Paraiso Return to Paradise Smokey Mountain

Dear MEC-Amen,
when i 1st met u guys at UST (Univeristy of Santo Thomas) u made me cry with ur singing. Your songs were not a performance like so many other singers I've heard. But when you sang, it's just one voice, one message telling me that God's looking out for me. Now so many years later, we're all working and last Sunday we met up again u sang this time to the IJ girls and teachers.. and again you made me cry, even the girls and the teachers cried.

you chose such a powerful song to share with us. I felt I was I stepping into Payatas for the very 1st time once more. Thank you for sharing not only your voice and the song with us, but your heart as well.

I found a video of Paraiso on the web. And I invite all of you who have been to Payatas to listen to this song. Looking back, I realize now that truly this place is paradise. In Payatas, I learnt what was worth laughing about and experienced the freedom to laugh and be filled with joy. I learnt also what was worth crying for. I learnt to let go and cry, to be in sorrow. I realise only when we experience Paraiso then we can know laughter and tears. I know many of you have not been to Payatas for some time because of studies or work. But I invite you to come back to Payatas, return to Paraiso. To those of you who have always wanted to experience life on this Smokey Mountain but have just been too afraid to come to the Philippines, listen to Paraiso. :)

Return to a land called Paraiso,
a place where a dying river ends.
No birds there fly over Paraiso,
no space allows them to endure.
The smoke that screens the air,
the grass that's never there.

And if I could see a single bird, what a joy.
I try to write some words and create
a simple song to be heard
by the rest of the world.

I live in this land called Paraiso,
in a house made of cardboard floors and walls.
I learned to be free in Paraiso,
free to claim anything I see.
Matching rags for my clothes,
plastic bags for the cold.

And if empty cans were all I have, what a joy.
I never fight to take someone
else's coins and live with fear
like the rest of the boys.

Paraiso, help me make a stand.
Paraiso, take me by the hand
Paraiso, make the world understand
that if I could see a single bird, what a joy.
This tired and hungry land could expect
some truth and hope and respect
from the rest of the world.