A busload of pre-school children and their teachers were freed after being held at gunpoint for nearly 10 hours in the Philippine capital, Manila.The 32 children and two teachers were taken hostage by their day care centre owner, Jun Ducat, who said he wanted better conditions for the children.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
Just around the corner from our neighbourhood is a street called Visayas, a normal, Quezon City busy street. During the day Visayas is nothing special, but at night she tells a secret. A half dozen innocuous little shops turn on their lights, set out tables and populate them with pretty girls in skimpy outfits. The Blind Tiger, the Lavender, kind and pleasant code words for "brothel". This isn't the red-light district, this is my neighbourhood, next to the market and fast-food restaurants.
During the day the people of this land are Catholic, but by night it seems "we are losing our religion." Solomon's words are still true, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Do you know of a country that doesn't share this darkness? Rich, poor, Christian, godless, modest, brash - in each and every one there is the worship of instant pleasure, profit, power.
And my heart is sad; sad because these women are my sisters. If I was born on a different day, or if I hadn't been given the opportunities I've had, who's to say that I wouldn't be one of them. That your sisters, friends, daughters wouldn't be among them.
Pray for these women who are simply going to work, and pray for the broken, empty and dissillusioned ones who pay for their time. Everyday I am reminded of the secret Visayas keeps, and I can't carry that burden, let's remember to bring it to Jesus. And also make room in your hearts for the hundreds of thousands of women and children who are sold for this work every year.
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Waking up to two mice on a trap at the head of your bed, both of them jumping and squawking wildly, is a wonderful start to your day. Especially when it happens at 4:30am. Then one of them gets away and hides under your bed. And then you have to get a bowl and try and cover the remaining dancing mouse. And then you don't really feel like going back to sleep.
Good morning world! It's gonna be a good day!
At home babies fit into a range of normal weights, babies that are anywhere from 6-9lbs are considered normal. In the Philippines, when a women has an 8lb baby, people ask her where she went to have her cesarean section!
Yesterday I caught baby Juan Daniel, who is a whole 3700g, which is more than 8lbs, and now all the neighbours are asking mom about her C/S. But Irene did not need one, she delivered normally and naturally and both her and her new son are in tip-top shape! And it was my privilege to be primary midwife, my first "official" catch! Observing and assisting at births is special, but being the first person to ever hold a baby, is an entirely new plane (thanks for the help dad...)!
Sometimes after we come home from a birth we're so tired we don't even make it to bed... nice one Mia!
The view from a Metro overpass; the street is EDSA and the place is Quezon City, which is where I live. May I say, this view is FAR prettier than the one we have seen on every other day since we've been here.
My DTS friend Sonja came to visit last week, we haven't seen each other in 2 years and it was so great to catch up! Sonja works with needy kids here in the Philippines, and God is doing great things in her life! I'm proud of you Sonja!
Well yesterday came and went and with it the 2-month anniversary of being here. It seems impossible that it has been that long/short! I look ahead to the 9-months I have left and I wonder how I will make it through, and I wonder what on earth I will do once I leave.
Paradoxes. I am full of them, this city I am in is full of them. Rich and poor; blatant Christian signage and very little faith; a shy, modest people and a culture built on sexy dancing and billboards. It is confusing and it is all around. We are here as midwives, to bring Life! And yet our daily commute, and the place we find the most beauty is in the cemetary. Paradoxes.
In the last 24hrs we have had to transport two of our moms to hospital, we work within the community giving the majority of our care in-home, and many, many of our moms choose to deliver there. But even though we want them to bring life in whatever place they feel most safe, sometimes we have to send them to the foreign, unkind, expensive hospitals. It may be hard to understand but the hospital here is generally a necessary evil, it is not a place that I would wish on someone I didn't like! So when the moms are women you really care for, it is very sad to see them go. But we are here for healthy moms and healthy babies, and sometimes we have no choice.
So we send them and we wait to hear...
Me with baby Joseph (with hat) and Yosuah. Joseph is baby one, and my favourite, hehe! The babies names got changed today!
Mommy Alma and her boys!
Beautiful Gerlene, our Filipina midwife.
Alex and Mia are pretty stinking excited!Today was not what we'd call normal, not for you, not even for me! Today started pretty normal: church, lunch, home. And then 3 seconds after we got home we get called to a birth! Which is good.
Alma is already far along, and has her baby at 1:45pm - a beautiful, wide-eyed boy (which is what she wanted). And we look at her belly and go - wait a second, that is still too big and firm. Yes, you called it - TWINS!! Surprise twins at that!
