Near our ministry location here in the Philippines there are many little neighborhoods. Some of the wealthier neighborhoods look familiar- in the sense that there is a paved road for cars to drive on and buildings with designated yards lined up along it. Others however, are significantly less linear, more of a maze of alleys with no apparent logic to them.
There is one that we go to frequently for feedings as well as for a little project my team and I have been working on (more on this in a minute).
I have walked down the little sidewalks through this neighborhood many times now, and every time I get a feeling of captivating sensory overload.
I always want to freeze time so that I can go and inspect every tiny detail. A kitten napping on some yellow stairs, the door at the top painted the same shade. A storefront made in the entrance way of someone’s house, bags of chips and other little snacks a million different colors. There are shelves in unexpected places and men sitting at a card table playing some kind of game with blue and white cubes. There are little bridges that go over the drainage ditch and many people have their doors open so I catch glimpses of everyday life: a woman cutting her daughters hair, people taking mid afternoon naps, or kids sitting around an old desktop computer.
There are stray dogs and cats everywhere, as well as little kids, clothed or otherwise.
The sidewalk that runs between the houses (and I’m not entirely sure this is the right word), follows the pattern established by the buildings themselves, not the other way around. The streets are so narrow that as we walk through them we wonder aloud how the parked moto was able to drive between the buildings given the width of it’s handlebars.
Many things are dirty and cement colored (including many of the animals and at least a few of the children) and the murky river of waste has a very specific smell I will likely never forget; but the bright pops of color in the potted plants and little storefronts and clean laundry hanging to dry have an enchanting effect.
A few nights ago, some of my squad mates and I took an evening trip into this little neighborhood.
We waited for it to get dark and then set out down these tight little alleyways with our local guide, a laptop computer, some extension chords, a projector, chalk, paint, and a few brushes.
A little background and context is in order I suppose.
My team and I are living and working at a ministry called Kids International Missions in Manila. There are two other teams from the squad as well: Brushed with Glory and Cookie and Creams. Of all the ministries I’ve worked with so far, this one is up there as one of my favorites. There is an abundance and variety of ministry opportunities and everyone is encouraged to pursue their specific talents and passions. The director of the ministry is American and most of the locals speak very good English as well (on the Race, being able to communicate easily with your hosts is a coveted luxury). The compound also serves us the best food and has a giant swimming pool (great for cooling off after a day of sweltering Filipino heat and humidity).
Another fun thing about this ministry is that teams and individuals come from all over the world. One of the first weeks we were here there were 80 people staying in the complex. There were two teams from Australia, a team from North Carolina, a few individuals from Hong Kong, a team of high school students from, get this, Hattiesburg Mississippi, and ourselves.
Because of the sheer number of volunteers, our host, Norman, expressed that one of the most helpful things teams like us can do is to keep an eye out for projects and things that could be helpful to the compound and community that aren’t necessarily a part of their established ministries. He gave us a list of options and things we could potentially work on.
[I promise we are coming back around to the crux of the story here]
The very first thing that Norman said when he was giving us the rundown of opportunities and things we could potentially work on was- maybe you’ve guessed- mural painting.
You may remember from my time in Ghana (see A Giant Pink Octopus and The Finished Mural) but I LOVE painting, and was more than happy to step up to the task.
The project we are working on involves hiding murals throughout the community as a kind of scavenger hunt. The murals will have corresponding hashtags and as people find them they can post them to Instagram where the posts will both serve as publicity for Kids International and as proof that they found the murals (if you find them all, you get a free shirt).
It is to this end that my little crew and I set out into the night on the evening in question. Official ministry time usually ends after dinner at 5 so I was very grateful for the people willing to come with me on this little mission, safety in numbers and all.
Shout out to my fearless team for the night Kim, Meme, and Matt. As I said, we also had our local guide (Arnold) who knows the area and perhaps more importantly, a few key figures of influence.
As we made our way to the wall we were working on a crowd of curious children gathered in our wake.
We had already spoken to the owner of the nearest house to ask if we could use an outlet for the projector. When we got there they draped a power strip out the window and it sparked a little when we plugged our extension cord in.
They also were generous enough to offer us the use of their coffee table and a couple plastic chairs.
We experimented with various methods of stacking in order to get the projector steady and at a good height, and so as not to scratch the coffee table Arnold grabbed a bit of scrap carpeting resting on a nearby stump.
There was a commotion as we were all startled by the sudden disturbance of at least a hundred massive cockroaches who had been peacefully lurking beneath it.
The image of this large stump covered in brown scurrying roaches is burned solidly into my memory.
Once we had adequately recovered from this, we finally got our little set up about right and then plugged in the computer to figure the right distance. Our goal for the evening: projecting and tracing a giant circle on the wall.
We faced several more challenges including but not limited to: the screen itself being too small for the size we needed the circle to be, people riding motos through the alley where we were standing, the projector inexplicably turning off, and not being able to reach the top of the circle to draw it on once all the previous obstacles had been handled.
It was one of those beautiful times where everyone there played a crucial role in successfully completing our mission.
in the past few weeks we have done work to paint or prep at more sites than I can count on one hand, and I don’t know if this mural will be finished before I leave; however my team and I have laid a solid foundation for an extensive project and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. Already there is an artist on another team here who is excited to pick up and keep working.
If you too would like to keep an eye on the project, go to Instagram and follow the hashtag #kidshiddengems
Big thanks again to my late night graffiti dream team-
and Matt Ledford
Stay tuned for pictures of a super awesome mural or three.
For now here is a picture of me painting the edge of a giant circle late at night in a Filipino Alleyway.
onlookers included.
Much love, as always,
Hattie
