TB, scoliosis and more depressing news

Recently someone asked me how we could be so optimistic about the situation with the kids in Payatas? Let's take stock of the negative developments in the last 6 months:
1. Nicasio and sisters have lost both parents. We know the mum died of TB.
2. Nicasio and sisters are diagnosed with TB and need at least 6 months medication.
3. Nicasio has scoliosis
4. Pepito, Nicasio's Best Friend is suspected to have TB too. So he'll go for a medical examination this coming week.
5. 20 other kids are suspected to have TB. so there'll be another medical mission in November to test for it.
6. Erwin sill has no one to sponsor his education for the year which costs $300.
7. We've lost Joshua. His mum has taken him out of school and he's most likely at work somewhere.
8. We've lost Arnil who's now working in the dumpsite and according to the other chidren, he smokes.

Other negatives with Payatas:
1. Children exposed to immoral danger such as drugs/porn/abuse (physical, sexual)
2. Children taken out of school to work as scavengers/dumptruck assistants or recruited by drug lords/prostitution houses/gangs
3. Children's parents can't afford to get them a birth certificate because the legal procedure is costly and time consuming (est a 2 month cat and mouse affair)
and the list goes on....

Our greatest worry today:
We weren't able to raise enough funds/pledges this year for the food project so we have only about 2k left till last till Dec. We don't know what to expect in January.
The cost of running the feeding project for one month for an estimate of 80-100 children for 20 school days/month is $1000. If our feeding project doesn't go through after January, the kids will fall out and work in the dumpsite.

Our greatest nightmare:
That any of them gets into an accident and follows the same fate as Marvin.


Our dilemma:
Recently the Lord blessed us with some donation from a group of very generous kids. they gave $400. We wanted to add this to the feeding project which would cover about 8 days of lunches. On the other hand we received news that there's a TB problem. So in the end we chose to allocate the money for a TB Fund at least to get meds for the kids who need it.


The positive side:
If we keep working/keep the food project running... etc
1. the kids will learn to read and write (an essential element of modern society)
2. the kids will learn about Jesus and are prepared for their Baptism next Easter
3. the kids will eventually get their birth certificates, study hard in formal schools and make it some day.

The odds are stacked against us. Many times of course we feel like quitting, giving up. At times we've felt so helpless amidst the sea of poverty. Other times, we feel frustrated because the commnity does nothing about the grave immorality existing in their area even though they know it's wrong and bad. Frustration because for every obstacle overcomed there's another larger one in front.

We need a lot of hope, full measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. We believe in having hope and passing hope on to others. Hope is not a feeling, an emotion or something like a wish that is magical. Hope is within one's reach. Hope is real and concrete that we can all have, a light that calls out the path which we could not have seen in the dark. Hope is having peace within, from knowing the peace of Christ.

So TB, scoliosis and more depressing news are not enough to take away the peace that Christ gives from knowing Him.