Basically twins are against the rules for midwives, mostly because so much can go wrong with the delivery of the second baby. So if we diagnose twins during pregnancy we have to refer mom to a doc. In this case we had not detected a second baby, and most of our patients don't get ultrasounds, cause they're expensive.
So imagine the shock and adrenaline that the discovery made! Both babies were head down (bum up), and both were born without problems, two healthy, full-size baby boys; Joseph and Yosuah! Dad was not present for the birth, so when he arrived after both boys were out, he was whooping, massively grinning, high-fiving and repeating "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" It was pretty fun!
But then, as soon as Alma was stable, three of us had to leave to attend the funeral of little baby Rylyn. So we changed our clothes and changed our moods and went to the public cemetary. A place where graves are stacked haphazardly on top of each other, just so many cement mounds, rising and falling in ranges. A place where squatters build homes, and sari-sari's over graves, and where children grow up. I can't describe how sad a place it is, there is just nothing sacred about that resting place. The funeral was just one tiny coffin placed into a cement hole, covered and then cemented in. No words were spoken, except by the drunk grandfather making jokes. Watching the process my insides began to panic, how can a loved one be cemented into such an unholy place? The poor mother and father watched quietly, and then we all left.
We returned to Alma and her boys, and spent a couple more hours with her, leaving her in the care of Gerlene at the clinic. And that was today. Two births and a funeral. Emotions across the spectrum, the reality of life here.
The grace of God brought a rainstorm today. Rainstorms are one of my favourite things, and after snapping these we ran out with the kids to play in the black river with a couple of old tires!
Rain falls on an ugly city
Yesterday morning we woke to attend a birth, arriving at the clinic in confidence, awaiting the natural entrance of a new life. Hours later, at 4:00 we fought for that life, and at 5:00 we accepted that life would not come. We lost the baby.
To all the horror of that final hour, I can not give words. We did all that could be done, we fought a war for life. And we cried out-loud, begging God to act, speaking His holy word, proclaiming His goodness, we prayed desperate, faithful prayers for an hour and a half. But that tender, precious girl stayed resting in the arms of Jesus, and never woke to know this world.
The unimaginable truth is that everyday infant lives are snuffed out before they ever begin. It's a fact too sad and too wide for my mind to really know. But yesterday, I held one perfect, beautiful, lifeless baby. And I experienced the despair of her parents, sobbing husband clinging to heartsick wife. And I wept, and things broke inside me, and I was a part of one of those unimaginable moments. And now every thought, every conversation, even my sleep holds the memory of that one hour, that one baby.
Together now we wrap ourselves in prayer, we hold hands to walk home, we cry floods of tears, we unburden ourselves before Jesus. We make it through one day. And by the grace of God; tomorrow we will get through one more. Please:
Pray for Erlinda - a mother without a child. Pray for Gerlene - a women serving her people and trusting God's protection. Pray for us - small servants with broken hearts.
Tonight was one of the most encouraging times I've had here. Three of the midwives from across town joined us for dinner, worship and a dance party! It was so special to share a good meal, powerful prayer time and then finally to break it down!
My DTS friend Sonja is visiting for the week on her way home from a year of missions here in the Philippines. Not only is it great to have her company and to catch up, but it was such a blessing to have her prophetic prayer over us midwives - all of us facing our struggles and emotions. We may dance here often, but this was a special evening with these dedicated women of God!
So Dad, I discovered this over here! Did you really think you could keep it a secret by releasing it in the Philippines?
Alex enjoys a cuppa Halo Halo, the local summertime favourite: beans, jellies, fruits, taro, ice-shavings and evap milk! Sound tasty?? Trust me it's 25cent Heaven Heaven!
We spent today on a Labour-Sit, which is basically waiting, waiting for a baby to decide to make it's appearance. One of our moms goes into labour and we check on her and decide what to do, today we expected quick progress and we stayed the whole day.
This particular mom is pretty funny, so we had a hoot with her, her neighbours and kids are in-and-out all day long. Late afternoon we go for a walk and we follow our passel of Filipina women out of their community and into this hidden ritzy-private neighbourhood. I had no idea it even existed, and its so peculiar, two steps takes you out of a slum and squatter community to the mansions of the upper-class! But it's a beautiful escape from the noise of their lives, and we all enjoyed it immensely.
But to explain my new name... all of the wealthy have these beautiful yards with all sorts of tall fruit trees, and because of my height (which seems to bring everyone great joy!), I was chosen to pick fruit for everyone. As the watchdogs barked, and the girls stood guard, I plucked a nice bag of green mangos and guavas. Yes, I'm stealing from the rich and giving to the poor!! Now you know what I'm about!
