wfn.org | PCUSA Women Undertake a Caring Journey

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26-November-1996 
 
 
 
96474         PCUSA Women Undertake a Caring Journey 
 
                         by Anna Bedford 
                   Associate Editor, "HORIZONS" 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Presbyterian Church (USA) partner churches in Southeast 
Asia are alive and vital and performing heroic ministries of justice and 
compassion in the face of unimaginable difficulties. 
 
     This was the message brought back by 24 PCUSA women who undertook "A 
Caring Journey...Presbyterian Women Listen to God's Children" from Sept. 
30-Oct.25. Hosted by the women's organizations of partner churches, they 
visited programs aiding children, the homeless and prostituted women in 
Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines, and also comparable programs in 
San Francisco. 
 
     The trip was the triennial Global Exchange sponsored by Presbyterian 
Women.  Guests will become hosts June 24--July 13, 1997, when 24 women from 
Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines will visit six PCUSA synods and the 
Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women (July 9-13) in Louisville. 
 
     In the countries visited, PCUSA Exchange participants pledged to 
"listen to the life and faith stories of our brothers and sisters; to learn 
about the status of children at risk, especially in health, education, 
prostitution and family systems; and to explore US responsibility in the 
economic, social and political realities that affect the lives of 
children."  
 
     After an orientation in Burlingame, Calif., the group flew to Bangkok, 
Thailand, where they were met by members of the Church of Christ in 
Thailand (CCT) Women's Department.  Six Global Exchange members departed 
immediately for Cambodia, as guests of Church World Service and the 
Evangelical Churches of Cambodia.  
 
     They visited Siem Reap; refugee resettlements at Kampong Them -- the 
site of recent catastrophic flooding; Kein Svay irrigation projects; 
landmine removal centers; a domestic violence program; a women's media 
center; Wat Than Skill-Training Center; and Phnom Penh, where they saw the 
legacy of the murderous Pol Pot regime. Most sobering was the Toul Sheng 
Genocide Museum with its instruments of torture and poignant photographs of 
the men, women and children massacred.  
 
     One city scene, in particular, captured the attention of Jane Lester. 
She said, "From the glitter and pomp of the Royal Palace, we went to a 
drab, rutted and muddy street of brothels. It was about two miles long and 
lined on both sides with houses of prostitution. On each front porch was 
displayed an array of three to six young women -- mostly teenagers, highly 
but beautifully made up and wearing clean, attractive party attire.  We 
must have passed at least 40 such bungalows.  Long before we reached the 
end of the street, I wanted to shout, 'Enough!'  It was a powerful 
testimony to the focus of our Global Journey." 
 
     The 18 Exchange members remaining in Thailand took an overnight train 
to Chiang Mai, where their hosts took them to see the Aids Ministry project 
that received $25,000 from the 1996 PW Thank Offering. 
 
     They also visited a dedicated nongovernmental organization at Chiang 
Rai that, despite lack of funding and community disapproval, heroically 
continues to assist hill tribe youth with AIDS. Santisook Church was 
another inspiration: with only 40 members (including children), it sponsors 
AIDS ministry, drug rehabilitation, a hostel for hill tribe girls who wish 
to attend school in town, and a ministry to women prostitutes. 
 
     A brief side-trip to Myanmar (Burma) facilitated by the Thai tourist 
police allowed the group to pray and sing with leaders of First Baptist 
Church inTauliluh. There, as throughout the trip, the Global Exchange women 
presented "A Caring Journey" banners made by women from every PCUSA synod.  
 
 
     Another stop was at Pasak Kwang (Christian) Village, where Thai Samuk 
Church is a partner with Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio. 
 
     The 18 also visited Pattaya, a coastal resort frequented for many 
years by US sailors and soldiers in search of R & R. They were impressed by 
the work of Youth House, a program of the CCT Social Development and 
Service Department.  Street children, many of whom are refugees from Laos, 
Cambodia and Vietnam, are particularly vulnerable to control by syndicates 
that serve the pedophile market. 
 
