hello!

on sunday, isabell and i were heading back from church and decided we needed to stop at the drugstore for a popsickle.  cause it felt like was a thousand degrees out and we were heading for a long walk up a steep hill.  it was a genuine american brand orange twinpop popsickle, which cost me P16, or 16 pesos.  which at $.37 was well worth the price.  anyway, i thought you might like to see the receipt and the cute little completely unnecessary bag that they put it in.

it is a good example of the mix of english and tagalog that is used here.

i was sitting at the birth home using the wifi, thinking, i need to get my camera out and take some photos!  the birth home is a public space and there is a lot of petty theft, so i don't usually carry anything with me except a bottle of water and the keys in my pocket. 

i decided to take a risk and run out into the street and snap a few pics for you with my ipad, acting like a complete rich american tourist.  so here they are!

this is the play yard at the birth home. this swing is my very favorite spot to sit.  however, i did get pooped on by a lizard there.

this is the gate to the street.  this is technically a subdivision (i know, right!) and most all of the properties are gated.  that being said, this gate at the birth home does not close and the gate at the baby home is held shut by a piece of twine looped over a nail.   :o)

this is the view up the street to the left.  the blue house on the left is the baby home. lots of people walk with umbrella for shade, me included.  they don't value tan skin here and actually are biased toward light skin, with the stores full of products to lighten your skin. one of the midwives asked me what is your ethnicity.  she then put her arm on mine and said, because you are browner than me.  i said, not everywhere.

this is the street view to the right.  gobs of stray dogs in various degrees of disrepair, and i've never seen so many cats missing tails or with loopy crookedy tails.  i will spare you those pics.  i thought recently, that those pitiful critters would break my heart at home, but my heart here is already broken by the discarded babies.  

the midwife student apartment where i am staying right now, is in the walkout basement of this house which is between the baby home and the birth home. 

this is the play yard and the baby home, where i spend my time.

i have completely plagiarized the following from the blog of Isabell, another worker here.  but it is a wonderful description of the work of the ministry i am serving. 

HELP International Ministries.is a family organization, founded by the Gunderson family in the Philippines in 1986.  The Little children,s home and Shiprah Birthing Home are located in the outskirts of Manila.  The Gundersons and Gustafsons, together with a team of professional midwives and caregivers, share the love of Christ by providing safe and dignified maternal health care to impoverished women, as well as shelter and love to abandoned and surrendered children until they find a home with their forever families.

i thank you all so much for your support and your encouragement.  and especially for your prayers and your offers of prayer.

and if any of you want to sent me a package full of pepto bismal or find yourself in manila and want to come and visit me, here is our address:

Joann Porter
Shiphrah Bahay Paanakan
#6 Liwayway Street
Blooming Hills Subdivision
Taytay, Rizal 1920, Philippines

shiprah is the name of a midwife in the bible.  in tagalog, bahay means home, and paanakan means child birth.  not childbirth, but child birth.

i love you all, my dear friends!

p.s.  since y'all had trouble viewing the last ones,  i posted these photos using a different format.  i sure hope this is better.  please advise.  thanks!!

jo