Walking With the Poor - Notes From the Field

MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO PHILIPPINES
January 2007

Hope in the aftermath of terrible destruction

Due to mechanical problems on the flight, Minneapolis became our home on the road for a day and a night. But we finally made it to Narita Airport in Japan (12+ hour flight) and from there another four-hour flight to Manila. In Manila, we were met in spite of the late hour by CFCA.

Confronting poverty with joy and humor

Zamboanga: In Mindanao, we were surrounded and protected 24 hours a day by heavy security. But the real protection, I feel, was unmilitary. In the afternoon, I was privileged to visit the home and family of our sponsored child, Shaima, a remarkable 8-year-old Muslim girl. Her family struggles to make ends meet with eight children all living at home. They are squatters on a piece of government land, from which they could be ejected at any time. They have no running water. Only this week the father, Abbas, was able to hook up one electric wire for one light bulb, after years with a home-made kerosene lamp. They are a simple and loving Muslim family, with a sense of God’s greatness and universality. They confront their poverty with joy and a sense of humor.

‘Only CFCA stays by my side’

From the air over Legazpi, one gets quite a view of the tremendous hurricane destruction. Most branches have been literally ripped off the trees. Experts say 90 percent of the lava on the Mayon Volcano still is hanging up there and has the probability of coming down with subsequent downpours. What came down in January was so powerful that it did not follow the normal flow of the rivers. It made its own rivers, sometimes with banks 20- to 30-feet deep.

Listen to the story of Chrisel, turning 19 on Feb.17. Her family’s house near a river was washed away. After they transferred to another location, that house was devastated by another typhoon. Her mother left when she was 10 and Chrisel went to live with her father and a younger brother and sister, playing the role of mother, playmate and nanny. With the support of CFCA, she is studying elementary education at San Jose Community College far from home. Chrisel also finances the schooling for her younger brother and sister.

“I have to tell you that being alone is really difficult. Lucky that I became a CFCA beneficiary when I was seven years old. CFCA shouldered all the responsibilities which my parents must perform supposedly. It was near the end of the term of my first year in college when my beloved father died. I felt so alone. But it is good to know that it is only CFCA who stays by my side until now…giving all their support and assistance…yet never asking to be repaid.”

15 family members swept away

Can you imagine the impact of sitting next to a devastated young man of 33 who has seen 15 members of his family, including his wife and six children, swept away by the typhoon? One of his deceased boys was sponsored. I sat next to Ramon in a plywood shelter on his only piece of borrowed furniture and offered to feel his pain. Sixty days after the killer storm, he still has trouble eating and sleeping.

Today I visited many sponsored families who survived only by the grace of God and their clinging to life. Their humble abodes were literally splintered by the force of this hurricane and lava/bolder slides. Typhoon Durian pounded these families for eight relentless hours. Their message: “Thanks CFCA… .”

New housing for 30 families

Villa Exodus is the name chosen for the newest housing development sponsored by the CFCA Antipolo Project. A former CFCA scholar, now about to graduate as an architect, is doing the development of the site and the design of the houses. Today was the ground breaking ceremony. When Villa Exodus is completed, each of 30 sponsored families will have a nice home of their very own. In Philippine custom, with care and tradition, a time capsule is buried on site.

I’m looking at a 2 a.m. rising to head back across the waters. I look forward to a nice large mission awareness trip group (31 padrinos-sponsors) in Guatemala beginning Feb. 3. I wish each of you God’s blessings. Thank you for your prayers.

Bob Hentzen
Antipolo, Philippines
Jan. 31, 2007

Lower photo: In Legazpi, the home of 13-year-old Lea was destroyed by Typhoon Durian.