I designed my interview for the street boys almost the same for the Shelter boys, so that they would be comparable. I have interviewed the Shelter boys over an extended period, but I interviewed all six street boys within 1.5 hours! That has go to be a record! I had a lot of fun meeting them (their goofy, just like my Shelter boys) and I treated them to dinner afterwards. My focus group was very good in one way, but difficult in another way. It was so good that it lasted 1.5 hours, which is about twice as long as I planned. I just had a lot of important, deep questions. It was better than the last focus group in the sense that my questions were very specific. Each one had a purpose. There were also some hard questions and ones that made the boys uncomfortable. For example, I asked them how hard it is to talk about their pasts. Every boy raised his hands. When I asked, "how often do you think about your pasts?" one boy said "every day." I asked, "just the good parts or also the bad parts?" and he said, "both." It was hard for me to ask this because I knew that it would stir up some pain. And I could read it in their eyes. Just the question before this, they were kind of loud and not paying attention. When I asked this, every boy got quiet and wouldn't look at me. I asked one specific boy, "Has God used your pasts to bring out good?" He just looked down and covered his eyes. Sometimes it hard for me to be the researcher like this, because I'm "studying" my friends/little brothers. I'm been so busy doing interviews this week, I hadn't really thought about the weight of their answers. It's really, really hard stuff. I just finished expanding the field notes from it, and some of their answers made me tear up. I also found out that they do not know what spiritual gifts are, so I want to encourage the church to teach them this. I told the boys, "Spiritual gifts are given by God to every Christian. We are to use our spiritual gifts for the Kingdom of God. So even if you don’t know what your gift is, you still have one. God will reveal it to you, as you grow closer to him. Just remember that all of you have spiritual gifts that you can use in the Church."
One night this week, the boys dressed me up like a gangsta and took pictures (yes, you can view them on my Facebook). The boys thought this was hilarious-Ate Rachel, a gangsta!! So of course I had to get my camera & we took gangster/hip-hop pictures until dinner. It was a lot of fun, but it helped me learn about gang life in the Philippines and how it is affecting the Shelter boys. True Brown Style 13 (TBS) is a very prevalent gang, and the boys have a fascination with this gang in particular. They've taught me all the gang signs, handshakes, and passwords they know. Some of the boys are friends with TBS members and have been invited to join. They told me that they refuse to join, but they still get their friends to protect them if there's any ever fighting. I've been surprised at how much the boys face bullies at school. One boy has told me on three separate occasions that he was punched that day. And yesterday, he had scratch marks on his arm. They've asked prayer for safety as their traveling to school, b/c I think this is when other boys try to hurt them. Be praying for the boys' safety, especially Long's. On Thursday, a group of schoolboys surrounded him to fight (I don't know if any punch was thrown) & the brother of one of the boys had a gun on him. yesterday, as he was walking home, a gang of about 5 guys surrounded him & one of them pulled a knife on him. A street vendor saw what was happening & he scared them away with his butcher's knife. I don't know why Long is facing this, if he's doing something to bring it on or if he's just a target. It's surprising, b/c he's big for his age.
I made dinner for the boys and their caretakers, which was kind of an adventure. Even shopping for the ingredients was an adventure, because the supermarket is organized differently than in America. Gener and Long helped me cook, which was good b/c cooking in the Philippines is slightly different! Gener washed off the noodles, even though they were packaged and imported from America. Then, he got a tub of water and put the ground chicken in it. I was so confused! He said that they have to wash off their meat b/c of the bacteria, so he soaked it & then strained it. The only pasta the boys have ever eaten is spaghetti, so bowtie pasta was totally new to them. My stroganoff actually turned out to be more like soup, because the sour cream was in liquid form (I don't know if it's supposed to be that way) & there was still water in the ground meat. It tasted good though. I had 19 mouths to feed, so this was a new experience! Oh yeah, they ate rice w/ their stroganoff! We eat rice w/ every thing! The boys mixed the rice & stroganoff together & they wondered why I didn't. I told them that in America, if we eat pasta, we don't eat rice also. This is totally foreign to them. We had plenty of food & there was even leftovers for breakfast this morning. We were going to eat my peanut butter pie, but Ate Weng said it was too hard to cut. I tried to explain that it wasn't suppose to be frozen-it's suppose to be soft. I finally gave up arguing, so we're ate the pie the next day.
