What is a Life Worth?

Tim, Joe and I took off after lunch on Wednesday to meet with Beth in the mountains. We met Beth at the area above her house at three, and drove for a couple of kilometers till we reached the trail head for Upian. We parked the truck at her brother’s place. We took the battery out of the truck so it would not be stolen, gave it to Beth’s sister in law and headed down the trail to Upion. The trail is a steep decent for five kilometers. Upian is in the valley below. It took us about an hour to make it to Upian. By the time we reached Upian I was drenched with sweat!

We went through the village and stopped at the other end of the village common area. Tim, Joe and I sat down on the grass to recover. Later we met the Pastor of the area, Cirilo (aka Tatai) Tapil and his wife Morita. He is a Seventh Day Adventist Pastor and started up Voice of the Jungle. They are working to get the Gospel to the mountain people. They have a horse ministry- they make their horses available to get the gospel and medicines to the people. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday he goes to the surrounding villages to teach and preach. On Sundays he goes to Beth and Murly’s to be with them. He and his wife have been married for 47 years.

We had dinner with them and then had family devotions with them and their two grandsons. We sang a couple of hymns in English with them. Each of them said a memorized Bible verse then Beth read some scripture in English. He then spoke for a few moments in Visayan, and asked me to pray. After prayer I got out our family photo and told him it was a blessing to do family devotions with him like we do as a family back home.

We slept upstairs in their two room house. The kitchen eating area is a lean to with a dirt floor. The house is a couple feet off the ground on stilts. It is a 12’ x12’ room, with an upstairs sleeping area. Joe, Tim and I slept on the floor while Beth, the Tapil’s and their two grandsons slept down stairs.

We got up at five in the am, ate a breakfast of spam, rice and something made of cassava wrapped in banana leaves. We started walking at 6. We hiked up to the next village Mundo Hill, waited for our guide, and then hiked up and around a mountain, across a ridge and then down to near the river bottom for about 15 km. This is the toughest hike I have ever hiked! Of course I am getting older and sit behind a desk most of the day now. They had to wait for us to catch our breath and slow down our heart rates to under180 many times! What does it mean when your heart feels like it is pounding in your head, you start to have tunnel vision and get quite dizzy? It means I need desperately to get into shape!

Along the hike we greeted an elderly gentleman with his family. After we exchanged greetings our guide told us the man was a great warrior. He used to be a head hunter and collected the heads of his enemies.

On our way we found out that the village had just buried two, a baby and an elderly man because of diarrhea. After four hours of hiking the jungle opened up and we were in the village of Newtawas. As we rested in the shade of the public pavilion, we heard a call sound out through out the valley that we had arrived. There were about ten homes in the village, the rest were scattered farther out. To spread the news one person shouted with a voice that carried over the jungle.

Tatai and Morita had come on horses and arrived before we did. She had a lunch ready for us. Even though it was only ten am, we ate before the people came because there would be no time later. Within fifteen minutes people started showing up. Most of the ladies had been down at the river doing laundry. Those who lived farther out showed up within an hour of our arrival.

Morita and Beth both taught about basic hygene as well as herbal remedies for diarrhea and how to make a re-hydrating drink. We started with the families, and took blood pressure, listened to lungs, and looked into ears. I learned how to take blood pressure, and listen to the lungs. We usually think this is to be left to the professionals, but when there are none. . .you learn quick. Blood pressure was not too hard to learn. After listening to lungs of several healthy kids, I wasn’t sure if I knew what I was doing until one of the kids lungs crackled as he breathed. Several of the kids had that kind of breathing. We then sent them to Beth to be rechecked. One boy you could hear breath on the top of his lungs but nothing on the lower lungs!

Joe looked in all the kid’s ears, and only found nine eardrums that were ok. The rest were inflamed, had holes, torn or almost non-existent. One child had bloody stools, but we had no medicine for it. We encouraged the mother to take her girl to the German hospital up the road in Buda. But here it became complicated. The mother had never been to the road in her life (Remember it took us five hours, with our supplies carried on a horse.) Think about it-never seeing a bus before, never seen a hospital. She had no money for the bus ride (60 Pesos or $1.50US) -very few of the people have any money- they just don’t use it. We told her to get to Upian and meet up with Tatai.

Tim, Joe and I pitched in to buy her trip into town and pay for food. We would pay for the bus ride for her, her baby, and another person to help her go into town. We left the money with Tatai. The German Hospital is a mission hospital and does not charge those from the mountains.

Beth prescribed medicines for the people, and gave extra to the datu(the tribe leader) with instructions how to use. This medicine is the medicine our family bought here in Davao, and hiked down to Beth and Murly’s at the beginning of our time here. Medicine that will stop diarrhea costs about 20 Pesos or about 50 US cents. What is a life worth? Fifty cents? Five dollars?

Much of this sickness and death can be prevented by safe drinking water. Tim so wants to get the water filters that he is starting to build out to the villages. Tatai has agreed to help get the filters out to the people, and teach the people to use them. A water filter cost about $20 US to build. What is a life worth? One water filter could save a household of 12 or more! Check out Tim’s blog at http://theadventuresoftimandbethany.blogspot.com

We had to leave at two so that we were back in Upian before dark. The next day we dragged ourselves out of bed and hiked the steep hill back to the road.

From what I understand, this village is one that is closer to the road than many others. Very few people go to these people, they are just too far away and too far to walk to. What is a life worth? A couple day hike? Sore muscles? Nights on the hard floor?

What did Jesus give up in order to redeem us back to Him? He is God and yet he became a man and hiked up hill and down to show people God’s love for us! He was ridiculed and spit on. He was beaten and crucified. He gave up his life so that we could be reconciled with Him. What is a life worth? Ask Jesus...

Why am I trying to keep my life comfortable?

Steven Veldstra