Block 37 - update

The government has started leveling the area where the Block 37 homes stood before the fire.






In the meantime the people who were in the school have had to move out so that classes could resume, they were allocated a lot of vacant land to dwell on whilst the development is finished, but the people have mostly decided to live near Block 37. I think this is due to them being concerned about missing out on their plot of land to rebuild their home.



Here is the size of the plot assigned to the people marked out with pieces of wood:



Please pray for the HOM team.

Fire relief - 2

HOM continues to help the people who were affected by the fire distributing, water, baby milk, baby bottles and diapers to the families in the relief centre. Once again they were able to borrow a vehicle to do this work. Please pray for Sally and the team as they go about this difficult and upsetting work

Fire relief

Sally has just described the desperate need of the people who have been affected by the fire. The HOM team have been giving away spare clothing. Our team members are fantastically generous out of their own poverty.


You can see the conditions the people are living in with six families to a room in this school.

Heartbreaking Suffering

Sally has reported that people in the evacuation centre are in very difficult situation, asking for water and for milk for their babies. It is heartbreaking to see their suffering.

Block 37 fire update

Sally has been in contact once more and has sent these distressing pictures. Block 37 is one of the poorest communities that HOM serves. Fortunately there continues to be no report of loss of life which is amazing considering the devastation, I think that is likely due to the fire starting around 19:45. As you can see many families (Sally estimates 800 families) have lost their homes and all they had. Please pray for them:

Fire

We have a report from Sally that the community that we know as Block 37 has been affected by a large fire, this article suggests 1000 homes have been destroyed, I assume that it is a typo in the article and it means that 5000 people have been affected not 5000 families.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/11/16/09/fire-razes-1000-homes-mandaluyong-city

Please pray for our friends

Medical Prescription

The picture above is Tiribe Sarabia, 26 years old, diagnosed to have dengue fever. Hands of mercy is helping her with the medicines. Her parents are scavengers and what they earned is not even enough for their food. The mother came to the office crying for help. We are praying for her fast recovery so that she can go back to her school.

This is Jayvee Duazo, 5 years old and has a hydrocephalus case. He had a seizure last night and is now confined at the intensive care unit in one of the local hospitals in Mandaluyong. He is one of the patients of Hands of Mercy under the home care therapy. Unfortunately, the family does not have money to purchase the medicines. The mother came to the office yesterday, 5 November, for help to purchase the medicines needed by Jayvee. When we visited him this morning, the mother told us that he is recovering and she thanked us for the prayers and for the financial help that was given to them by hands of mercy. She said if it was not for the help, she does not know what had happen to him.

Hands of Mercy continues to give help to people that are in desperate need of medicine. People are coming to the office for help. Through the Medical Prescription Programme we are given the chance not only to help for the medicine but also to pray for the sick. It is a blessing to know that as we extend our love to these people, we were able to exalt the name of the Lord!

Home Improvement on typhoon "santi"

The pictures above shows the roof relief operation made after the typhoon “santi” strikes to number of families in the community. Families are very grateful that help has been extended to them. Joey is busy with the Home Improvement Programme. Thank you for your prayers and for the UK trustees for the immediate response to the needs.

Message from Sally Escoto

This is Sally and Joey Escoto from the Hands of Mercy Philippines!
I can't believe time is over for the MacDougall's and Alexander's visit. The people from Hands of Mercy Philippines were so blessed during their stay and they have left a very memorable relationship to everyone. The day they left Manila, another typhoon came in, this is called "santi". This typhoon causes damages to the roofs of numbers of the families that are friends of Hands of Mercy including some of the staff due to strong winds. Again, Hands of Mercy came in to the rescue for the roof relief operation. There were 15 families found desperately in need for roof replacement. At the moment construction is simultaneously going on all over the communities. Thanks for the people who continually give towards the relief operation. Pictures above shows the damaged caused by typhoon "santi".

The relief medicine operation is still going on. Just this morning someone came to the office asking help for his child who is desperately in need for laboratories to determine whether the baby has dengue fever. The baby was admitted at the hospital for three days, yet no medicine was given because the parents does not have money to buy the doctor's prescription. Just when I visited the baby at the hospital the medicine was purchased and the laboratory tests were made. The family is waiting for the result for futher treatment. I prayed for the the baby and the family. Also another patient I visit while I was there is the father of the child we used to sponsor, Mr. De Asis. He has a very complicated disease and he is asking help from Hands of Mercy because they cannot afford to buy his medicine. I am so bless to have been given the chance to pray for him and to let him accept Jesus as his Lord and personal saviour.

