First Days in Manila, Visit to Faith

Manila

So….I grew up in the Philippines…many a yr ago!  I came when I was 6 years old and left when I was 17…came back after my first year in college…35 years ago!  Needless to say a few things have changed around here.

Streets of Manila

Roger and I arrived Sunday afternoon and were greeted at the airport by my brother Steve and niece Shannon.  As we drove to their house, which is outside the main downtown part of Manila, I looked for familiar sights.  The sights were familiar…sounds familiar…people looked so familiar …smells were familiar….but there was not one thing I recognized.  The city has grown so much it made me sad.  I was overwhelmed by the miles of new buildings …even a new road to avoid the downtown area.  It was so nice to arrive at the Read’s home.  It is a  spacious house in a quiet neighborhood with woods behind them.  The house is actually 3 stories and there is a family that live downstairs. 

Sunset from Steve and Rita's

As we were sitting around talking we looked outside and saw a gorgeous sunset.  We all ran upstairs to the balcony and thanked the Lord for welcoming us there with a gorgeous sunset.  I guess it is not such a common occurrence.

Courtyard at Faith

Steve and Rita looking at hill they lived on during Typhon

The first day here (Monday) we went up to Faith Academy…the school I graduated from.  I just walked around saying “wow…wow…wow”  So much has changed in 35 yrs!  Well of course it has but it was way beyond what I imagined.   They have added buildings....a pool and new dorms.  Everything  seemed to have changed except the gym and soccer field.  It was so strange walking around the campus and having memories flood my mind where I could see, and feel and hear things, conversations, a joke…in certain spots….and see it clearly and feel the emotions I felt during that memory…very strange!  At the end of our time there we ended up going to the library and then I really went down memory lane looking at old year books and school newspapers.  It was fun…but oh so strange.  Roger kept asking me how I was feeling and I kept saying overwhelmed… or I just don’t know how I feel.  Its a lot to process and I am a slow processor of things so maybe more will come later on that subject…and maybe not.

A beautiful painting by a Faith student

One cool thing we did was stop by the art department to say hi to a good friend of Steve Keefer.  Dave French met us years ago and told us we influenced his coming to Faith to work by telling him about my brother Steve who worked at Faith and was a single guy then (as was David at that time)  He and my brother Steve ended up being roommates and then eventually Steve Keefer and David became roommates…and all are happily married now.  Anyway it was amazing to think how we don’t even remember the conversations we had with David and yet it had an impact on him… how many other conversations do we have in life that we are not aware of the results…only the Father knows!    We were also excited to see the new state of the art room that they had there.  Some of the paintings the students were producing were amazing to see. 

In the evening Steve, Roger and I went for a walk around the neighborhood.  Just nice to get out and see what is in the neighborhood.

View from Steve and Rita's balcony

We are still adjusting a bit to time change…Dubai is 4 hours behind Manila so we struggle a bit to go to sleep…sleep fine but then struggle to wake up…par for the course when traveling like this.  Just a tidbit I have not talked about before.  When we fly on overnight flights and sleep only a few hours at night you would think that we would be tired enough to sleep the next night without problem…but somehow your inner clock says no I don’t want to wake up at 7AM…its only 3AM on this clock.  It takes a few days to adjust but we will get there. 

View of Mania from Faith Academy

So today we got up and going and went with Steve to birthing clinic that some people from their organization are working on.  Right now it is in a small house…has been for quite a few years and see about 100 ladies a day.  But as they receive money for it they are building a 3 story large clinic and hope to be finished soon…I should say sooner than later as they only build as they receive funds.  We walked into the clinic main room which was about 10x10 ft…there were 2 beds and one mattress on the floor.  On one bed a lady was having a ultrasound done…other bed had a woman in labor and the mattress had a woman who had given birth a few hours earlier and was nursing her baby.  She would go home about 6 to 8 hours after giving birth.  Needless to say there is a need for the larger clinic.  The yard of the house was full of women sitting in chairs waiting to be seen for checkups or maybe even in labor.  I have to say I was blown away at the work being done with so little to work with. 

Banana's at local market

In the afternoon Rita and I headed to a local market to have a look around for fabric and were not very successful.  But after that we went the Hypermart (their equivalent to our Wal-Mart) and did some grocery shopping.  It was fun to see (as it has been in every place we have gone) the different things available and how much they cost compared to home.  As we checked out we were told that we won a prize….not sure if a special number came up on the receipt or we just spent the right amount but we were escorted to the food court where we received a styrofoam container with rice and one small chicken kebab in it.  I have to say it hit my funny bone…I think I was hoping for a months worth of free groceries or something like that.  It gave me a good laugh anyway and a fun outing with Rita.

The days are flying by fast…I hate it when that happens…I know the time will be gone before we know it…but I will try to take it a day at time…so hard for me to do.