January/February 2001
Finding Hope in Disaster
An Ongoing Struggle for Survival in the Philippines
by Jim Watters
| The summer of 2000 brought tragedy to the Philippines, when part of the seven-story high Payatas garbage dump near the city of Manila collapsed. The dump is home to around 80,000 people who make their living by picking through the heaps of refuse, finding materials to sell. It is estimated that about 1,000 people lost their lives in the collapse. |
This past summer two typhoons converged over the city of Manila in the Philippines, dumping 20 inches of rain over a period of nine days. The rain caused one side of the Payatas garbage dump to collapse, burying hundreds of squatter homes and, by local estimates, killing up to 1,000 people. The actual count may never be known.
The tragedy was reported by news agencies around the world after the slide, but it was soon forgotten. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to forget about the struggles of people who barely survive among the city dumps in one of the world's poorest mega-cities.
The mountain of garbage at Payatas is nearly seven stories tall and the size of about three football fields. It is estimated that before the tragedy around 80,000 people lived on or around the dump, making their living picking through the garbage for scraps of anything they could sell.
According to an article in The Manila Times after the avalanche, Gloria Alano sobbed and yelled at rescuers using a heavy bulldozer to search for survivors and bodies. "Use only backhoes, not bulldozers! I want to get the bodies of my loved ones," she cried. Her husband and three children were buried under the tons of garbage.
Alano said that she was at a store and heard a loud sound from the direction of their shanty, which she later found buried under a smoldering heap of garbage. "It sounded like thunder, and in an instant our house was gone," she said.
For two weeks workers struggled around the clock to free survivors from the remains of the collapsed dump. Rescue workers working in hundreds of tons of muck could only work in one-hour shifts due to the poisonous gases and the stench of decaying bodies.
Since searching for the missing people stopped months ago, the grief over the loss of loved ones and the need to relocate and create a new life weigh heavily on the survivors of the dump slide. The dump is now closed, and investigations are taking place to determine who is responsible for the tragedy.
On the best day, life at Payatas is only bearable, with diseases eating away the insides of one's body as pollution eats away on the outside. The acrid air around the constantly burning dump is by most standards intolerable. The toxic water is filled with chemicals and diseases that cut short the lives of residents.
Jeff Anderson is the director of Action Ministries and has worked with two of the Payatas churches in the clean-up and recovery efforts after the slide. In a recent interview he commented, "My family and I have lived and served in Manila since 1985. We have seen the wretchedness of poverty, disease, ignorance, apathy and defeat. I have also noticed when I pass by the poverty and the sight of families attempting to eke out an existence, the Holy Spirit puts before me the question: 'What are you going to do about it?'"
Anderson continues, "The greatest danger is passing by so often that eventually I don't notice the pain of grinding poverty and suffering at all."
Numerous Christian groups in the Philippines are helping to solve the long-term problems facing the poorest of the poor living at the dumpsites around Metro Manila. They provide the poor with food kitchens, schools, housing projects, medical missions and livelihood projects.
Livelihood projects are work projects that stimulate the personal economy of the poor people through their own efforts. Instead of giving them handouts, Christians are educating and training the poor with job skills to earn a living. They provide jobs that will allow the poor to support their families.
One such group training the poor is ORCHID. They train workers to make handmade paper out of natural fibers collected from the local surroundings. Organizers provide the appropriate technology to the workers to make the paper in their own homes (appropriate technology is a term used to describe the equipping of workers with technology available to them in their own surroundings).
After the handmade paper is prepared, self-employed workers collect natural flowers and other fibers to create gift cards that are made available for purchase by those who wish to help with this ongoing effort.
In Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan we are told to consider our response to those suffering from tragedy. In the parable, each of the characters portrayed by Jesus had to make a choice of how to react to a stranger in desperate need (Luke 10:30-37). So do we.
What are you going to do about the needs you see around you every day? Be on the lookout for people in need. Love and help them! Find a way to reach out.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
We all have our own "Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria." We are also admonished to go to the uttermost parts of the earth. Pray and partner with others to reach out with the love of Jesus to the uttermost parts.
You and I are not in Payatas with its obvious needs, but to be a follower of Jesus Christ, we need to see and hear beyond the cultural noise that distracts us from our commitment to love one another.
Allow God to stir your heart every day with desire to reach out to the poorest of the poor with the love and mercy of Jesus Christ.
Jim Watters works with missionary groups in third world countries
and recently spent time in the Philippines working with ORCHID to provide
the poor at the Payatas dump with jobs.
Lessons Learned in the Mission Field
Recently I returned home after spending nine days in Guatemala as part of a missions project with my church. Seventeen members of our church had the privilege of working with Deidrea Johnson of Helps International, an organization that seeks to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people of this Central American nation. While I was on the trip to Guatemala, I received an email from a friend of mine. He asked, "How was the trip? What did you do? What did you learn?" His questions led me to think through the many lessons that God revealed to me while on this mission trip. This list was my response to his questions, but more so, this was my way of sorting through my thoughts and thanking God for teaching me each of these important, yet all too often forgotten, lessons. · I learned that we have way too much stuff and that stuff does not make people happy. · I learned that simplicity in life is a good thing. · I learned that we are all God's children, created in his image, no matter where we live or what language we speak. · I learned that teams who are unified can do amazing projects, more than they ever would have imagined, if they will commit themselves to a higher task and work together in unselfish unity. · I learned that all people need friendship, smiles, sharing, teamwork, direction and encouragement. · I learned that God calls us to a much higher work than we have ever experienced or participated in before. · I learned that Christ's love is universal, and we should try every day to replicate that love in our own lives. · I learned that serving the needs of others is more satisfying than serving one's own desires. · I learned that Christ died for all mankind and that our highest calling on earth is to share that truth with all people, regardless of their reaction. · I learned that I really don't work hard enough or relax enough or greet strangers enough or get up early enough or help my neighbors enough. · I learned that everyone has a role to play and a contribution to make in order to successfully complete the mission. · I learned that saying you love someone is not enough. · I learned that it is a rare treat to reunite with old friends. · I learned that new friends who are willing to serve along my side are just waiting for me to reach out to them. · I learned that I value love and miss my wife and son more when I am away than when I am with them. · I learned that how much money you have in the bank matters almost none at all, but how much of God's love you have in your heart matters most of all. · I learned that life without microwaves, television, cellular phones, radios, cars, hot showers and air conditioning is really not that bad. · I learned that bigger houses don't equal happier families. · I learned that true joy comes from serving Christ by serving his people. For some readers, these lessons are new and radical. They don't seem to match up to the standards of today's society. For other readers, these lessons may seem like a blast from the past. You were taught truths like these by your parents many years ago. These are lessons that I hope will stay with me. God opened my eyes to his work in his world, and I hope he will allow me to participate again in some small way.
Trey Graham is president of Faith Walk Ministries. He may be contacted at trey.graham@west-point.org or via www.faithwalkministries.com. |