PS: we're still waiting on that baby!
So I wake in the night and turn my fan off, and roll over to back to sleep when some large, something palm sized, runs up my back! Yes, that's right - it's dark, I'm in someone else's home and my worst fear comes true, an unknown but large something crawls on me(towards me head). And I'm left frantic!
It was really horrible, but I managed to keep it between me and my roommate. So we've shaken everything out, and I'm standing on the floor considering a Britney Spears hairstyle, and trying to decide what to do for the rest of the long, dark, scary night, when my loving roommate motions that I should move towards her and away from the door. So I wasn't exactly rational and that had me scrambling to get back on the previously "deadly" top bunk! And this time the fervour managed to escape our "room". And our midwife woke to see if we were maybe catching a baby mid-air or something, only to find out I was freaking, and that the culprit in this case was actually a cockroach (had I only known).
So it's still in the middle of the night, and I break down - I'm crying on the top bunk and looking frantically around for the "enemy". And forgive me for this, please, in that moment I hated this place, and I wanted to go home!
But my loving roommate took one for the team and climbed up on to the top bunk, and took the spot by the "crack" (between the bed and the wall and the uncloseable window), and then I took the edge of the bed, next to her. And that is how we went to sleep, after I spent 2hours staring at the ceiling.
So if any of you have misconceptions about my bravery in coming here, now you know. I'm an irrational, emotional baby!
What a contented little baby!
A proud, confident mama.
Yes, it's 30C and babies wear mitts and booties!
Andrea, Me, Melba
Grace and Andrea
Way to go, now you made her cranky!
I woke up this morning and my entire body is covered with these lovely red bumps! Something ate me alive last night! Seriously not fair. People think I have chicken pox, which I've had, but don't have! Not that I blame them for thinking it, I do look diseased.
Listen to the whispers,I'm embarking on a bit of a project. In an effort to find beauty and peacefulness in this rushed city I will be posting my pictures and bits of verse over the next weeks and months.
The process is a bit of respite, a change of perspective in a moment of quietness.
So bear with my fledgling lines, I write them selfishly. But maybe you'll like them too.
Another Friday night, another family gathering!
Once a week we get together with our midwife Gerlene's family, and Ate Doris's family. And together we are a big happy family of our own. And what family gathering is complete without watching birth videos? Or being eaten by monsters? Or video games? Or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? Or homemade tortillas? Or a photo shoot?
We have a raucous family. That's for sure!
Christian Warren and Rose
Dorothy and Joy
Friends... it has been an eventful week and feel that I've had so much to say and have not been able to say it yet! I'm going to try and give you the Reader's Digest version (as my father would say).
The girls and I have begun camping out at our midwife's place - births often happen at night, and night transportation can be somewhat sketchy here. So in the name of safety we're camping out there overnight in order to be available for births. Her husband and kids will be joining her to live up here at the end of March, and then we can stay home knowing we will have reliable night time transport.
So Alex and I camped out on Monday night and at 3:06am were rewarded with a birth, my first home birth! Melba is a first time mom, only 19 years old, and she did so good! She is also my continuity which means that I cared for her through all her last prenatals, through birth and will continue to do so postpartum. And she gave birth to a darling chubby girl - Andrea Jesusa, which is what her and her husband wanted. (Birth details, ignore if you don't want to know: ...I did 3 IEs, monitored vitals and heart tones, labour coached, cut the cord, gave oxytocin injections in stage 4, gave baby vit K and erythromicin. Melba laboured upright, and delivered in a squatting position, no lacerations - yay!)
And when I was checking up on her today she told me that they wanted me to be Andrea's godmother - which is so special! I'll be sure to show you ALL the pics when the baptism happens, but will hopefully have other baby pictures tomorrow night (my time).
So we left after the birth at about 4:30am and I was admitted to the hospital at about 7:30am! I'd been having serious abdominal pain for over 12hrs, and got to the point that I couldn't handle it anymore. So the hospital gave me a lifetime worth of meds and made me stay 24hrs. They also collapsed a vein when trying to insert an IV and gave me the biggest stinking needle ever, and I cried like a baby! I'm still not really sure what was wrong, or how to keep it from reoccuring, but for now I'm better. I'd really appreciate your prayers for good health!
Well I look forward to the days to come, we're having so many home visits, and there are so many mommies due in the next couple weeks, we should keep busy. I'll try to keep you up-to-date better and get some pictures on here soon. I really need some pictures.
