Great Day of Ministry

Well, it is late and I need to get a shower and get to bed, but I spent the night away from "base camp" last night and really got to see more of the "real Philippines." I was able to visit some of the homes of the people that the churches here minister to. It is a totally different world here when it comes to poverty. I have included a couple of pictures of the homes we visited. The twins you see here were just born to a mother in the home you see here. The house was nothing more that plywood and bamboo.

This is the small house the twins lived in...

Here are the twins...swinging in their little hammock!

After we visited them, we visited with some people who were helping with a girl who just gave birth to another baby. She doesn't have any family, but needed a lot of help. She tested positive for Hepatitis A. The baby was being treated so she would not come down with it as well. Our church was able to pay for the blood the mother needed. It is amazing how far American dollars go here. She needed one pint of blood. If no one was willing to donate (which seems to be taboo here among some of the people), she had to buy it. One bag of blood - $500 Pisos. That is equal to $10.00 American. How crazy is that!

Something else I learned about the Philippines. You cannot give blood here if you have a tattoo. I am actually the mother's blood type, so I was considering donation, but once the pastor's remembered that I had tattoos, that came to a quick end. It is not permitted for a tattooed person to donate blood here. I can't say that I blame them. I guess you can't be too sure where they got the tattoo and if the needle was dirty or not!!!

This is baby Lilian Grace...

This is Lilian's mother. Notice the car in the back ground. There is actually no glass in that window...and the hospital had no Air Conditioning...Just open air and a fan!


So I am going to bed now. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the babies. I know that every time I see one, I want to bundle them up and take them home!