Manila day 3

Having seen Manila yesterday from a far, today we had the chance to get up close to areas we would almost certainly avoid .The privilege of working here with Jigsaw means we not only get to travel to these areas but we are welcomed by the local people and join in with their lives. We started by visiting one project in a squatter dwelling (Shanty town area). The building was bustling with 50 or 60 toddlers playing with toys scattered everywhere. I imagined Zara my daughter being there, she would have loved it. The group was run by a team of about 6 Jigsaw workers, themselves from the squatter area. After open play the children played in  circle games and sang Christian songs with actions. Everyone was then seated on the floor and a white sheet appeared held by two helpers across the room. We were suddenly the audience of a puppet show. The children absolutely loved it and so did Mike and I. After all the children had gone we prayed with the staff for the children and then visited their homes. Everybody knows everybody here so we were welcomed by all we came into contact with. After lunch back at he Jigsaw offices we joined a street children's group and relaxed with them. Mike and I played table football with some of the children there while Anita and Tim met with a few boys we will be interviewing and asking to film for us. They had a very special time together and the boys shared some of their stories in an informal way. Late afternoon we planned our timetable for the rest of our stay. We have slotted in time for interviews with Children and staff and have had to allocate time to get shots of some of the things they are talking about. Each day we will also need to look at all our footage for the same reason. So tomorrow we begin our interviews and this is the real reason for our visit. Everyone is excited at the prospect of the dvd, but perhaps God will surprise us in other ways too? Check out the most recent photo's on flickr