What is it like to not have anything worth living for?
That is the reality that hit me like a glass of cold water in the middle of the second week here in the Philippines. And it all happened while we went to visit the city of Tondo.
“Prepare for Tondo” has been a quote that I have been hearing ever since I got here. Our contact, Toby, had been mentioning it in the days leading to our visit there. It was one of the main bullet points ORU Missions director Bobby Parks mentioned when we were switched from Ukraine to the Philippines. It was also the source of a scenario for our “Low Ropes” training the week before our trip started. In other words, the specific mention of this place made it fascinating to see what all this talk is about.
There are no words to describe the reaction I had when I got to Tondo. We had been told that there was no way to really brace ourselves to what we were going to see when we went there. And the truth is that those words were right. Tondo is known to be the third poorest city of the entire world, and the level of poverty there is unlike any that I had ever seen in my life, and I thought I had seen some pretty gnarly stuff back home in El Salvador or even earlier in our trip.
Just how bad is the level of poverty there? Just picture the biggest dumpster in the world surrounded by some decrepit, worn-out factory buildings with some of the worst smell in existence, and now add literally thousands of people all living in that place trying to survive and making a living. It was a level of poverty that was just so unfair to see with dozens of naked, sick kids running around, mothers taking care of their just-born babies (inside the dumpster no less), teenagers scraping for food in dozens of trash cans in the hopes of finding something to eat, etc.
Everything that I saw in Tondo made me question: what can I do to fix this? What do I have in my power to save this people from such an oppressive, terrible environment that literally reeks of no hope? The answer was that, I can’t. I don’t have the power to save this people from the situation they currently live in, specially when we were only going to be there for just a couple of hours and only on that day. The only thing that I can do is do the same thing that I had been doing for the last week and a half: share the message of hope from Jesus Christ.
All these people in Tondo, baring the more terrible conditions they lived in, were no different from the people in the Korean church of Antipolo, the people from the worship camp in Laguna or the people at the mountains. They were still people that deserved to be shared the love and hope of the Lord, which is a bigger help than any material help would have been.
That was my biggest takeaway from my visit to Tondo. I was at a place that could literally be considered rock bottom for many people, with a level of poverty that made it seem like there really was no hope to save these people from that. But once again, I am not the savior of these people. I am not the one that is going to provide the miracle for them to get out of that misery, nor do I have the power to do that. If anything, I am just the messenger; the one that can bring the good news of hope to these people. And based on the amount of people that were willing to accept Jesus Christ as their savior and solution to their problems, made the trek to Tondo worth it.
This experience, I think, encapsulates the mentality one needs to have about short-term missions. Some of us are just in these countries for a couple weeks to a month. The chance to do something ourselves to bring true change to a place as miserable as Tondo is just not there with such a limited timeframe. It may be disappointing for the people that really want to see change to the places they go. But sometimes, sharing the gospel and lead people to salvation can be the biggest thing that can happen. It may not bring immediate solution to problems, but it plants the seed for the Lord to bring the ultimate solution to their lives. Just the possibilities of what can happen long-term makes my heart fill with hope instead of sorrow and disappointment for what can’t be done.
And what else I learned from this? I will never ever complain again about what I don’t have. I just can’t do it anymore knowing that there is people out there that literally have nothing to live for, and the Lord has been gracious to bless me with what He has given me. There is no need to complain for not having what I want because He’s given me what I need. And as I enjoy what He has given me, I take heart to those that are in need, and pray and will continue to pray that the Lord will give blessings to those that are in serious need.
I, for sure, will never forget about Tondo. And even though week 2 consisted of many other things, this is the standout.
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