YWAM Balut serves the poor in the Tondo area of Manila, Philippines. At the time I went, they provided physical and spiritual help to a community living around a huge garbage dump infamously known as "Smokey Mountain". The mountain was actually made up of garbage that had accumulated over many years, standing almost 100 feet high! The dump got its dubious name from the smoke created by garbage spontaneously combusting beneath the enormous pile. A community of ~20,000 people lived around "Smokey Mountain", scavenging off the refuse for their livelihood. The Philippine government has since razed the mountain and relocated the families to nearby subsidized housing. YWAM Balut continues their ministry to them and to the poor in areas beyond. Needless to say, I was touched and blessed by the sacrifice of their work and the people they cared for.
If you'd like to know more about YWAM Balut's ministry to the people of Smokey Mountain, click here. You'll find, among many things, a webpage on the Student Sponsorship Ministry. Here, you can actually sign up right away to sponsor a specific child or young adult in the Tondo area and provide them an education that they would otherwise not receive without help.
Below are pictures taken in 1994 of my visit to "Smokey Mountain", its residents, and the family of Christ who loved them. May you be motivated to love in His Name our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate....
Searching for anything they can use, sell, recycle...
YWAM Ireland leads worship on the mountain top
The mountain top smokes as a child gazes
Singing and praying on the mountain for the community below
While worship goes on, children of SM play