Beyond the Garden Gate
The OMF team centre in Manila has two gates. One to get you out to the road to catch a jeepney, taxi or bus. The other gate (pictured) gives you entrée into another place, another world. Through the gate onto a muddy path and you are very soon into the world of the squatter camp found close to the Manila Center.
As you tread this path strewn with waste, a variety of smells waft towards you. The path is about 4 feet wide and for those with a large build the feeling is claustrophobic. Bits of wood, tin, plastic, old timbers, cardboard, rags anything that will make a wall or a covering is used to make a shack. Mothers with tiny babies sit in the doorways watching the passing parade of humanity. Dogs bark and give a loud warning to all that someone is coming through. Roosters in their colorful array are proudly displayed outside homes. Winding your way through (what is to a westerner's eyes) these run down homes you will find the occasional house that has flooring made of linoleum, kept immaculately clean.
Out on the street you discover shop owners have all their wares arrayed to tempt you to spend that last few pesos on something. Everything from coal for fires, bananas, vegetables, pineapples, fresh fish, meat or chicken and even toys may be bought. If you fancy a cold bottle of Coca Cola, you can get that too! The streets are busy, people wandering around in the hot sun under brightly colored umbrellas. Young children play games with elastic rubber bands or their footwear. Basketball is a big favorite. In this community you can get a haircut, buy a cheeseburger, attend church, or school and basically find most of your daily needs met without going anywhere else. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you know someone, somewhere, is watching you. Motorbikes whizz by, the occasional car and pushbike joins the throng of human and mechanical traffic.
Mangy dogs and cats meander around looking for a scrap of food. They also stay out of the way of unwanted assaults. At times it seems like utter chaos but in actual fact there is an underlying order, a time for certain activities and socializing is high on the agenda. Communication may take place with body language or facial expressions, without a word being uttered. Words are also spoken and there are always smiles.
To go through the gate and enter into this world for the new missionary takes courage, a sense of humor and much prayer. It can be an emotionally exhausting experience purely because of the culture shock. By choosing to visit, play with kids, attempt to speak my limited Filipino, I am saying, I accept you and your culture and I am trying to fit in. I'm not sure these new found friends realize how much they have impacted my life as they live in their world. I wonder what they think as they peer through the open gate into my world?
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