Stories of faith, hope and encouragement

Alms for the boaters?

On tour with family for a couple of weeks to the Visayas, central islands of Philippines. Fishermen in small boats called “bancas” from the island of Cebu gather alongside the docking SuperFerry (a primary means of inter-Island transport) to dive for peso coins thrown to them by passengers aboard deck 3 of the larger vessel. […]

Eat your greens

Fresh fruit is plentiful in season, but despite the tropical environs, fresh vegetables are often hard to come by. Below, a young boy wades into the greasy-gray waters of Marikina River to gather kangkong for the family meal.  Kangkong is a spinich-like vegetable used in several Filipino dishes that, depending upon where it is harvests […]

Can you dig it?

Had the chance to join writer Mike Gingrich on assignment for Jeepney magazine… a fledgling street mag geared to help the urban poor get a leg up on life. The Pinoy term Mangangalakal can mean entrepreneur, but in the relocated squatter community of Tansa 1, it refers to individuals with a salvage lisence for the […]

Bahala na

In Tagalog, the primary language of the Philippines, there is a phrase that is thought to capture the easy going way of life among Filipinos here… bahala na. Loosely translated, it means “Let it go”. Yet, it is also the name of a gang of hardcore street kids with a “Lord of the Flies” fraternity. […]

Urban Tribe

First week in Philippines is behind us know. We have jumped the jetlag and spent the past 3 days helping at several feeding programs for the urban poor… a real mind-twister at some level, but in truth: it just seems like the right thing to do – normal. So far have visited two squatters villages […]