An Article Written by Ali for SPU's newspaper about BOJ!

I am on the newspaper writing for the features section of Seattle Pacific University and I had the opportunity to write an article for the school's issue that is coming out in print on December 3rd.

Here it is for you to read before it goes in print!!!!



A Day in The Life- In The Philippines
by Ali Migliore

It was a hot and humid day, like all days in the Philippines. Stepping off the plane did not appear different.

Manila welcomed the people with stickiness, funny smells and it’s busy atmosphere. The aroma of the Philippines is sweet and sour. Filipino food, the flowers, and the people make it sweet. While the heat mixed with the poverty creates sour smells of garbage and car exhaust fills the air.

Traffic is always constant. Their driving is vastly different than the states. The ride from the airport to the mission house is an adrenalin rush, as bodies flinch from cars and buses getting too close for comfort. Filipinos drive on the defense and use their horns as “hello’s” and “I’m approaching”, instead of in anger. They do not obey most stop signs or traffic lights, or lines on the pavement, yet they have fewer accidents than America. Ironic. The way that it works is baffling, but trust develops with drivers on the road. Surely they know what they are doing.

Metro Manila is the billboard capital of the world. Billboards surround the skyline—ranging in ads and sizes. They just managed to create the largest billboard in the world, also. It wraps around three sides of a twenty-nine-story building.

The sky seems bigger in Manila, there are not mountains surrounding the city, like in Washington. It is comparable to Montana’s “big sky country”. The clouds appear larger, as if they take up more space in the sky.

The Philippines (PI) has two seasons—hot with rain and hot without rain. Currently they are undergoing hot with rain. Often the sky changes from blue sky and sunshine, to clouds and rain. The rain in the PI is hot rain, considerably different than Seattle rain.

The view from the van is much like any city with tall buildings, massive amounts of cars and people crowding everywhere. The difference is that Manila is one of the poorest areas in the world and is a host to millions of people. The poverty is striking. Jobs are scarce and those that do find work make hardly enough for themselves and their families to life off of. A person working at Starbucks, which is a decent job, makes about 340 pesos. The equivalent is about 7 or 8 USD. Many Filipinos outsource to other countries, including the states and send money back to their families who have to stay in the PI.

It is common in Manila to see trash lining the roads and thousands of umbrellas with Filipinos underneath selling bananas, mangos, jackfruit and watermelon. These markets are where most locals buy their food. From fish and goat meat to cooking oil to flip flops—these markets sell many of the needs people have.

Another scene that passes by through the window is a bit comical. The national traffic control color is Pepto-Bismol pink. There is a bright pink walking bridge spanning an eight-lane highway. There is also something else that is pink—the sidewalk men’s urinals. Yes, it is true. There really are bright pink urinals all over Manila.

When reaching the mission house, the guards let the driver through and the caravan of vehicles proceed to house gate number 37. Noticeably the sidewalks in the neighborhood are being torn up and re-done, but the navy blue gate of the mission house is visible amidst the chaos of road construction. Suitcases line the entrance and are carried up the steep driveway and two flights of stairs to their appropriate rooms. After 24 hours of traveling, the atmosphere is sluggish, but spirits are high. Tomorrow begins the purpose of the whole journey; delivering bags of joy to the preschools.

As the sun rises, the team meets for worship, devotions and breakfast to begin the day. People are dispersed in groups of four as vans take them to different areas of Manila. Pastors and other missionaries meet up along the way. The scene out the window is one that captures attention, the further away from the city, the poorer the landscape and the people. These areas are called squatter areas, because the people who live there do not own the land. These are among the poorest of the poor in the world.

Arriving at the preschool is exciting. Nerves and anxious anticipation stirs inside as the van opens and blasts you with heat. The transition from the air-conditioned van to the drenching heat outside is bearable, but overwhelming.

The Pastor or Pastora readily leads the way to the preschool. Walking through the community to get to the school, faces appear in doorways and windows, hands raise to wave, and lips part into smiles. Children begin to follow, creating a line of little bodies behind big American, white ones. The children love to play. Their huge dark eyes flicker with excitement when spoken to, high-fived or picked up. They are affectionate; showering kisses and hugs on the foreigners. Their small, brown fingers contrast beautifully with American’s large, white hands.

After playing, the program begins. Their teachers call children to order, and the visitors are asked to be seated. What proceeds is the Christmas party these children have been awaiting all year. Some even count down the days until the next Christmas party arrives.

These preschools were created by Eastside Foursquare Church and their Urban Church Planting Project (UCPP) all throughout Manila. In the PI children must take a test to enter into grade 1. If a child does well on the test they are placed in higher education classes, but if they do poorly, they land in a class with over 70 other students and do not receive the attention they deserve in their learning. These preschools were created to educate children ages 3-6 so they may pass the test well and receive a better education. Better education leads to a better future, a future out of poverty.

