Under The Bridge

Feb. 29 2008 Newsletter by Tara C. Alverson

pagpipinta sa pulo: under the bridge. This place is well known to the locals of Mactan, Cebu Island. It's where the poorest of the poor migrate to find shelter. Building their houses on stilts over the water, they call this place Under The Bridge, because it's under the Old Mactan Bridge. Over 4,000 people are estimated to live here. It's hot, it's humid, and you can smell the exhaust of the motorbikes and jeepneys passing overhead. Pastor Christopher and Pastora Evalin of the local church of Under The Bridge greet me and offer to take me to their home. It's a humbling experience to go into the heart of where the poor live. Their home, alike the rest of the community is built of old wooden planks with a modest tin roof. The floor is bamboo, maybe 10 ft. by 10 ft. I can see through the cracks of the bamboo as garbage floats underneath. The smell of the nearby community toilet is beyond any words that I could try and write. This is their home. They used to hold Sunday services and Bible studies here before Sharon Tan Pastre and her ministry built a church center for them on land. It's a short walk from Under The Bridge with cemented floors and running water. It's simple and very necessary at the same time. It's overwhelming to think they have lived here their entire lives, struggled to find work in an unstable economy. Finding a good job that can support your family just doesn't exist here. They both go out every morning before dawn to fish in order to feed their four children, and then they attend to their jobs at the church center. Because the death rate is so hight amongst children in this area families often will have several kids. Having a child is vital in reassuring the elder generation's livelihoods. Sadly many of the children die of disease, most commonly diarrhea, due to the unclean drinking water. It's disturbing to find out that Under The Bridge has fallen victim to corrupt officials from the City Water Supply, who pocket the money paid for this community. Without water this place becomes a very hostile place to call home.

Later on, I go to a place called Paradise Island. It's a smaller extension of Under The Bridge, but their are no white sandy beaches like it once had 15 years ago. It's now littered with broken down cargo ships with rusted hulls and the shore looks toxic; Coca-Cola bottles, and plastic bags stained brown. I am taken to another house, where Pastor Christopher recently found a very ill baby girl. Her name is Blazela. She's 10 months old, and only weights a few kilograms, maybe five pounds. Her mother and father have spent all their money trying to find out what is wrong with their daughter, already suffering the loss of a two year old son last year to diarrhea. They are desperate for help, but no clinics, or witch doctors have been able to figure out what Blazela has. It was hard to look over her at first, seeing her body in such turmoil. She should be crawling and beginning to walk by now, but she lies nearly lifeless, unable to lift her own head off the bed. The ministry is plans to take her to the hospital in the next few days to get a correct diagnoses and hopefully treat her condition. Most often these children die because their families cannot afford the clinic visits or medications. With some hope little Blazela will be on the road to recovery soon. Situations like this are an everyday occurrence here Under The Bridge. Just a day ago a mother gave birth to a stillborn baby and died later from birthing complications. She had worked as a prostitute for her livelihood and left a three year old son orphan. It's a horrible reality, but prostitution is a major tourist attraction in the Philippines. In the slums women are raised with little choice of what they can become when they grow up. Often the young boys are the bread winners of the family, as they drop out of school to scavenge, sell, and beg for money on the streets. It can make you furious to think about such suffering and strife. Especially when it affects the children so much, especially when it is their future that is at stake. And, yet, it's comforting to witness how International Care Ministries reaches out to the poorest areas like Under The Bridge. To be able go out with the ICM team and help people get clean drinking water, food, and medical attention is hopeful. Their determination and dedication to the people here is inspirational. Most of the ICM staff themselves grew up in the poorest areas and have family that still live in T.B. Infected areas. They are humble and compassionate and I am a richer person to have worked alongside them. It's very rewarding to travel to places like Under The Bridge in the city, and even far up into the high mountains, in the heart of the jungle villages of Valencia, Negros Oriental. The children seem to always greet me first, running and waving, probably thinking who is this strange freckled foreigner. They have such warm faces and bright smiles. I feel so blessed when they swarm around me to look at the pictures I am taking in my camera, or touch and poke at my sketch pad that I am drawing in. I even feel blessed when they try and take of with my eraser. Where I am staying in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental there is an ICM Orphanage which I have visited a few times. There's about 25 children, each with a heartbreaking story to tell. Where you expect to see lonely faces, you are instead bombarded with the grandest smiles ever seen. One of the girls is named Lot Lot. She's confined to a wheelchair suffering from Cerebral Palsy. She is 12 years old. One day she informs me to sit down next to her, telling me, 'I want to talk to you, sit.' It was one of the best conversations I have had in a while. She has taught me how to speak a little in the Cebuana dialect. Lot Lot is truly gwapa, which means beautiful in cebuana. The Philippines has several dialects, including Cebuana and Tagalog. Most of the population can speak English as well. The people laugh as though they were all still children, lighthearted, as if they hadn't a care in the world, and yet they carry so many. Their determination to survive and ability to smile and endure what they do is truly amazing. I wish I could bring them back for you all to enjoy. Being here has opened my eyes to the hardships of poverty, the ailment of hopeless, and the hope of those who strive to reach out to the poorest of the poor. The culture is warm and inviting. There is so much to be painted, really. I know that the money you and I raise here in the Philippines is going to a good cause. I have taken two of the younger residents of Under The Bridge under my wing as artist apprentices. They are going to help me paint a mural on the front of the church center's gate and wall. Their names are Kevin and Jennifer. You helped give them a sketch book to draw in, along with a few accessories. They seamed touched by the small gift. I have already begun to paint a few pieces for the fund-raiser in Hong Kong and will continue to keep you informed with more pictures and stories every month. I can't thank you enough for this opportunity. In the meantime I hope you all take care and enjoy yourselves. Pagpipinta Sa Pulo: Under The Bridge; Tara C. Alverson /T.C. Artworks; 29 . February . 2008

Lot Lot at Dumaguete ICM Orphanage; Children Under The Bridge, Mactan Cebu Island; Bare feet of Valencia


pagpipinta sa pulo Newsletter © 2008 Tara C. Alverson. Reprinted with permission.