Trash Mountain

I once watched a movie called, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. It is about an English mapmaker in Whales in the 1940's who had the job of deciding whether or not a certain hill near a village was tall enough to be deemed a mountain. After taking all the proper measurments it was determined that, in fact, the hill was twenty feet shy of being a mountain. The townspeople were furious about it and in a comical turn of events they prevented the surveyor from leaving until they had piled up enough earth to make the hill a mountain. It's a really funny show, I highly recommend it if you are the type of person who can handle watching Hugh Grant for two hours! Anyway, the point of the movie was how the Englishman's perspective of the mountain and the town changed after seeing their passion and determination. He went up the hill as one man, and came down a mountain as someone else.

I climbed a mountain of my own this week (by Hughe's terms I suppose it would also have been considered only a hill) that has certainly changed how I see myself and community around me. The locals here call it Trash Mountain, a deserted dump site in the ironically named slum area Happy Land in Metro Manila. I went up with two other women and a driver, hauling jugs of water, bags of peanuts and boxes of apples and bananas up a wet, muddy mountain of trash. One of the women I was with remarked on how incredible Mother Earth is. The mountain was essentially an enormous compost pile. As I worked my way to the top I used old tires, smashed shoes and all sorts of plastic containers mixed in with the mulch to find my footing. It was as if the earth were fighting hard to take all that garbage and make the best out of it. The smell was as you might imagine it would be, and all around us were stray dogs, chickens and roosters in upside-down cages. Little children who had caught wind of our arrival approached us, some naked, to see what we were bringing and shouted, "Good Morning!" to us in English. An older woman with only a few teeth left in her mouth saw my struggle with the water jug I was carrying and took it from me, hoisting it onto her shoulder with ease as we made our way to community center (a small, crudely built hut no larger than my master bathroom).
The entire experience lasted no more than an hour. It wasn't some big thing. It was simply a few caring women bringing fruits, vitamins and water to children and mothers who wouldn't be able to afford them on there own, but it was humbling beyond belief. I was able to walk around a bit after the food had been devoured. Every house was practically a lean-to built from materials about as thick as a notebook and housing five to ten children a piece. On the top of the hill a garden was planted. The mulch made for very fertile soil, though I'm not sure how sanitary it would be.

I share this story for two reasons. First, because it changed me. I see these people and I feel an immense amount of humility for my blessing and my obligation to help, even if it is just a little. I feel an over-whelming sense that even though life does not seem fair when you compare my situation with theirs, they are still just as important in the eyes of God as I am.

I love the movie Ever After -- ask my husband, I watch it a lot -- and there is one line in that show that has come back to me this week. "With great privilege comes great responsibility." I forget sometimes when life seems hard that I am privileged. Counting blessings isn't just a nice thing to do, it is so important because it reminds us of all the things that are going right in our lives. I AM so privileged. Humbly, gratefully, sincerely, I have been very blessed in my life and because of those blessings, I want to give back.

That brings me to the second reason I am sharing this post, to share with you a link to the organization called Thrive that is working hard to establish this program here in Manila as it already has in other poverty-stricken countries in Asia. You can find easy information to donate money that will go directly into the mouths of young people who can not help themselves. I am also sharing the information for another organization near me in Alabong that has a similar program. In addition, they have an education program for older children. You can donate and sponsor a deserving child for an entire year of school for around one-hundred-and-twenty U.S. dollars.  It's amazing how far our money can go in this country to help people in need. Here are the links:

http://www.thrive-global.org

https://aligmanila.com


I don't have any pictures to share today. I didn't feel right whipping my camera out in the situation, although maybe after I've been a few times I'll grab some pictures with my phone to share.

One thing I know for sure is that I will be climbing the mountain again.