My obsession with Dust, Sweat and What Not

I think one of the things that most amuse (and infuriate) Rob since our married life started 8 months ago was my (irrational) obsession with dust, sweat, insects and the like. Perhaps many women (and men) wouldn’t find my behaviour abnormal, but certainly Rob has struggled to understand it, whilst over the months I’ve actually found it hard to render a good explanation for it. These “principles” have been such a core part of me that are second nature and hence, to me, the most logical way of life.

Living in a less economically developed country now (albeit in a relatively nice environment), one can imagine that some of these things are even more unavoidable.

Principle 1: If you drop food on the floor (even the cleanest concrete floor), don’t eat it. Depending on what it is, and the state of the cleanliness of the floor, you could possibly rinse it properly under (clean) running water before consuming it.

What is wrong with the floor? Dust? Dust doesn’t kill. There’s dust everywhere.

Principle 2: Don’t sit on the bed whilst in the clothes that you have just worn after a whole day of being outside. The bed should be kept as clean and dirt/sweat-free as possible, otherwise it may attract insects at night!

Again, a bit of dust from the day won’t kill you, and it is nice to be able to relax by sitting on the bed.

Principle 3: The sacredness of the towel. Where we are staying at the moment, there are numerous hooks on the bathroom wall. Dirty clothes should not be hung next to a towel, lest the dirty clothes touch the towel which is meant for drying oneself after a nice shower.

....no harm done by a bit of dust from the day!

Principle 4: If the bathroom is wet and you’re barefooted and your feet are not 100% clean, avoid walking on the wet bits. Instead, tiptoe around them to get to where you want to if possible. If you do walk on the wet bits and start making a mess of the floor (because the water on the floor “dissolves” the dirt on your feet), then please splash some water over the mess and keep the floor clean.

....What a palaver!!

Principle 5: Be on the run as soon as you see any moth/flying ant/flying cockroach/lizard approaching. These are abominable things, and if they land on you, you could get bitten or develop a skin disorder.

These things are friendly and won’t hurt. They are probably more scared of you, this giant human compared to them, than you are afraid of them.

And I could go on and on, about why we shouldn’t hug when one or both of us are sweaty, washing our feet before going to bed, covering the toilet seat when flushing...

Oh the joys of married life!


I should add though, that to his credit, Rob has made tremendous concessions, and we have both made considerable progress moving towards each other’s position.

And it's worth noting that Rob does not always look like the photo at the top - that was taken after a particularly sweaty day cycling down a dusty road in Cambodia!

Taking the Kids Out

When we first arrived in Cebu, we weren't sure what exactly we might get involved with, as we arrived during the children's summer holiday, and the school where we were hoping to help out was closed during the break.

Over a week, it became obvious to us that perhaps we should try to see if we can make the summer holiday for the children a bit more exciting - as their current daily routine seems to only consist of watching endless TV and pirated movies! Unlike a normal home with more finances to spare, CFA does not have the resources to arrange for special activities for the children during the school holidays. Also, as many of these children, delightful as they are, still have many issues to deal with, it is not always a good idea to let them go out on their own.

So we wracked our brains and came up with a month of summer activities before the children go back to school on June 14! For starters we will play games like Pictionary, have competitions in Scrabble, Volleyball, Badminton etc, and running some workshops for those who are interested (Christine: painting, Rob: writing, etc!). We also thought it would be nice to take the children out in smaller groups to hang out - and watch a movie or go bowling or something.

Even though the cost of things in the Philippines is much lower than that in the UK, multiplying anything by 60 (kids) will add up eventually! We've been really blessed though that some friends have given us some money for use towards the children in Cebu. This way we can pay for the outings as well as some materials for the summer activities.

The first outing we went on we took our first group of children to see Iron Man 2. It was heartening to see that even though (I think) the teenagers didn't fully understand the plot, they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were very grateful for our efforts. For us who grew up with so much, it was a shock that the children had never been to the cinema to see a movie before.

By the time the movie ended most of the eating places were shut except the Filipinos' version of McDonalds, called Jollibee! So we went in for some fried chicken, spaghetti and burgers - there was quite a range of choices I have to say. We gave them a budget to work with when ordering their meals. I was taken aback when even the 16 year olds suddenly became incredibly shy at the thought of ordering their meals over the counter - and then I realised that most, if not all, of them, would not have had any opportunity to eat out, and even if an adult took them out for a meal, they might not have been asked to order the food themselves. So there we were, coaxing and encouraging them to just pick a meal out of the 10 meals shown on the board, whilst they giggled, hid behind each other and looked perplexed at the many choices. I was so proud when they finally made up their minds and managed to tell the person behind the counter what they would like to eat, even though they tended to copy each other and ended up ordering the same thing!

Beautiful One

We arrived in Cebu less than two weeks ago and already I’m feeling as if I had never left in the first place.

It’s much hotter at this time of year than on my previous visits, in the 30Cs, though a bit cooler at night. April to June is also the summer holidays for the kids. The morning rays beam through the windows at about 6am, so we’re getting used to waking up and going to bed earlier. The roosters in the neighbours’ backyards which used to annoy me are slowly becoming part of the pleasant background noise against which we sleep in the early morning.

These few days feel much more relaxed than the first week we were here – the first three days we were thrown into the middle of the kids’ summer holiday camp where the schedule was jam packed with activities ranging from basketball tournaments to worship sessions to jewellery-making classes. We gave ourselves the excuse of having arrived mid-week, so we didn’t get up at 5am like the rest of the camp. Very often the evening sessions of Bible teaching, worshipping and a time of ministry (where we all prayed and waited on what God might be saying) ended past 11pm, so everyone was exhausted. However, the exhaustion didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s mood or enthusiasm, and in between the sessions several of the kids would follow us around wanting to play Scrabble!

It was amazing to see how these kids, many of who didn’t start proper education at the normal age of 6 (many of them have a late start in life), were creative, knew many excellent words, were patient with each other and overall played very well - though the kids were so enthusiastic that Rob and I were rather “Scrabbled out” by the end of the week!

After the summer camp, we went straight onto a 4-day outreach trip in nearby Astorias in the south of Cebu, where we went round with the kids to different communities to share with them the love of God through music, drama, dancing and sharing of the kids’ own stories of being rescued from the streets and of finding healing from their past hurts. It was hard not to be moved watching many of the acts.

On the second day of the outreach, whilst the older girls (teens) were performing their beautiful dance with tambourines (to the tune of Beautiful One by Tim Hughes) in a dimly lit community hall, it suddenly struck me that these girls would not be where they were now if they had remained on the streets. It’s more likely that at least some of them would have resorted to prostitution or have had several pregnancies by now, and certainly they would not be the happy, talented and radiant girls dancing before our eyes – children with huge potential and dreams that could actually be realised.

Tomorrow we will go on a feeding trip in the slums of Cebu which will be our first together.