     Reassembling as a whole group in Bangkok, the women explored the 
notorious red-light district, Patpong, at night, and learned that most of 
the prostituted women were hill tribe girls who did not speak Thai and 
could not read and write.  Many were supporting families driven off 
traditionally held lands by economic development programs.  
 
     Helen Locklear commented, "As instructed, I looked deeply into the 
eyes of the go-go dancers. Each had a number pinned to her skimpy swimsuit 
so customers could pick and choose easily.  What were they thinking? I 
wondered."   
 
     Visiting the congested Klong Toey slum area the next day, members of 
the Global Exchange were heartened by the dedication of CCT staff who 
provide programs for preschool, youth, and the elderly. 
 
     On October 12, a three-hour flight to Manila, Philippines, led to a 
warm "Mabuhay!" (Welcome!) by leaders of the National Women's Christian 
Association of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). A 
gala reception, complete with roast suckling pig, refreshed the 
travel-weary group. 
 
     The next day was full of new sights and sounds.  First a visit to 
Hesed, an orphanage in Cavite, Silang.  Then, after singing and delicious 
food at Tagaytay Evangelical Church and a short stop at Union Theological 
Seminary, Dasmarinas, the group headed by bus through seemingly endless 
stalled traffic to Abiertas, a home for unwed mothers in Metro Manila.  
 
     Finally, on to Kundiman (meaning Love song) Church, where more 
delicious food was enjoyed while listening to church school children sing 
and play on traditional Indonesian bamboo instruments.  
 
     The following day, the group toured UCCP headquarters, met with women 
prostitutes in a UCCP-sponsored ministry, visited Holy Redeemer Church, 
Project 6 for an overview of its holistic approach to ministry and ended 
the day by talking with street children at Kanlungan Sa Er-Ma House. 
Everyone purchased gaily decorated greeting cards on handmade paper made by 
the children to earn income.   
 
     The next day, the group's air-conditioned bus inched down the hot, 
dusty streets of Hilarmi, on the way to Garden of Life School. Supervised 
by a UCCP pastor, it serves 1,000 children whose families have been 
displaced from their homes by corporate developers, in accord with 
government land policy. 
 
     From there, Exchange members bused to Mount Pinatubo, which erupted in 
1994 after 400 peaceful years.  Mile after mile of devastation gave 
evidence of 21 villages buried and two million people displaced. The threat 
is undiminished, despite a $1.5 billion effort by the government to 
construct a protective megadyke. 
 
     A visit to Malacanang, the Presidential Palace, via the river escape 
route of President Ferdinand and Mrs. Imelda Marcos made history come 
alive.  So did the boatride on a Philippine Navy antismuggling vessel to 
the island of Corregidor, a strategic defense location in World War II. At 
Calamba, seeing the shrine of Dr. Jose Rizal, the founding father of 
Philippine independence, offered insight into the heritage and aspirations 
of this nation of 7,000 islands. 
 
     The Caring Journey did not end with the Global Exhange group's return 
to the U.S. on October 19. Visits to San Francisco Network Ministry 
demonstrated crises situations not unlike those of Southest Asia. The PCUSA 
women were heartened by the work of a new organization, Promise, a ministry 
to prostitutes in the Tenderloin district and the 50-year faithful witness 
of the Donaldina Cameron House in Chinatown. 
 
     In San Mateo, Hope House for formerly incarcerated women drug addicts 
and Haven House, a short-term facility for homeless families, gave cause 
for cautious optimism about the church's presence in catastrophic 
situations. 
 
     Gladys Smith put it this way: "It's the same in Bangkok, Manila, and 
San Francisco -- large business developments have caused the poor to 
suffer.  But in all three places, the same God is also working through 
caring Christians to relieve the suffering. 
 
     "I know more can be done in my own community too.  Sometimes you have 
to move out of your neighborhood and be willing to feel what others are 
feeling -- then you'll get busy and really do something to relieve those in 
pain.  As I return home, I'll be more aware of suffering, and I'll want to 
share this awareness with others." 

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