Another verse I came across and that my Uncle has been sharing with me is “iron sharpens iron”.
- Proverb 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
My two mentors, my Uncle and Rocky, and actually my brother Aaron too have constantly been their for support and encouragement. All my brothers and sisters have but these 3 I turn to frequently. And in the same time that I ask questions and they give me advice and wisdom, it in turns reminds them of the Word they shall keep close to as well. We hold each other accountable for living up to God’s standard, so as we encourage and help each other, we are refining our faith and love for God and others.
8:57pm – Mandaluyong, Philippines
Just got back from being out all day. Was supposed to meet with AJ and Dominique after but I’m pretty tired so I just texted them that I would be back. The things I did today were:
- 2nd visit to Barangay Arboretum
- Went to Antipolo for Community Development workshop
- Met with Attorney Diana Lee to fill out application for Extra Mile Foundation
- First time eating Goto and Suman
2nd visit to Barangay Arboretum
This time it was just me and Zandro. Bimbo had to take his father somewhere in the morning and the others had prior engagements. We met with Ate Clarita Bautista. She was at the same place we met her last. This was around 9:00am. She took us around and we met 3 different sets of people, introducing ourselves explaining that we are looking around, surveying what help we can offer and to find out what are the immediate needs or pressing issues of the neighborhood. I couldn’t take pictures or video because it would be rude and people in the community may have suspicions of alternative motives.
The main things we saw and learned were:
-There is a lot of trash scattered in the forest. A lot.
-Drugs are prevalent, there were people smoking marijuana as we were walking through
-People were stealing the electricity cables. They can sell the metals that are found inside: copper and some other metals.
Zandro has experience in composting and his professional deals with environmental development. He briefly explained that it’s possible to organize some type of trash collecting, separating the biodegradable material that can be exchanged for money. There’s a lot of people in the Philippines, with a culture of just throwing their trash to the side of the road. There’s a lot of trash that people can use to make money, hence, Smokey Mountain trash dump where people live and work.
There is also a basketball court that we can possibly begin building a rapport with the high school kids. We will explore that. Right now we will be creating a proposal and seeing where are talents and gifts can come into play to help this community.
Antipolo Community Development Workshop
At around 11:30am,we left Ate Clarita and told her we would be back next Saturday and possibly during the week to coordinate with her. Zandro and I met with Bimbo at the Jollibee in Philcoa and later Pons met up with us. We had a briefing of the events and headed to Antipolo to go to a workshop at the local church, where several church members were meeting and learning about the steps or process of community development. From the graph below, you start at the bottom and build your way up. We will be obtaining this training module to review and apply.
Attorney Diana
Antipolo is far but super beautiful. In the hills on the outskirts of Metro Manila, it overlooks the city. We went to Attorney Diana’s place of work at around 3:00pm. We filled out some applications to apply for membership to the Extra Mile Foundation and then had some snacks. This was my first time having Suman and Goto. Suman is made with rice and coconut milk, made in a way so it’s little glutinous, almost like a soft candybar, and you dip it in some sugar. Quite tasty. Eating dessert before our snack, we then had Goto. It’s a type of rice porridge with some beef tendons, and you put fried garlic flakes and green onion. Super tasty.
Me, Bimbo and Pons
After we left and I was trying to coordinate with friends Dominique and AJ to meet up and give them some information on the things I have been doing. It took a while to get back to Antipolo so I text them for us to meet another time. Being around all these people with hearts to help others is so comforting. This is home for now and I’m loving where God is leading everyone.
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