The children that graduate from these preschools are at the top of their classes right now in the school systems of Manila.

The program consists of singing and dancing performed for the visitors and parents at the party, as well as for those in the community who peek their heads in the windows to watch what is going on. The visitors fill the second half of the Christmas party, they teach the children songs and dance with them—making them giggle at the big American’s dancing with the little children.

The visitors pray for the mommies and daddies, asking them to come to receive prayer individually. Prayer requests of finances, health, safety and blessing surface as the foreigners pray for the adults of the neighborhood. They pray for the teachers and the Pastors as well, thanking God for the work they are doing in the community and through the preschool.

And then, as the children wait in anxious anticipation, names are called. As each child comes to receive their bag of joy their faces light up, and they are prayed for. Kisses and “thank you's” follow, along with “Merry Christmas”.

Their bags are filled with toys, soap, a washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste and a stuffed animal for loving on. All of these bags are gifts from God. The bags are kept precious, the greatest treasure the children receive all year.

To watch them open their bags is a great joy. Their curious eyes identify what is in their bag, as their hands delicately open the zip-lock bag for a moment. Most children hand off their bags to their parents for preservation, and they surround the visitors as flashes from cameras are going off all around them. The children smile and laugh as they see their faces on the screens of the American’s digital cameras.

When the fun must come to an end, “Paalam” is said with waves goodbye. The group of foreigners is followed by even more children as they walk back to the van and leave.

How precious a sight, when the children chase after the van, smiling and yelling goodbye as they slowly fade away. Praise God for a blessed day.

Team Rachael's Adventures

Josh, Sharene, Melissa and I just spent 2 days together visiting preschools, singing with the kids and handing out their Christmas presents. What an incredible experience. The families attending the preschools pay on a monthly basis. So, having their kids attend is a big investment given how little money they have. These kids are leaving the preschools and entering public school where they place at the top of their classes. What a great future they have ahead of them!

BOJ from April's perspective

Hey Everyone back home in the homeland!! So, the day started off with a fried hair dryer and ended with an amazing debriefing of what everyone did for the day. I definantly plugged Morgan's hair dryer into an outlet not made for it! Yeah, I know, we layed hands and prayed but it was just the hair dryers time to go. :( WEll, now I guess I'll let you know what my day looked like. The school was amazing. The little classroom was clean and decorated with yellow and blue paint. The alphabet was on the wall just like a classroom in the US. The children were adorable. I really wanted to just stick a couple of them in my bag and bring them on home with me. But, of course I didn't. There mamma's would miss them of course. The party started off with the kids singing and doing the national anthem. It was so cute and nice to see them excited about something that they did and prepared. They did such a great job and they really loved participating in the Christmas story.

I really loved praying with the Mothers and letting them know that they are the ones who are directly supporting the schools. They are investing in their own childrens futures by having them in the school. I don't know, I just really love the Philippines and the people. The children are precious and full of joy. It's very contagious and I can't help but smile.

Manila bound and Day 1

As the 2008 BOJ team, we THANK YOU all for your prayers and support as we embark on this amazing adventure for God.

We all arrived safely and on-time to Taipei, Taiwan for our connecting flight to Manila, Philippines. After arriving Manila, clearing customs, picking up checked baggage, we got out of the aiport even earlier than we expected...so we were able to head to the mission house to settle our accomodations for the duration of this adventure. We had a short time to freshen up before we took off with the team to the Easthill Mall. We ate at Terriyaki Boy for a late lunch or as filipinos would say Merienda (snack)...around 3pm. We then proceeded to go back to the mission house to receive encouragement and information from Pete/Tina and Marcie/Brandon as we prepare our hearts to serve amazing kids these next couple of days. By this time, we were all pretty much exhausted and anxious to get rest. However, since food is a huge part of the filipino culture, the ladies at the mission house prepared dinner for the team and we ate dinner again at 645pm (about 3 hours after the last meal). We had spaghetti (no not the filipino sweet kind), vegetable sticks, and garlic bread. It was just enough nutrition for the day. Afterwards we all pretty much parted ways to our respective rooms to get the much needed rest. Enjoy the photos!

The Journey Starts today...

Welcome to the 2008 Bags of Joy blog! After all the hard work of preparing and sending off the bags of joy, countless team meetings, practicing songs, performing the story, securing finances, and praying for God's provision to keep us healthy and ready to serve on this outreach....the day of our departure has arrived. We leave on a red eye flight with a brief stopover in Taiwan. We arrive in Manila at 1140am on Nov. 20 [740pm Seattle time on Nov. 19th].

Please check back as we will update this blog with bios/photos for each team member.