Damage from Typhoon Mirinae

We have had another communication from the Escotos outlining the damage from the winds of the latest typhoon. The roofs on the homes of 15 families are known to have been damaged and will be repaired under the Home Improvement Programme

Missing posts - Thursday's activities - Staff Intercession

On Thursday afternoon we gathered once more at the Sikap centre for a time of worship with the HOM volunteers. The staff were once again keen to sing the songs Carol and Sarah had taught them on Sunday and they both again helped lead worship.


After worship David spoke once more and after his message he encouraged us to share the peace with each other. As with everything else the Filipinos threw themselves into this with great enthusiasm.

We then had some traditional Filipino food provided by the staff and some cakes provided by us. After this we started to say goodbye to our friends. Most of the staff left, but some stayed on for the evening. I had some work to do with Sally, but the others enjoyed each others company, sang songs together and played games. It was wonderful hearing the sounds of their enjoyment from the office. Once we had finished our work we finally said goodbye to the remaining staff, but they wanted to spend more time with us so they walked us to where we got the Jeepney back to the hotel. It was a sad farewell when we finally flagged down the right Jeepney, Sarah almost missed getting on as she said goodbye to her new friends.

Missing posts - Thursday's activities - Hilaga 2

We were able to walk around the community in Hilaga between the feeding and the small group.

We saw how some of the people of the community lived when we visited the home of one of our volunteers, she had a small room (less than 2m square) with an open window. To get to it you needed to walk (carefully) down an unlit damp passage made by the cramped homes of her neighbours.

But, there has been a significant change in parts of the community since the last time I was there, a group of the people living there were able with the help of a Catholic church to build a new block of flats into which they then moved, during the construction that took two years they lived outside the building site in temporary dwellings.

It was wonderful to see some of the people of the community living in much better quality housing.

Missing posts - Thursday's activities - Hilaga

We went and helped with the feeding at Hilaga on Thursday, here 58 malnourished children get supplementary feeding three times a week.



After the feeding Carol shared a talk on discipleship from the gospel of Mark with the parents of some of the children

Update on Typhoon Mirinae

As some of you are likely to be aware, another typhoon hit Manila overnight. We were fortunate to be able to leave before it arrived, but it was very cloudy when we left and we were worried for our friends.

We have just got off a skype call to Sikap where HOM has it's main church and office. A lot of Manila had lost power including Sikap and Sally's home, but the power came back on when we were online so we were able to talk.

The main church area had flooded once again and the team had just finished cleaning it up. We spoke about a couple of options to try and help with the flooding of the church area when we were out there so hopefully we will be able to do something soon.

We are aware that some homes in Florante have had their roofs damaged, as the typhoon this time came with strong winds (Ondoy just dumped a load of rain on Manila, but had relatively light winds). Sally and Joey will tour the communities tomorrow after the main service and see what other damage has been caused.

Return of UK team

Just to update you we have safely arrived back in the UK. Thank you all for your prayer support.

We will be putting more updates here about our last two days as we were quite busy and didn't get much blogging time.

Blog from Hong Kong

The wonders of free Wi-Fi at Hong Kong airport allows a brief blog on our way home. We still have not told about our emotional farewells with the communities yesterday, but that will have to wait until we get home.

But a five hour gap between flights at Hong Kong gave us the chance to speed on the airport express to the centre of the city and its famous harbour. It was a bit of a lightning tour (and in view of an apparent flight delay, we perhaps could have stayed a little longer!) but we took in the brief sights and lights. And very spectacular they are too!

Perhaps the sudden jump from 'third world' Manila to 'first world' Hong Kong is too stark however. It made us think about the systems that cause some to be rich and many more to be poor, and to wonder about some of the large issues of our day. We also somehow missed the chaos, noise, dirt and vibrancy of life in Manila. And especially we missed the friendly wonderful people we have been with this last week, who are so materially poor, but have made us feel so rich to know.

Last Post from Manila

We have much more to say but it will have to wait to the UK now as we are packing frantically. We had our last night for a while in the humid heat of Manila with its constant fumes and beeping of traffic horns. What a place! And we are so sorry to be leaving the beautiful people of Manila.

We shall return!

New Typhoon

Please pray that a new typhoon that is threatening Manila on Saturday will change course and diminish in power. It is worrying that the people we have been with are under threat by more devastation, especially when 'normal' life is so vulnerable.

The new typhoon is internationally called Mirinae, but the Philippines always give typhoons a local name which is Santi. (See news story here)

A Glimpse of Something Better?

