Manila - Hey, lady!

"Hey, lady!", someone called behind me with a scraggly, yet youthful voice: "Take me home with you!" As I turned around to see, I couldn't think of anything to reply. "I can't take a child home with me like a stray dog!", I was thinking in my mind. I replied with shaky Tagalog and uncertainty in my voice: "I can't take you home with me. I bet your mom would be very upset if you were to be gone!" The child replied : "No way, lady! She'd be glad. She has so many children, she would not even notice if I were gone!" At that time, such rough circumstances were hard for me to take. We had been in the Philippines for about a year, and from time to time I went to walk under a bridge with some people to get to know some street kids. Kikay (meaning "light girl" in Tagalog) was one of the first kids I got to know and spend time with. She was seven years old, bold as brass, always filthy and talked like a waterfall. Her voice was deep, her laughter irresistible.
At that time, we were not capable to take children in, but the vision of the Father's House was birthed during that time. We came to realize that it wasn't enough to simply tell the kids nice stories about a loving God, give them something to eat and then say: "We'll see you next week, God will take care of you!", and leave them to fend for themselves.
We kept in touch with Kikay, and when the day came that we were able to take in children, she was one of the first kids to come live with us. Though many years had passed by since she first asked me to come home with me. In the meantime, Kikay had grown to be a teenager, and the years on the street left their marks. She ran away, came back, ran away again and returned pregnant. She was only 16 years of age. The child's father lived on the streets and did not want to have anything to do with the baby. We took Kikay in again, and attended to her during her pregnancy. Mariana got to be there at the baby's birth. It was a cute girl. But Kikay had itchy feet and ran away again with her child. We were really disappointed, for years we had been hoping to get Kikay to a breakthrough. Now they both ended up on the street, mother and child.

One of the biggest challenges in my ministry has been to learn to let go. Followed by getting back up, to believe and to hope. This is only possible with the one who is love in person: God!
Two weeks ago, Kikay sat by the street during an outreach and wept her eyes out. She grew up to be a woman of now over 20 years of age and has three children. "Please take my daughter with you! She's gone through enough. She'll be safe and loved with you!" Almost the same plea she had begged for 18 years ago. Only this time it was for her daughter, almost the same age as Kikay was when I met her for the first time. The little girl has been staying with us for two weeks now, and it seems as if she knows and trusts us, because of what her mother told her about the secureness she had once experienced at the Father's House.