Making a living - part 3

Another common money making venture is to prepare and cook foods and sell it "by the serving". Here is a small "restaurant setup near the clinic. These are fairly popular eating places because of the difficulty of preparing food. Most people in our area still use open fires burning whatever wood or trash they can scavenge. Propane and electricity are expensive options for cooking.

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Making the restaurant mobile is another variation. Here a boy sells "fish balls" that are fried in the wok while you wait. There is a variety of dipping sauces, some sweet, some hot to suit every palate. These items are usually sold as snacks between meals

"not nice" price of rice continues...

Even Wal Mart has entered the world rice saga. According to a recent story on Fox News, 'Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said Wednesday that it would ration the amount of rice each customer can purchase at its Sam's Club warehouse stores because of recent “supply and demand trends.”'

You can read the entire story at:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/retail/article/walmart-rations-rice-warns-supply-demand-concerns_575879_7.html

Making a living - part 2

Because people here have limited income and limited ability to store products they purchase, they will often purchase just enough of a product to last one day, or even one use. It is very common to see small packages of shampoo, toothpaste, rice, vinegar and salt being sold for a single day of use. This opens the market for those who have enough savings and ability to travel to purchase bulk items at the local markets then divide the product into small daily rations which are sold for a profit. In this picture, a cleaning product is being divided into daily portions and will be sold in the squatter area next to our clinic.

Making a living

Poverty can have widely varying effects on people. Some seem caught in its ever tightening grip, unable to break free from whatever the cause. Some people, however, fight and struggle with everything they have to get themselves (or at least their next generation) out of poverty.

This picture shows one of our patients who lives in a squatter area near the clinic. She is attempting to make a living and break out of poverty through a small bakery in her home. She buys bulk peanuts, sugar and syrup and cooks these into a candy similar to peanut brittle. The pieces are packaged individually to make them more affordable to the people around her. During a recent visit, she generously gave us samples to take home. The photographer of this picture was our visiting dentist, Jim. While he highly supported her hard work and industrious attitude, he wasn't too thrilled with the sticky, sugary product because he had spent the last week pulling rotten teeth from kid's mouths.

Updated Prayer requests for home assignment

Thank You from our patients!

This August we will begin our first home assignment period. We are excited about this unique time in a missionary’s career, particularly the chance to visit with our friends, family, supporters and churches. We have many goals to accomplish during this time. We hope to visit each of our supporters personally and attend each mission conference of our supporting churches. Since we sold practically everything we owned prior to moving to the Philippines, returning will not be an easy task. We ask that you pray for our following needs:

Inexpensive place to live around Greenwood or Greenville, SC

Wisdom to chose the best use of our short time
Transportation with at least one vehicle suitable for long distance travel
Living items such as Beds, cooking supplies, etc

Winter clothing particularly for Emily and Will
Renewed medical certifications and licenses required to practice
Part time work for Allan

Travel plans and arrangements getting to the USA

Cultural adaptation back into the USA way of doing stuff
Increase in the committed and regular supporters of the ministry

Renewed vision for our supporters into the ministry of the clinic
Additional training in Ultrasound imaging

Arrival of our new missionaries, Tom and Val
Strength and encouragement for our co-missionaries, Scott and Cindy

Encouragement for our Filipina nurse, Ling

Boldness and insight for our Filipino Pastor, Buddy

John Christopher

2 years ago in April 06, we blogged about a little boy with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. (http://thegilmers.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-old.html)

He was 18 months old then and was suffering from a heart defect. His only long-term option is surgical intervention, which the family cannot afford. Two years later he still comes to the clinic every couple of weeks for medicine. He is now 3, but not his size and stature have not increased significantly.

In January of this year, we had a couple girls volunteer in the clinic who were part of a mission trip called the World Race. They spend 11 months doing mission work in different countries as they travel around the world. One of the girls, Katey was touched by John Christopher and his story. She wrote a blog about him and about his condition.

http://kateybreneman.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=john-christopher

Through her contacts, money was provided for the specific purpose of paying for John Christopher's surgery. The money is sufficient to cover the family's cost if they qualify for a government subsidized partial payment system (based on income). The family has been trying to obtain the necessary paperwork to navigate the "red tape" of approval. At the last clinic visit for John Christopher, the family had not received approval. Please pray for their family and the obstacles before them. Pray for John Christopher that he would be able to obtain is surgery and that he would have a safe and effective outcome.

This is John Christopher today at 3 years old.

The picure at the top of the blog was taken by Ginger 2 years ago.

The "not nice" price of rice

Recently one of the most commonly eaten, worldwide staples (rice) came under scrutiny because, as reported by the news “a crisis of shortage” loomed in the future. If you haven’t seen these stories, feel free to view http://www.inquirer.net/ (which despite the same name as a maligned paper in the US is a widely read Filipino news agency). The top banner proclaims “The rice problem” and links to a summary of articles recently written concerning a looming rice shortage. There have been multiple news stories, political statements, and general opinions made about the cause, severity or even existence of a rice shortage. Arrests have been made for illegal distribution of rice. Accusations of hoarding have been made at all levels of rice distribution. The Filipino’s government subsidized rice is now distributed under close military supervision. The US government has guaranteed shipments of rice to the Philippines. The story continues to unfold.

While debates rage about how we got to this point, one thing is certain – the price of rice at the consumer level is increasing and increasing rapidly. For those interested take a look at this graph of consumer rice prices:
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/riceproblem/graphs.php?g=2

Rice market in 2006

Rice Market 2007

In the community where we minister, this is a serious and unrelenting problem. Most families who access our clinic for medical care (and most Filipino families in general) eat rice three times daily. Some of our families are eating rice alone for each meal because they cannot afford a topping for the rice. This dramatically increasing price is certainly straining many family finances. No one can predict where the strain will finally break.

Please pray for our community, the Philippines, and the poor around the world.