Thomas Merton once wrote, why do I want to get rich when the One I follow chose to be poor? No answers yet, but a fair bit of discomfort.

Today’s medical clinic (and Lola’s home) are in an area called Addition Hills. It is only two minutes from one of the main roads in Manila, lined with modern office buildings, Starbucks, shopping malls and some very nice looking churches. Two minutes away. Another world.

I spent some time with Rogel today, after our visit to Lola. He and his wife have been working in their spare time in Addition Hills for some time now. It is the poorest district in Manila; there are over 100,000 people living in grinding poverty. Children roam the streets because there is no more room at the one public school. So they can’t go to school, just like most of their parents. A perfect formula for perpetual poverty. Rogel and some of his friends pool their money to feed as many as they can. Currently they can provide 500 meals, twice a month. Rogel says that this is the only time they will get meat all month. The cost for 1,000 meals is $250 U.S. Dollars. I asked him how many of the Manila churches are working in Addition Hills. He said none. I re-asked the question because obviously we had misunderstood each other. But no. The answer is none. Dear Lord Jesus, please forgive us. Awaken Your church. Let us find You. Really find You.

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’