Soupy Rice

Asians depend on rice like westerners depend on wheat. Westerners use wheat to make everything from breads to pastas, from breakfast foods to deserts. Asians consume rice at every meal, even breakfast. Like wheat, there are dozens of ways to prepare it, from rice breads to rice puddings, from fried rice to rice cakes. Rice comes in a wide range of quality, from brown rice to super-white, ultra-polished rice. There’s mountain rice and lowland rice, long-growing and short-growing varieties.

Yesterday, my team members shared their church planting stories from the past two weeks. Danny’s servant/leaders have been active in sharing their faith. Atong is eager to gather other church leaders and share to them our CPM strategy. Eliu traveled 2 hours to a remote mountain village to begin sharing the gospel to a people eager to hear. One of Lito’s servant/leaders has begun her own house group. Lily and Cande continue to see God at work in the lives of those to whom they are ministering.

But what caught my attention the most was the mentioning of lots of people eating soupy rice – low-grade dark rice that has been pressed and boiled into soup. No added ingredients, no flavoring, no spices, because they have none. A handful of rice is made into soup in order for everyone to have a little something to eat. It’s an indicator that folks are starving, because there’s nothing else to eat.

The Philippines is in the midst of a drought. We’ve had no rain since before Christmas. Most farmers depend on early-year rains to make a third cropping of rice. This year the fields are barren. What money was earned from last year’s second cropping has since been spent. No rain, no crop, no jobs, no food. City folks have enough economic diversity to survive a drought; but not the rural farmers and their families.

About an hour outside Iloilo City, in the town of Anilao, a dozen families live along a dried up river in decaying nepa huts. During one of my visits there, the fathers were away, searching for work. The mother’s were picking malungay leaves from a tree and adding it to their soupy rice. The little children, barefooted, stomach’s slightly extended, wore no clothes. They relieved themselves on the side of the dirt path. The bags of rice we gave in Jesus’ Name were greatly appreciated.

It’s heartbreaking to know that desperate scenes like this are being played out all over the world. But for our little part of it, would you pray for rain? Pray for my team members as they minister to needy families. Pray for their Blessings.ph ministry that seeks to provide rice and other necessities to those who need it most. Rainy season doesn’t start for another two months. Pray that this year it might come early.