Lausanne World Pulse – Urban Articles – Scavengers No More: Looking at Homelessness in Metro Manila

By Corrie De Boer

Onel, age 11, should be in the fifth grade; however, due to malnourishment and lack of any formal education, he has been enrolled in first grade. He is exuberant to carry books and notebooks and to sport a brand-new uniform. Kikay is four years old and enrolled in preschool. You should see her strutting around in her uniform and announcing how she is going to school. Contrast this with so many children from middle-class families who only groan and complain when school doors open. For Tony’s children, it is a privilege they could not have imagined.

Of course, Tony and Anna can’t read or write either. Kikay’s teacher has agreed to tutor Anna, and another farmer is mentoring Tony in various parenting and home management skills.

The Challenge of Discipling the Family
How do you disciple a family who has led an itinerant life on the streets for twenty years? They need to learn how to set up a safe and secure home, to provide guidance to children who have been accustomed to running unsupervised in the streets, to manage a week’s worth of money (instead of spending it all in one day), to live in a settled residence, and to integrate their lives into a local group of believers.

While the two families were staying at my home, I would tell them stories about Jesus and his love for them. One day, Tony and Anna prayed to receive Jesus into their lives. We arranged for Romel to attend an evangelistic youth camp and he became a believer. However, being illiterate, they could not read the scriptures for themselves. And they were too embarrassed to visit a local church without me accompanying them. So I introduced them to another farmer, Melchor, who is teaching Tony how to read and to follow the way of Jesus.

Reflections
My encounter with Anna and her family has served to slow down my frenetic lifestyle. Now, whenever I visit them, the children rush up to me to be picked up and hugged. I was not gifted with my own biological children; however, I am now enjoying the soft presence of a tiny infant, the warm hugs of a 4-year old girl, and the loving kisses of a 3-year-old boy. The kids are teaching me to play and laugh again. They provide a blessed reprieve from my academic and social action responsibilities.

As I have entered the world of this family who, for twenty years, struggled to survive on the pavement of Metro Manila, I wonder how God must be feeling toward the collective failure of the Church, the state, and the business sector to care for Tony, his family, and the hundreds of thousands like them who continue to eek out a miserable daily existence.

An important theme in scripture is the value God places on families. The Word in Life Study Bible explains that, “The family is the primary institution established by God (Genesis 2:23). Before there were any nations, cities, or other human communities, there was a family. Logically and chronologically, family comes first.” God’s intention is that each child be nurtured within the love and care of a family. However, in the case of Anna, the acceptance, provision, self-confidence, and health that God intended the family to provide came to an abrupt end when she was abandoned at the age of eleven. Now, when God looks at Anna and Tony’s family, he sees disintegration, deprivation, disempowerment, and disease.

Ironically, a few blocks away from this street family’s former hideaway is a major evangelical seminary, four huge churches, several upscale restaurants, hundreds of business establishments, and hundreds of largely upper-middle class families. A challenge I face is how to mobilize their support on behalf of the five hundred street families and individuals whose lives are rooted in our neighborhood.

A few weeks ago I asked Anna what had changed in her life since we had become friends. After a moment’s reflection, she replied,

My family and I are closer to Jesus and to each other. We love attending the church across from our new home. The pastor and his wife care for us. She is teaching me and my children how to read and write. I am so happy here. We have a roof over our head. At last my children are going to school. This has been my long-time prayer. Melchor and Enalyn (our farm managers with thirteen children) are kind and helpful to us. They take time to listen to our stories, and bring us to the market and hospital. We feel we belong to a big family. They are like our parents to us and you and Sir Stewart are our grandparents. Above all, we are scavengers no more!

Please continue to pray for Tony and his family. Pray for God’s provision for a more permanent housing for them and a more stable source of income. Pray for our plan in Mission Ministries Philippines to establish an integrated, organic, and sustainable farm institute enabling homeless families like Tony’s to learn skills in urban agriculture and alternative farm systems like hydroponics. Pray for wisdom for me and our staff as we seek God’s direction in setting up an ecologically-sound and sustainable Christian community where the rich and the poor can dwell together in unity manifesting the presence of the Kingdom of God.

Corrie De Boer is chair of the Board of Mission Ministries Philippines, a Filipino agency ministering among the poorest of the poor in Metro Manila. She teaches at Bakke Graduate University and Asian Theological Seminary.

Comments on this article

dear Corrie, I am a Filipino and that is my longtime dream: to be able to help the poor, the oppressed, the abused in the Philippines. Every story like this that I come across reminds me that i am not here in this world for myself alone, but for GOD’S pleasure and the service of others, too. And of late, I realized that indeed these matters are too complicated and enormous for us humans alone to undertake. we need the leading and guidance of GOD as to how HE wants us to serve our brothers in need. “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” (Matt 25:40) may the peace of the LORD be with you always. Seni

seni :: 27 Oct 2008

Dear Corrie,I just read your article about this family, and I am so touched by the way the Lord led you to help them. I grew up in the Phlippines as a missionary kid and was able to serve in Metro Manila for many years as a missionary. I know exactly what you are describing. May the Lord continue to bless you as you serve Him. – Cindy Lyons

Cindy Lyons :: 10 Oct 2008