The hands and feet of Jesus

It's another hot, sticky day. More and more bags of rubbish seem to be building up along the side of the road each passing week. Dirty plastic bottles, plastic spoons, cardboard and paper all spill out as children run and play within the debris. Happy little dirty faces with gappy smiles.

We continue down the grey dirt streets, past the wet markets filled with today's fish and chicken and vendors waving the flies away. Eventually, we arrive at the old green gate. As we open the van doors we hear the children's voices and giggles. Little hands reach out and grab us as they welcome us in.

Welcome to one of Safe Haven Community Center and Children's Home, small, yet thriving Feeding Programs situated in Payatas—one of the largest dump sites in Manila. For a little under two years now, 35 children, and some parents, have walked to Grace Church (our partner in Phase 2 Payatas) to receive vitamins, milk and a nutritious meal. The children, who come each day, are simply malnourished and frequently covered in small insect bites, sores and wounds…a common occurrence throughout the dump site. Two of our little girls are severely malnourished…a sight both distressing and affecting. 

In 2013, during a mission awareness trip, an intensive care nurse visited Payatas dump site with Safe Haven to provide immediate wound care and teach prevention techniques to parents and their children living throughout the dump site.

It was soon discovered that the children who presented fewer skin infections and wounds attended a daily feeding program, which not only nourished their bodies but strengthened them against diarrhea, disease, stunting and anemia, etc.

Today the Save Haven Community Feeding Program has become so much more than just a place to receive food and vitamins. It's a safe place for mothers and children to come and laugh, chat and share life with one another as they learn more about Jesus. Twice a week the children also enjoy a play group morning filled with singing, stories and arts and crafts.

Each time that we wind our way through the rubbish in Payatas, we are reminded of a song. The song says “You’re the only Jesus some will ever see. You’re the only words of life, some will ever read. So let them see in you, the one in who is all they’ll ever need. You’re the only Jesus, some will ever see.”

So who do these little children see as we wash the dirt from their tiny faces and hands? Who do these mothers see when we help care for their sick babies? Who do they see as they giggle and drink their milk? So who do they see as we reach out and hold their hand? Do they see the hands and feet of Jesus?

In 1 John 2:6 it says: “If someone claims, ‘I know him well!’ but doesn't keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn't match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived” (The Message).

For Safe Haven it is our prayer that each day we reflect and display Christ Jesus to everyone we meet and see.

But of course, there are many times when we falter.

There are times when we are confronted by overwhelming circumstances that paralyse us with utter fear and hopelessness. And then there are times of course when we are disappointed; disappointed with ourselves, with those we work with, and frequently with systems and organisations that exploit and victimise those people most in need of support and compassion.

And it is during these moments that we truly feel our humanness; the desire to give up and run away.

Yet thankfully, through knowing and seeking Jesus daily, our capacity to find love, compassion and patience is so much greater in the times when we feel most broken and helpless. In effect Jesus love is a vast well; overflowing with wisdom and grace in times of extreme thirst and yearning. He is our nourishment, our strength and our living example.

So each time we descend that windy, dirt road into the mountains of rubbish that is Payatas dump site, we are constantly reminded of Jesus’ unrelenting strength. It has become our promise and our stronghold and without any doubt, our endurance.

And it is because of this promise that we want to share Jesus. So being the hands and feet of Jesus is so much more than simply modelling the best lives and examples that we can.

For us at Safe Haven it is about reflecting and displaying a promise to others in a way that ignites a passion and love for Jesus.