A Sure Foundation

This is Zyra, our goddaughter. Yeah, we know she’s crazy cute.

We have four godchildren in Cebu City, but I admit that Zyra has profoundly nudged her way straight to my heart.  A couple of weeks ago I got a text from Zyra’s dad, Zaldy, thanking God for their new house.  So I headed to their home near the dumpsite to have lunch with them and to celebrate a new beginning. Through the donation of a local charity, they will be able to move from this house . . .

To this house . . .

They have five children under their care, two of whom are a niece and nephew whose parents cannot care for them.  The city closed the dumpsite so they are no longer able to derive income from scavenging and reselling items they find. 

They are thanking God. Soon they won’t all sleep in a single room in a house covered with tarp without a kitchen or bathroom. They will have a house with two bedrooms and a bathroom made of materials not scavenged.

The hope that seemed years away has returned.

This is not a case of people who are always so happy even though they have nothing. They have struggled and despaired, questioned and cried.  In every neighborhood in Cebu it’s easy to find an extremely grand, pristine house right next to a house without running water or a mattress. The under-resourced know they are under-resourced. Zaldy and his wife Rowena incur debt when a medical problem arises. They try to save to buy school shoes for their children only to realize it’s not possible to save even $5. The girl living next door was trafficked. Zaldy’s brother was murdered last year. A new heartache appears often.

And then this. A place to rest the overburdened soul.

The neighbors assist in mixing the cement. Zaldy carries bucket after bucket of cement and pours it onto the floor, making sure the foundation is secure in his family’s new home.