On Saturday, I was spontaneously invited to go to a bible study in the Payatas, a community built in and around a dumb site. I didn't know what to expect, but the part I saw was not nearly as bad as I imagined. We had to ride in a moped sidecar to the church. Before the bible study started, we got a marienda at a small store and hung out. I drew so much attention walking to the store! There were construction workers working on the road, and my friend Pat said, "They think you are Miss Universe." That's a stretch!! While we were eating, I drew a crowd of about 10 kids. They just stood right next to me and stared. They asked me my name and giggled when I told them. RJ led the bible study for about 20 teenagers (mostly girls). For our activity, the group split into two, listened to a song, choreographed dance moves, and then had a dance off. I love how the Philippines uses dance for worship. And I love how they love hip-hop. We stayed at the church until about 7, but had to head back to SBCC. We walked a ways to the moped stop. When we got off, we had to walk through this ridiculously crowded and chaotic market to get to the highway. I was so glad that I was with 7 guys (plus Pat). I held onto my purse like it was my baby! To catch a bus in the Philippines is slightly different than in the US. You have to walk out in the busy highway, which car rushing past you, hail a bus, and run onto it, hoping the driver won't accelerate before you're totally on. Phew, it was crazy!
Sunday was such a memorable day. We had a youth worship service called Shine Down for Jesus. It was quite a big deal, because two other churches, plus the youth from the Payatas, joined us. It was so packed at church-I think we had about 100 visitors! There was laser lights, spot lights, and a smoke machine. The three bigger churches took turns leading worship. We had small messages from the pastors of each church. One of the churches danced for their worship. They had one hip-hop routine with costumes and a story line & the rest of the worship songs, they danced choreographed routines in the aisle. All three churches were going to leave after the marienda, but there was a flash flood and everyone was stranded. I was eating dinner with the boys when we heard music and cheering from inside the worship tent. So we went inside to see what it was about. About ten guys from the other churches were doing Michael Jackson dances. Pastor John's 10 year old got up there too, and I'd say he was the best. Then the guys had a breakdance dance-off and the little boy jumped in there too. It's not every day you can see serious breakdance moves inside a church sanctuary! The dancers then started pretending to put on a fashion show. They were doing other sorts of improv acting routines, including one about their lives before they were Christians. It was actually powerful. For the skit, this one dancer acted like he was smoking, shooting up, sniffing, gambling, drinking, and begging, until another guy showed him the Bible. Then he was saved, but his friends tried to tempt him. I think you can imagine the story. After they finished their skit, they each told their testimonies about how God brought transformation to their lives. One of my friends from SBCC also told his testimony about how he was involved in the gang life once. I was so thankful to God that some of the Shelter boys were present to see the dances and hear the testimonies. I think God kept everyone stranded at the church for this purpose. I met sooooo many people on Sunday! My voice is still a little strained from talking so much. I met all of the guys who had been breakdancing, and they asked me questions about America, my internship, and my life in general. I particularly talked to two guys who prayed over me before I went to bed. I was so exhausted, so I finally headed to bed at 1:30. Everyone else was still stranded at that time. I think most left at 3 am, though some people spent the night at the church. What a day!
The next morning, Gener and Long took me to the market for the first time. It was pretty crowded, and I drew a ton of attention. Gener kept asking me if I was nervous but I really wasn’t. He said that he was nervous for me, because there are many “BI” in the market. (BI=bad influence, meaning people with bad intentions.) Gener and Long were laughing at all the attention I got. Gener told me some of the things people were saying: beautiful, young-looking, and so on. One person said I look like I’m 14 years old! At one point, Gener was buying something and the lady beside me was touching my hair, asking me if my hair and eyes were real!
One day, I was carrying a heavy bag of groceries and my guy friend made me give it to him to carry. I told him that it was no big deal (hey, I worked at a grocery store for two years!) and he said, "but you are a princess." I said, "Princess!! I live with 12 boys! How can I be a princess?" Seriously. I feel like I've gone back in time to my middle school/tomboy days. I'm playing . . . I haven't played in years! It's a lot of fun. I like being a kid again.
One last thought. I don't know how I'm going to leave the boys . . . I really, truly don't know. This week, one of the boys told me that I'm his "best American friend." Another boy was calling me sister and messing up my hair. This week, we've been boxing each other, playing Thumb of War, and making up handshakes. The boys have discovered how fun it is to poke me and hear me squeak. I've discovered how fun it is to poke them back and see their reaction.
