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

By Corrie De Boer

A New Revelation
As I understood more of their story, many thoughts ran through my mind. My ministry is with the poor, but I have never become that involved directly with a destitute street family. My husband and I helped establish more than five hundred preschools in the Manila slums, created jobs through an organic farm, and set up an employment agency hiring hundreds of people. But how were we to really help this one needy family who has survived on the street for two decades? And why had no church, mission agency, or social service agency ever helped them? I continued to grapple for an answer as I walked the streets.

All of a sudden, while walking home one day, Isaiah 58:6-7 kept ringing in my ears. Verses I had memorized years ago flashed back:

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

I remember studying this passage that revealed God indicting his people for their false religiosity. They prayed, read scriptures, sang hymns, and attended sacred rituals; however, they neglected to do justice, to help the needy. They equated worship with religious activities instead of the doing of justice. At that moment, I knew I had to act justly in relation to this family.

I rang up some mission agencies. None had any facilities for street families, only children. Deep inside, I knew I had to assist this family. But how? I counseled myself, “You have to set some boundaries.” My schedule was already extremely full: teaching in a seminary, networking globally, administrating a city network, and overseeing an employment agency, an organic farm, and a grassroots ministry.

One evening, when the rain was coming down especially heavy, I thought again of Michelle, the tiny 2-month-old infant. The children were caught in the rain, getting wet and possibly ill. Could they not be sheltered in our living room? I stepped out into the rain, looking for them at their usual location, and found them. They accepted my invitation to shelter with us for the night.

For my husband and I, this was the beginning of a life-changing relationship, not only with Lisa and Freddy who were already with us, but with Anna and Tony. For three weeks, these two families shared our home and table as we considered more permanent living situations for them. Our living room became their bedroom. Our garage became a safe place to park their pushcarts filled with recyclable items. Around our dining table we shared common meals day by day.

The Challenge of Finding a Job
During this 3-week period, Stewart and I tried employing Tony and Freddy on our mission farm. But friction arose when Tony and Freddy’s children clashed with the farmers’ children. It soon became obvious that the farm families were not prepared to live together with the street families.

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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.