Bathing With a Bucket

It has been an adventure trying to adapt to the way of life in the Philippines. So much of my way of life in America I have taken for granted and have taken advantage of. One such example is a simple thing like a shower. In Damayang Lagi there is no such thing as hot water. Every shower is a cold shower. Typically it does not matter much as the weather outside is at a constant degree of sweltering, but sometimes it is a little cooler out especially when it rains and the cold shower just hurts. In fact sometime it hits you so much so that you will hear one of us yelp from the needles of cold water that pierce our skin. Also, the guys bathroom has no shower per say. In lieu of a shower, the men’s downstairs bathroom has the typical bathing rig as most of those who live in this slum. It is a faucet at knee level with a 5-gallon bucket and a small scoop. The process at first is daunting but now has become a typical part of daily life and can even be seen as a luxury, compared to how people live in other areas of Manila. The first step is a nice, cold set of water scoops, which are poured over the head and body. Once decently covered in water next is the lathering process. This is all done in sandals as the toilet is a mere 6 inches away from this lavish bathing rig and the ground is not completely sanitary. Once sufficiently lathered, next comes the scrubbing of the feet. Throughout a nice day the feet are significantly dirty and a small swipe of the cloth or of soap will not suffice. Once all lathered up and scrubbed down a second set of refreshing scoops of water are poured over to wash away the soap. This process is all done is a 3’x4’ bathroom, which also has a toilet, so moving around must be strategic. After all this is done you dry down, throw your shorts back on and walk out into the public space of your shared room. Now if your hair needs to be washed…well, have fun.

This all said, I have come to greatly appreciate the way everyone who lives in Damayang Lagi takes advantage of what is had, and shared. The bathroom is not only ours. It has become anyone’s who needs to bathe. Everything is done without complaint but rather with gratitude. This washing is necessary. Water is another expense and this way of life reduces the amount of water used. A typical bath, soak, lather and rinse will use about 10 gallons of water, total. This helps take advantage of every resource sparingly and wastes nothing. The men, women and children here cannot afford to waste. In the end it is a beautiful thing.

(Also, the flushing process of the toilet is not done by handle. You put water in the bucket and dump it in the toilet. Another way to conserve a valuable resource)

The Adventures of a Typhoon

A couple weeks ago the thrill of living in the slums and eating with the poor was made even more complete by enduring a typhoon in Damayang Lagi. We sought to find shelter on the top floor of our “condo” by blocking window openings with tarps and dining tables, covering every crevice of the plywood windowpanes with whatever we could find to prevent the storm from ravaging our small space. This storm, about the size of a class 1 hurricane, came through Manila on a Monday morning, stopping any chance of doing anything other than sitting through it. I have experienced a few storms like that in Florida and have weathered them all well there in the shelter of homes, but in the slums it takes on a different feel.

Here we did not have windows to shut and keep the rain and wind out. Electricity was off almost immediately, and our area was one of the last to be turned back on. There was no transportation anywhere, so to find another place to rest, like a coffee shop down the road or pizza place to eat, was to walk through the storm. And our experience was not the worst. For the men and women who live closer to the river, any large storm immediately overflows the river and pours into the their homes. The wind rips through the back of Damayang Lagi and tears at structures built out of tin, rope and plank wood. We saw how the poor really do have the worst in all types of circumstances. One of the friends we made here, Kuya Rudy, has his place on the river. It was one of the first to flood and he lost a majority of his tin roof. His house, which was only a 24’ x 12’ space, was reduced to a small shelter of about 10’ x 12’. Many families had to stay elsewhere and come home to clean up the wreckage left behind. But in all this we were able to connect even more with the community and share with them this experience. Even now we have the opportunity to pour more love out and we are planning on spending a day or two helping Kuya Rudy rebuild the part of his house that was lost. In this I am learning about our call to look out for the poor, especially in times of disaster. It is there where we will see Christ. It is there where we see the good news spread and love beget more love.

The Introduction

After about 24 hours in travel from Tampa to Atlanta, to Korea and finally Manila Philippines, Leann and I were greeted to a welcoming of pastors, volunteers and the other interns we are privileged to work alongside for the next three months. Since that landing, it has been a whirlwind of experiences arousing joy, sorrow, conviction, beauty, resentment and despair. Coming to see firsthand poverty in its rawest form and seeing God among the poor here in Manila has already revealed a new intimacy in my experience with Christ, and this is only the beginning.

After landing and slightly recovering from the jet lag, we were placed right in the mix of things. We are working among the poor and living in solidarity with them. The four of us, Leann, Kelly, David and I are living in a four-story building, on the top two floors, in a slum of Quezon City in metro-Manila that we have endearingly come to call “the condo”. This is where we sleep, eat, pray, hangout with the local youth, worship at times and sing classic rock ballads with the locals. Anything karaoke worthy will do. It has become our meeting space, our monastery, our community home and more importantly our church.

This church we call “the condo” is on block 5 of a 6-block slum called Damayang Lagi, in Tagalog meaning, “always helping one another”. This community has not only revealed the ugliness of poverty but also the beauty of the poor among it. It has revealed an ugliness of ourselves that cannot be seen under the shadow of western culture. It has revealed and even deeper meaning of what justice is and what a just God has called us to be to the world. Even in this short time we have come to love this place and the men, women, and children here while simultaneously hating the situation that has been created. Even as I type this right now one of the local boys we have come to love, Jasper is sitting with me overlooking as I type this. We have been able to build incredible relationships with the youth here in Damayang Lagi and even with the language barrier we have a band of children and young men over almost every night playing guitar, eating together, laughing together and poking fun. Through this intimacy we have been able to start sharing with them the gospel and the love God has for each of them regardless of the circumstances they have come to live in.

Among these guys we recently met a boy named Joshua, who the neighborhood guys call “cute”. He is a 10 year old boy that looks no older than 8. His mother is a maid in a local suburb but he stays in a shelter here in Damayang Lagi. His mother disregards him and takes no care for her son. His daily diet usually consists of rice and salt. He is very mal nourished. He is among the forgotten, the poorest of the poor here in Damayang Lagi. We were able to have him over at “the condo” and give him a solid meal, joke around and play with him. Although shy at first, he began to open up and by the end of the night David and he were able to wrestle around the room and play while we watched his face turn from desperation to joy. The smile he carried was so big that it was as if it was the most fun he has ever had. In the midst of this beauty I couldn’t help but think if this was the most fun this child has ever had, simply playing and being noticed. Someone taking notice of him and saying you are loved and cared for, you are not invisible, not only do we love you and notice you but the God of creation, the God that is love notices you and cares for you. He is on your side. The God of liberation wants to liberate you from the poverty that you exist in.