Monday 5th April

This morning we returned to the same women’s jail that we visited last week. Once again, emotion was close to the surface, especially among the inmates who gave their testimonies. A lady called Leona gave me a booklet called Leona gave me a booklet called ‘Guidelines for Peace of Mind’ by Harold J. Sala. She also wrote a prayer request in her notepad, which she tore out and gave to me. It read,

“PRAYER REQUEST
FOR BETH EUGENID FOR HER EARLY
RELEASE ON ANYTIME. PRAY TO GRANT HER CASE WILL BE DISMISS.
ALSO PRAY FOR ME
TO GET OUT HERE ON MAY SO THAT I CAN BE WITH MY KIDS IN U.S.
LEONA
ZIOBRONSKI
THANKS FOR COMING ESPECIALLY FOR SHARING THE WORD OF GOD.”

She passed me the note shortly after I’d finished giving the testimony I’d prepared. It seemed to be well received and it made mum cry.

On the way out we passed one of the jail’s wardens with an AK47 across his lap and a prisoner massaging his hands. The officer looked up and casually nodded at me as I walked by. He looked like he was enjoying it.

Mum was crying for a different reason at lunchtime. She’s stubbed her little toe so hard it appears to have broken. While she managed to hobble round the jail, by lunchtime the pain and probably the heat of the day had caught up with her. She packed herself off to bed, with several of the women following her to pray for her. This evening she was back up and limping, saying that she felt much better.

This afternoon, I went to Subic market with Becky, Saskia, Ian and Mandy. We took two of the 16 year olds from the girls’ home, Alexia and Rachelle, with us. We started with trip to Jollybee, where the hamburgers are served by well turned out, eager looking assistants. At least they should be. A sign in the window was offering work to 18-22 year olds with a college education who were “good looking”.

Once in the market, we realised that there were beach balls, flumes, buckets and spades and other seaside items on sale. Ian recalled a conversation the group had been having over lunch about buying similar equipment ahead of a trip Wednesday when the whole children’s home is going to a resort. We agreed that it would be cheaper to buy the items in Subic, rather than at an expensive shopping mall as was planned tomorrow. But we didn’t have the list. The sun was already beginning to dip behind the mountains, so to save time, Rachelle and I took a sidecar back to the house. There’s a steep hill just before the end and the motorbike coughed and spluttered it’s way up. I had to keep my head tucked into my chest to stop it banging against the roof. On the way back, the small sidecar became even more crowded as the driver took on two boys. At least one of them had the sense to sit on the motorbike. The other one crammed in with us. Ian offered to take the return sidecar ride once we’d bought the equipment. I was happy to let him go.

The Ablaze basketball team was back in action this evening. It turns out last Monday’s match was the second in a best of three. With both sides having one each, tonight was the decider. Again the match was tight, with overtime looking likely as the game entered it’s final 10 seconds with the teams tied at 28-all. Then with 3 seconds to spare, Benji, the boys’ team’s best player and captain got free on the right. It was a race between him and the clock, as he dribbled from the halfway line towards the basket. The announcer called in the seconds. He’d reached 1 as Benji leapt up. The ball left the fingers of his right hand and travelled in slow-motion towards the hoop. We waited. Then we cheered. He’d won it with 0.5 seconds remaining on the clock. A hundred children screamed their delight.

Benji the hero was particularly well mannered in victory. Mandy and I went over to high-five him and he didn’t know what to do. We bowed at him instead and he looked rather embarrassed. His mother works at the children’s home and his father’s the caretaker at the church, so he wasn’t travelling back with the other children. As the bus bubbled past him, the kids shouted encouragement out of the windows. He smiled and waved, then climbed onto the handlebars of his father’s bike to be cycled home.