On one of our visits to one of the squatter communities I noticed a very small amount of some much better looking housing (probably about 20 dwellings amongst thousands of ramshackle shelters). I was informed that these had been built in co-operation with the government and a non-government agency. They cost about 500 pesos a month to rent (about £7) - but that is still far too much for the many squatters who try to make a living by scavenging and fail to find enough to eat. But a sign of hope?...

Feeding the Children

Because so many children in the poor squatter communities are under-nourished, Hands of Mercy seeks to provide regular feeding sessions where they can receive some of the nutrients they need to grow healthily. The children and the parents gather with spoons at the ready! We helped distribute the much appreciated food.

Sally's first blog

This is my first blog post, hello everyone

In Prison

Yesterday we went to visit a young person from the community who is in prison awaiting trial. I have never been to prison before, so I do not know what they are normally like. I found the experience daunting.

We were led, with his mother, to the entrance where we were searched and had to show our passports. From there we were taken into a large cell with long benches and tables where prisoners were sitting opposite their visitors. Prisoners seemed to be allowed to roam around in the cell with us, and we heard later that an earlier visit by members of Hands of Mercy had been quite scary when the visitors were surrounded and questioned as to why they were there.

The person we had come to visit was led into the cell. He looked very young, having just turned 18 he had just been transferred to this adult jail, but he looked a lot younger. He also looked quite scared - and we soon saw why: his mother slipped him his protection money to stop him being beaten up. It was distressing to imagine all that he, and other prisoners, go through.

We talked to our prisoner and tried to encourage him, and his mother. We later gave her some money for his food and his needs. We hoped that we had given some support by our presence and we shall try and support the family.

On the way out we visited the juvenile cell and the women's cell. Here Hands of Mercy are able to lead small groups to encourage the prisoners, and to bring food for them. The cells here were like you see on US films, with the front of the cell made up of thick iron bars, and the whole of the cell visible to outsiders. In the juvenile cell there were three teenagers aged about 14 awaiting trial. One had been there for about six months. We were able to talk to the prisoners for a short while and try to encourage them.

As we stepped outside into the Manila hot sunshine, it was upsetting to think of the prisoners behind us who wouldn't be seeing the sun for a long, long time.

Block 37 flooding victim

After the feeding in Block 37 we went to visit another family who had been affected by flooding. Their home was by the stream that runs through Block 37:





This is inside the house, the flood water would have been up above my head in this picture (I was sitting down):



The flood subsided enough for the family to come home the next day, but they told us that everytime it rains the stream floods their home to some extent.

Sharing at Block 37

Carol led the small group after the feeding in Block 37 sharing from the gospel of Mark:

Feeding in Block 37

Until we found Nueve de Febrero that I wrote about yesterday Block 37 was probably the poorest community that Hands of Mercy serve. David and myself were there helping with the Home Improvement Plan earlier and today Carol, Sarah and myself went back to see the feeding:




Sarah helped once again helped to give out the food:

Tomorrow is challenging...

The UK team seem a little tired today - trying to take on board all we are seeing and experiencing. So it is off to bed for an early night.

Tomorrow we are off to a feeding centre. One of the constant battles in the communities is to get enough food to eat, and of sufficient nutrient quality. The feeding centres are run by Hands of Mercy for children of the 'poorest of the poor' who are often very under-developed due to the lack of food. Hands of Mercy are able to supplement their diet and help them to be more healthy.

Food is also a real concern for the Filipino volunteer workers of Hands of Mercy who, like the rest of the residents of the squatter communities are desperate for food for their families.

Tomorrow we are also off to visit the local prison where we expect that people will be living in poor conditions. We feel a bit daunted!

And talking of tomorrow, we are thinking about dreams for a better tomorrow for all these poor people. What could tomorrow hold for them, in a better world? What can we do to make that happen?

Tomorrow is challenging....

Nueve de Febrero

Sally was keen to show us a new community called Neuve de Febrero that the team here have become aware of after the flood. This community of 28 families lives right beside a creek, which sounds quite nice, until you realise that the creek smells badly of raw sewage and the homes are less than half a metre from a 2 metre drop in to the foul smelling water. Lots of rubbish and dead rats floated past and Sarah A had a close encounter with a live rat. Here is what the creek looks like:



Once we arrrived at a place to talk with some of the residents, Carol and then Sarah A and Grace sat on a log over-hanging the creek. Very brave!





When the flood came the water was about 3m above the current level, if you look at this picture the water came up to where the plastic is showing:


To get in and out of the community you have to do a tightrope walk across a walkway less than half metre wide with a significant fall to one side, here are some of the team negotiating it when we left: