Wednesday my team and I along with some of my other squad mates had the opportunity to go visit a community of people who live in a trash dumping site right on the out skirts of Manila. 

 

The people who live there spend their days picking through freshly dumped trash to try and find stuff that they could use. There is also a charcoal factory located inside the dump if they end up working in the charcoal factory, their life expectancy is 20 years…we walked through the factory the smoke was so thick it burnt your nostrils and lungs causing most of us to cough.

 

Kids run and play in the trash, covered from head to toe in dirt most of them barely wearing clothing if wearing any at all.

 

After that we climbed a hill that was overgrown with weeds, it once was a trash dumping site but it was closed. It is now filled with people living up there. I saw some of my squad mates praying over a woman who is holding a baby on her lap, some of her children were running around and playing with my squad mates again covered head to toe in dirt…and then she says she and her seven kids live up here and that they have no income. Her house was smaller than my bathroom at my house, just some wood boards.

 

I think about my life and how I was one of seven kids but my life never looked anywhere close to that. I never wondered where my next meal was or didn't have clean water accessible for me.

 

As we were heading back down the hillside a little boy grabbed my hand. His big brown eyes looked up at me and he smiled. He was shoeless and wearing worn out clothing.

 

The thought of wishing we could do more for these people was heavy on my heart but God said just look around you and on our way home I looked around at my squad who had dirty hands, feet, and clothing from those tiny little dirty hands who clung to our legs, held our hands, or gave us hugs. Since we have the love of Christ in us as His followers we will always have something to offer others around us and that day we gave love to those kids and others around us. Some of their dirt clung to us, but in return lots of Christ's love stuck to them. In the moment it may have not seemed as though we were giving them much, but looking back it was one of the greatest things we could have shown and given any of these kids, for a moment they felt valued, seen, heard, and LOVED. 

 

Please pray, pray for the family of seven as a local pastor is trying to get help for them by providing them with income so they will be able to get food and other necessities and pray for the charcoal workers, and for the many many families there. 

 

In Christ,

Cayla