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God's people in Tondo

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   Philippines 		Dee and Charlie Ivy are missionaries serving in the Philippines. Charlie reflects on poverty and prejudice surrounding the poor community where they serve.

TONDO: "Sorry po [sir], I don't go there."

Dee and I live near Mary Johnston Hospital, where we work in a community called Tondo. Sometimes when when get a in taxi in Quezon City or Ermita and tell the driver we want to go to Tondo, they say, "Sorry po, I don't go there."

At 45,000 people per square kilometer, Tondo is one of the most, if not the most densely populated place in the world - more than New York City (19,000), more than Calcutta (24,000) and more than Hong Kong (40,000).

Living conditions for many of the people in Tondo, especially squatters, are horrible. Violence, particularly against girls and young women is a routine occurrence. Air pollution and the water that people drink and bathe in is filthy. Disease is widespread. There are people living between railroads track who must run when the trains come. If they don't run fast enough, they die!

When Dr. Rebecca Parrish came to Tondo, from Indiana in 1906, conditions were even worse than they are today. Infant mortality was rampant with sixty-six percent of children dying before age five. Horrified by what she witnessed, Dr. Parrish established a clinic in this place where I am certain people said it could not be done. No doubt she heard all the usual negative things about the poor and places they lived from those with wealth and privilege. But she did not listen to them but rather to the words of John Wesley spoken in a letter to a gentlewoman in one of his societies:

Go and see the sick in their own poor little hovels. Take up your cross! Jesus went before you, and will go with you. I want you to converse more, abundantly more, with the poorest of the people. Creep in among these in spite of dirt and a hundred disgusting circumstances."
 Against all odds, Dr. Parrish dreamed that things could be better for the people of Tondo. Her faith and compassion resulted in establishment of the Mary Johnston Hospital in 1908. The hospital was built through a gift from D.S.B. Johnston of St. Paul Minnesota, in memory of his late wife. Mary Johnston has has survived physical destruction and continues today despite deteriorating conditions and lack of sufficient equipment and funds. Leadership and the local board refuse to give up the dream. Instead, they have strengthened outreach to the people of Tondo as well as those in more remote areas.

Today, Mary Johnston provides a health worker, a milk feeding program and a vaccination service to the adopted community of Barangay 38, as well as a clinic every Saturday. Dee is providing Christian based education regarding HIV/AIDS for young people. Our nurse and doctors go out every Saturday to the different provinces or to churches in the Manila area to provide care and see 200-300 individuals.

Much work is needed to assure that Mary Johnson is able to continue its healing ministry in Tondo. Our neighborhood, facilities, and equipment are in a serious state of disrepair and basic equipment is like a mammography machine is needed for the operating room...

I remind you of the words of John Wesley, words that Dee and I have come to know are true: "In visiting the marginalized, we invite them to transform us to transform our hearts, to transform our understanding, to transform us into instruments of the divine mercy and justice."

We thank you for your continued prayers, your gifts, and maybe some day, your presence at Mary Johnston or any place where God's people are suffering.

October 16, 2001
General Board of Global Ministries
United Methodist Church
475 Riverside Drive - New York, New York 10115
1-800-UMC-GBGM