Day Four: Food for Thought

Today we again split up into our three teams and rotated between three activities- construction, feedings and the children’s home. The red team left at 9:30 for Tent City, carrying big plastic tubs of a rice-based soy protein meal (Lugaw) while the blue and yellow teams headed off to construction, where we were laying a cement floor in a house just outside the children’s home. After two, hour and a half sessions of construction we headed back to the Ministry Centre for a hot lunch. The red team arrived at a similar time and after eating we all headed back to either the children’s home or the construction site.

While the yellow and blue teams built, the red team played with the kids in the children’s home, blowing bubbles, playing soccer and just getting to know them. After another hour and a half of construction the yellow team headed back to the Ministry Centre to quickly shower and returned to the children’s home while the blue team continued building. The red team then headed off to the feeding after lunch, and returned around 4:30 to meet the blue and yellow teams back at the Ministry Centre.

We then went on a short walking tour with Jeff Long’s (founder of Kids International Ministries) wife Colleen of the area surrounding the Ministry Centre called Cuatro. She showed us past team’s completed construction sites, the dental and birthing clinics, and Cuatro Christian School. After dinner we headed off to the children’s home where the red team ran a practical devotion with mentos in a coke bottle explaining God’s overflowing love for us.

Today involved a mixture of experiences and emotions for the different teams, as although the yellow team did only construction and the children’s home, the blue and red teams went on feedings and faced challenging sights. Members of the group were quite struck by the poverty of those at the feedings and struggled with telling kids ‘no,’ whether it is to a lack of food or pipe cleaner toys and balloon animals. Watching children clothed in only rags walk away empty handed after being told ‘sorry, there’s no more’ was extremely confronting, while the sight of a little girl with a disfiguring hair-lip was the most challenging for some.

During a talk and debrief with Jeff Long, it was relieving to hear that he would immediately look into the little girl’s situation and see what he could do. Although today was tough and emotional for some, during our time of debriefing and sharing we were reminded of the impact we can make with our actions, however small, and were encouraged to live out our team verse, and ‘do everything without grumbling or arguing’ so that ‘we may shine like stars in the sky as we hold firmly to the word of life.’ (Philippians 2:14-17)