Wednesday, March 24

I conducted a relaxation seminar today for the employees of the
office. They so deserve it, as they work so hard and wear themselves
out. I conducted deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle
relaxation, and some art activities. Then, we suprised them with massages
at the end. It was really fun and they were so grateful. Above are some pictures of the views of the city from the venue we were at.


We recently received this information from headquarters: ABC World
News aired a piece last night featuring Don Brewster and Clayton
Butler of AGAPE, our aftercare partners in Cambodia; our client Bella,
who has thrived in AGAPE’s loving care; and some powerful IJM
undercover footage of Bella, shot by Ron Dunne when he first
encountered her in the very dark and dangerous Anarchy building.

See the video piece here:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/sex-trade-cambodian-children-10164798

Additionally, a written piece that mentions IJM directly appears on
ABC’s Web site.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/cambodia-children-sold-slavery/story?id=10163645

Monday, March 22, 2010

This morning while I was blow drying my hair, I noticed a spider starting to hang down from the ceiling. Not knowing what to do, I decided to….blow dry it to death. Obviously. I pointed the dryer close to the spider to make sure it got super hot until I realized I was pointing my blow dryer directly onto the fire sprinkler. I quickly moved the dryer off praying it wouldn’t start spewing with water….that would have been an embarrassing story…..don’t worry it didn’t go off.

I lead the devotional before staff meeting today. Since I’m leading a relaxation seminar tomorrow, I thought it would be fitting to talk about being at peace. It seemed to be pretty effective for the employees since they are constantly under so much stress, they work so hard.

I worked with one of IJM’s STAR clients today. She was just…such an incredible person. She was so joyful, and so happy, and so grateful for how IJM has changed her life. She told us how she didn’t think she could have pursued charges for her perpetrator if it weren’t for IJM. Her case took 10 years to reach a conviction. 10 years. She is studying in mass communications now, which IJM has paid for. She has so much hope for the future, I was so encouraged and so honored to have met her.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

We visited the church of one of our employees this morning to celebrate it’s 77th anniversary. The location was in the heart of Manila, which I enjoy going to, because you see so many things on the ride over. Today we saw some pretty heart wrenching things. Kids typically play in the street, and we saw one little boy (maybe 8 or 9) wearing a shirt with no pants. When we got out of the car, another little boy came up to us and gave us a note in tagalog…likely asking for money…it’s so hard to know what to do and how to help in those situations. I keep remembering the verse in the Bible that talks about feeding and clothing “the least of these” and that when you feed/clothe the needy, you are feeding Jesus. We didn’t end up doing anything for the little boy on Sunday, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I had missed out on an opportunity to “feed Jesus.” It’s such a struggle here because you don’t want to be paralyzed by the severity of the problem….or the myth that “it’s just the way things are” or that….since I’m here for child trafficking, that’s where I should offer help and not allot extra resources to other issues…especially one as hopeless as poverty.

Edgar and I were invited to watch Polo with a new friend we made last weekend. Who would have thought I would travel to a third world country to see my first polo match, and hang out with people who actually say the word “ghastly” during a conversation. Here in Manila, this happens. One moment you see a little kid not wearing pants, and the next you’re hanging at an ambassador’s house, and eating snails, tartar, and ox tongue (which is delicious by the way). It was an incredible experience, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity…it’s all very interesting to try to reconcile.

Friday, March 19, 2010

I’m pretty sure I’m getting carpal tunnel in my hand. I’ve been working on the STAR Training coming up in April, and have made about 500981029812 power point presentations since I got here. My thumb is so sore, I really think I might need to invest in a hand massage. I work in crazy bursts, then lose my energy to do anything. I think coming from grad school, then having to frantically put together the training for Samar, my brain has trained itself to only work in bursts. Fortunately it helps me to get a lot done, but I frequently wonder to myself why I’m working in such a hurry. I need to calm down….and take my own advice for the devotional I’m leading on Monday: Being at peace.

Cultural moment: I ordered a California Roll at lunch today for a meeting. The roll had mango in it, which I thought was so exciting and so tasty. I leaned over and told Ria (a coworker) that the roll had mango in it, and she looked at me strangely saying mango always comes with California rolls. It’s a California Roll. Duh.

Embarrassing Confession: I went with Leah to the hospital for her check up appointment. While we were waiting, I decided to go to the restroom (or comfort room as they call it here). I walked in, and my first thought was “what is a urinal doing in the woman’s bathroom?” Well, the urinal wasn’t in the wrong place….but I was. I quickly left as a man was walking in and I saw him double check out the bathroom signs to make sure he was going in the right place. My bad.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Leah has been talking about this grocery place called Santi’s, so we decided to go today after work. It was fabulous. So clean, and they offered so many groceries I wanted to buy. Last weekend, it was my intention to make a bean dip when we hung out, but I could not find refried beans at the grocery store. I bought black beans instead, but when I opened the can they were way too salty to use. So I made a non-bean dip. Well Santi’s had Old El Paso refried beans! I got so excited…until I saw the price. 400 pesos which would be about $8 for a can of beans. Goes to show you that you can find just about anything you want/need here, but for a price.

Inspired from a conversation I had with Leah yesterday

Things I've gotten used to (or are getting use to) here that might be considered...strange...when I return:

• -Say “in a while” instead of “in a minute”
• -Continue walking through metal detectors although it has gone off
• -Carry toilet paper in my purse
  -Run onto elevators so they dont close and cut me in half, and then press the open and close button on every single floor
  -Order brown sugar with my coffee
  -Wash my dishes then use boiled water to sanitize them
  -Order rice with every meal (including dessert)
  -Start every sentence with "actually"
  -Communicate through text messages with businesses and bosses
  -Ask the bagboy at the grocery store to carry my bags home
  -Hold my hand up when walking in front of cars so they'll (hopefully?) slow down
  -Ask for the bill at a restaurant by making a square with my fingers (still not very good at that)
  -Go to the mall for anything I might need (groceries, dry cleaning, pay bills, office supplies, etc.)
  -Carry around a cloth to put over my mouth in case the pollution is bad
  -Communicate with my eyebrows
  -Crave mango at all hours of the day
  -Create my own traffic lanes and honk all the time while driving (if I'm still allowed to drive when I get back)
  -Buy a horn for my car that sounds like a police officer's car
  -If Boyz II Men come to my wedding, put their hand on my forehead as a sign of respect
  -Speak taglish (tagalog and english)...ok not as likely for that to happen

My fiance (heheh) is amazing.

I have to brag for a minute, because a few weeks ago Corey told me his master plan to take up his time while I'm gone was to build a poker table. Well, he's already done...but I'm so proud