What an incredibly amazing experience we have enjoyed here in the Philippines. On Saturday last week we flew to the island of Negros and then drove 3 hours to the City of Kabankalan where the Christian Brothers have their mission. I had expected to see lots of open space and some shanty / slum living on Negros, but was left completely speechless as for almost the entire 3 hour journey, the road was almost completely lined with this type of "simplified" living as Br Rod Elyard described it (there are many worse off than this). Imagine thousands of shacks no bigger than a single bedroom made of bamboo and corrugated iron all built on top of each other and sitting on the low lying rice fields and tidal wetlands. The thought that stuck me was that this was just one road, on one island of this one country. It made real the phrase we had shared with the boys that "our reality is not the norm for the human race".
After Kabankalan we travelled to the town of Cauyan where we met our Filipino buddies and were we're instantly struck by their amazing welcome, hospitality, generosity, happiness and positivity, and amazing faith (the singing at our welcome mass was the best I've ever heard). For the following 6 days we experienced these amazing qualities in a way that is impossible to describe, apart from to say that we all found it very hard to leave. We helped to feed hundreds of children who regularly go without food, and whose parents may work an entire day of farming labour to earn the equivalent of less than two Australian dollars. We visited the homes of some of the locals and found up to 10 people living in a space of around 6 square metres. We visited fishing villages in beautiful locations whose water is polluted and depleted of fish from large commercial fishing vessels, and whose people told us "when there is fish we eat, when there is not, we don't". We breathed the constant stream of smoke that results not only from people cooking their meals on the side of the road, but also from the burning of the plastic soft drink bottles, chip packets and other rubbish that the people are asked to dispose of themselves.
Despite the extreme material poverty however, we experienced a spiritual richness so much greater than anything most of us had ever imagined. The sense of community, family, friendship, peace and togetherness we encountered in our outlying schools made us all feel completely at home, despite the basic living conditions.
Many of us (myself included) felt that we would love to stay and live in our outlying villages. Our reflection however let us see that much of the magic we experienced was because we were actually living very comfortably comparatively, and our being treated like celebrities. We realised that while we have tried to immerse ourselves in a different culture, we couldn't possibly experience the full reality of the lives of our new friends. We came to appreciate the phrase that "we cannot walk in another's shoes, we can only aspire to walk in their socks".
We shard some amazing experiences with some amazing people. We shed many tears n saying goodbye. We left feeling that while we would like to help our new friends, more so, there is so much that we have learnt from them, and so much of their way of life we would like to see more of in Australia.
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