Tess Lyons has been a dedicated volunteer with ICM for the past three years. Tess and her husband, Charles Caldwell, are currently sponsoring their 4th ICM preschool. They have taken their four children down to the Philippines several times to visit their students and to participate in the ongoing slum reconstruction building project cosponsored by ICM and Gawad Kalinga (GK). It was through hearing about Tess’ experiences that her parents, Blake and Maureen Lyons, and their friends, Karen & Grant Pryznyk, decided they wanted to come see what it was all about. Karen and Grant are Habitat for Humanity team leaders and were very interested in the GK building project, so in March the Lyons, Pryznyks, Caldwells and Dillons made the trip to Bacolod to see the work first hand. Karen shares her experience after the trip below and leaves us all with a thoughtful challenge:
“Do you have a bed? A door to your house? A bathroom? Are you protected from rain and wind? Then you are wealthy beyond the daily experience of most of the people we met in ICM’s slum rehabilitation projects in Bacolod, Philippines. Do your kids go to school? Do they eat every day? When they get sick can you get them the medical help they need? Many parents in Bacolod watch their kids suffer and fail to grow and develop because they cannot provide the basic necessities of life. These people are our brothers and sisters in the human family. And now, to me, they have names and faces. If you don’t want to know how “the other half” lives don’t go. Because if you do you will have some tough decisions to make about how you are going to live the rest of your life back in the safety and comfort of home.”
– Written by Karen Pryznyk, ICM Trip Participant
If you would like to take Karen up on her challenge to meet those in need and see ICM’s work first hand, please email peter.fry@caremin.com and find out more about our regular trips to the Philippines.
Karen Pryznyk (right) with Hannah, age 14 (centre). Hannah wants to be a teacher someday. She lives with 10 other members of her extended family in a slum dwelling about 10 by 20 feet.
