Profile of a Street Child in Sucat

Dear family and friends,

This week, I was really affected by the story of a street child attending our feeding program in Sucat. Her name is Imang. Her and I first bonded when we took the street kids on a field trip to Tagaytay (a beautiful place with parks, hiking trails, and horseback riding). Over the last month, I've been learning more and more about Imang's story as I attempt to grasp some sort of understanding on what her life must be like. If you met Imang, I'm sure you would agree that she's a very friendly, positive and outgoing child. However, perhaps you'd soon notice that at times she's also exceptionally sensitive, emotionally volatile, and desperate for attention. At a young age, Imang's mother left her to work in a night club in the city. Although Imang found another woman in the community to live with, Imang soon became the victim of severe child abuse at the hands of her new "mom". Many of the marks where Imang has been beaten with a rod are still visible under her clothes. Recently, Imang's birth mother returned to the community and is battling to take her daughter back.

Amidst this very serious and difficult situation, our team is asking, what can we do to help? Thankfully, one of our Filipino team members has been able to study social work at a very reputable school. Gila's schooling has been made possible entirely by faith - she can't afford the tuition for school, yet donations from others have given her the support needed to attend college. Because of Gila's passion for helping the poor and the oppressed in her community, and because of the way God has graciously provided the wisdom and means to do so, Gila knows the legal rights of both the child and the parent in Imang's sensitive situation. We are currently seeking legal help, and I hope you can join us in prayer in determining the best way to help Imang.

Here are some pictures from our Sucat feeding program which Imang attends regularly.

A victim of child abuse and neglect, Imang never
misses our feeding program. It's crucial to us that
our help goes beyond providing food.

So much beauty to be found in the Sucat community.

Boils are a common skin disease amongst street children here.

In other news, the daycare is continuing with much success and joy. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!! One of the daycare parents even wrote a touching thank-you letter to Toph, Tin Tin, and I (the three teachers). Also, this Thursday I will attempt to teach the lesson in Nightlife completely in Tagalog. I'm both excited and nervous about that, but I have a script to follow that my friend Mackie helped translate from English to Tagalog. Please pray for that as well. Thank you so much for reading, and take care!