Reality bites!

Today, our peso is 49.82 to a dollar. Quite a good sign that we are slowly recovering from economic turmoil. The majority of Filipinos aren't noticing this miniscule improvement, though. But I am hanging on to PGMA's vision of the Philippines as a strong 1st world country in 2020.

No matter how much we try to defend and show to our foreign visitors that living here is glorious, no one will believe us. Still, it's 80% poor population. However, it's our instinct and our defense mechanism, that when we are faced with foreigners, we tend to display our patriotism with nationalistic bragging. But with my recent encounter with a foreigner, I learned that it was more convenient adopting a contrary tone, pointing out the hardships here.

Two days ago, we had a foreign visitor, a first-timer. She's a 23 year old daughter of a church missionary. We brought her to Figaro ( we're proud that this is Filipino-owned) in Camp John Hay. While sipping coffee, we had some chats, the usual getting-to- know you stuff. Interestingly, she graduated with a degree in Social Work and now she works part-time in a shelter for women and child protection, back in Texas. She also intends to enroll in a Bible School there. She's in the Philippines to teach a group of Christian women in Cebu.

We talked about different topics with more emphasis on religious and social issues (of course, as expected of us, he he!). With my husband in the gov't. social service and I and my sis in-law in a gov't. health institution, we particularly got interested in her job. Like anywhere else in this world, when there are people, there are social problems that a government has to manage. We compared how her country and my country manage and deliver services to similar social issues like health, abuses, adoption, poverty, etc. As we exchanged observations, we were all struck and appalled by the monstrosity of our life's differences.

Reality hits you more when you'd known that there are far better or worse situations than what you are into. A face to face actual sharing and comparison of two different people's state of living is more awakening than reading it from the newspaper. You'd feel sorry about your condition but inspired to make a difference.

As we left the coffee shop and drove home, everyone was quiet. Perhaps we were still savoring not the coffee's bitter-sweet goodness, but the enlightenment the conversation had brought to us... I, becoming more motivated and determined to fulfill my dreams of making my life and my family's life more comfortable... and for Rebecca, becoming more passionate and dedicated to her service to the Lord by helping people. Actually, that's what she came here for!