Philippines Part 5 – City at the Dump
The Philippines is one of the most populated countries in the world with over 100,000,000 people. It is not a rich country and they have their share of slums.
I have been in the worst parts of Chicago. While you may have a better chance of being shot in our slums (over 70% of all gun-related deaths are criminals killing criminals in America’s slums), America has no ghettos like the world’s ghettos.
I am talking about squalor. I have seen some unbelievable squalor in Bulgaria’s gypsy sections, in Egypt, and in the Philippines.
In every Bulgarian city there is a gypsy section. No paved roads. Makeshift houses of squatters, many of which look like they were literally built by children. Sewage flowing through the streets. Families of eight or ten living in a room or two. No running water. No indoor plumbing. I’ve been to some hairy places in Bulgaria.
The Philippines had her share of squalor. At a railroad line, there were squatters who had built so close to the tracks that they could touch a passing train. Manila, from what I’ve read, is the most densely populated city in the world.
Nothing prepared me for the village in the landfill. I don’t know where it was exactly. Probably just outside of Manila. They warned us to have cloths to cover our faces and mouths because of the stench. They said that there were squatters that lived right in this landfill village.
It was hard to imagine such a place as was being described to us. I have since come to realize that things can be worse than can even be imagined.
We pulled up to the entrance to the landfill. The wave of stench was unbearable. The garbage was piled on both side of the streets that made their way through the garbage. It was piled six, eight, ten feet high on either side.
As we drove the “streets” of this landfill village, we saw them. We saw the squatters that made their lives in the garbage. Tents, rags, cardboard – whatever they could find to keep out the elements. It was shocking then. It remains indelibly imbedded in my mind still today.
An American has no excuse for not having a job. We throw away more food than most of the world gets to eat. But many of the millions born this year, will be born in Manila, Mexico City, Rio, New Delhi, and thousands of other slum cities. They will never know the comfort of a bed. They will never take a warm bath. They will never feel carpet under their feet. They will never sit and eat a full meal at a restaurant or in the mall. They will never sit around a table on chairs at a holiday with their family. They will never have a birthday cake. They will never have a new piece of clothing.
It is only by God’s grace that we do. Traveling has so deepened my respect for God’s love and grace and sacrifice. He died for each child in each slum. Our worth is not bound in what we own or where we live, but in Who loves us.
Each one of those souls in landfill “village” is important because of Who loves him or her. Their souls are worth as much as the civilized, idol-worshipping folk.
There is a reason God said, “Go ye into all the world.” It might have been to see and understand what He sees and understands, and to be moved with compassion as Jesus was.
Suggestion: Instead of blowing a week and several thousand dollars for a family vacation on places that pride themselves on being non-Christian, how about taking a trip “into all the world” to see for whom God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die. It might change…I mean, correct your worldview.