Countdown to Manila
7.5 WEEKS TO GO and COUNTING
So how do you get a family of 8 ready to go to a developing nation…..ummmmm
You gotta start NOW……
FLYING & TRAVEL
Thankfully the flying part is easy peasy for the Troups now, after a 35 hour trip to Moscow
8 hours to Manila is not a drama.
Getting us to Baseco may prove a drama as we and luggage do not fit easily in a TAXI!
But my dear Christine is the organiser that end!! At the moment too hard for me!
Even the trip to the airport for us is a challenge…..8 people, 8 20kg bags (including a piano and maybe a wind generator……hmmmm) and 8 backpacks is a logistical problem too….last time we hired a bus and we still did not fit!!
Anyway
CLOTHING
Clothes are a minimum, except for James’ jocks (private joke……actually the last time he was there he almost had enough to use everyday and NOT wash any…this was a source of amusement for all of my dear “Baseco-ians” who though I was being a worry wart bout hubby’s jocks (actually I think I was using them for padding around the piano))
We all need 7 tops and bottoms and underwear, one pair of jeans, thin jumper and shoes to travel in….and maybe thongs…..maybe one “good” outfit for shopping.
This is the easy part!!!
SCHOOL
Ohh my…..probably last on my wanna do list…..
BUT
We are only taking Maths (copying the answer keys Rod & Staff thumper books) English thankfully very portable (LEM) , I am taking some Aussie novels for Aust Studies and the older chn will be taking some Science……I think the rest will be covered in life
Social Studies COVERED
Study of a new society and culture
- Mark in Baseco
Health COVERED
We will be living in a slum……no more to be said, we gotta live clean and healthy
Awareness of clean water, germs and more
- Our new home in Manila!!! The concrete one on the right
History COVERED
I am hoping we can change some of these kids destiny, and make our own history (not in a big white Missionary come to save the day way) but just making a difference sort of way!
MEDICINES & IMMUNIZATIONS
This is a bit more trickier……Travel doc was great no panic or fear just practical and pragmatic (my kinda doc!)
- Kids need to be up to date with Immunizations (esp tetnus etc)
- They need to update their Hep A&B, which we had already for Russia
- Use RID for Dengue Fever
- Bottled water, even teeth, washing vegies etc etc
- Rabies not essential as the immunoglobulin is the same globally
Medicines…..
Ventolin, specific pain killers, lots of Aquium, RID and more, First Aid Kit, Deep Heat…
We worm before we go!
COMMUNICATION
We are as you know, setting up blogs for everyone to follow and the kids to write and vent during the weeks (like a diary) their blogs are on my links. Have a read and let them know you have been there by commenting, they love it!
SO THERE IS A GLIMPSE INTO THE FLURRY and SCURRY
I will keep you updated with all of our Manila news and plans!
Blessings Cath
Why Do We Wanna Go To Manila???
You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it. Albert Camus French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 – 1960)
My hearts desire is too let my kids see things and experience things, because if their experience is limited purely to our “reality” life will have very shallow depths of understanding and wisdom.
When I was 17 or 18 I led 20 people from the Girl Guide Association to Bangladesh and India, this team was made up of Rangers Rovers and Leaders and their ages ranged from 16-26, we worked with Bangledeshi Rangers and Rovers and we sank tube wells, concreted pit toilets, piloted health programmes and advocated immunisation etc…..we saw the squalor, the poverty, the hunger, the lack of education the sick and dying children and I returned to face my university years with new focus, determination and a new world view.
I remember eating a Pie and dropping it on thr ground, I brushed it of with a shrug and ate it much to the disgust of my fellow students….BUT I WAS A CHANGED PERSON…..I was never the same again, because I knew I HAD to take responsibility, I SAW, I UNDERSTOOD…..
This experience was an under girding or a structure to all that I was to plan, it gave me a world perspective, a poverty perspective, it balanced the materialistic scale in my life. James also was no stranger to poverty his family travelled the world extensively , he had seen the squalor of India and many other places , his parents grew up in the tenements of Glasgow-poverty was no stranger to them either.
When we first started Homeschooling our desire was to be FREE, no hinderances to God at all, take us where you will Lord, we are willing and able to go, our heart’s desire was to serve HIM with our family, wherever, whenever, however……..wow, it happens!!!
Everything in God begins with relationship…….we forge and bury ourselves in people’s lives and this is where we learn to love have empathy and live in another brother or sister’s shoes……relationship is built through Godly healthy alive and free fellowship, this creates intimacy and this is when people can really start speaking into each other’s lives……
As iron sharpens iron!
Many many years ago we spent hours praying with dear friends Mark and Christine Pedder, we were on leadership they were youth leaders, we were peers (same ages and backgrounds) and brother and sisters. Mark and I worked in Children’s Church together for ages and we all learnt to respect and love each other…..we built relationship, we knew each other spiritually (and we laughed…hmmmmmm lots!!).
Mark in Baseco
Christine and James strolling Baseco
We eventually left the church and so did they, but whenever we saw each other it was the SAME…no change no different. Mark and then Chris pioneered a work in Baseco Manila in the slums, it literally felt like we were there, coz they were we were ??!!How??!! Dunno!!??
So we went….. James first then the rest of us will go in Aug 2009……..it was just like an outward manifestation of our relationship with them. We just belong there kinda, coz they are there we are too, like the body is the hands and feet of Jesus, so are we to them……in whatever capacity, whatever depth whatever, we are there to be their hands and feet too !
It just fits!
Our new home in Manila!!! The concrete one on the right
People are horrified at the thought of where we are taking our kids but God has clearly spoken to us about enlarging our kids tent pegs (or their Christian World View) so I will blog about that another time. Great videos and testimony to God’s leading with our children and family.
