Building ATD Fourth World Movement in Asia

In January, ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps member Susie Devins from the United States had the privilege of being part of a strong moment in building ATD Fourth World Movement in Asia. ATD Fourth World Philippines hosted a gathering for members and friends from different Asian countries who wanted to learn more about the work and meet Filipino members: people who live in poverty, local supporters, and ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps members working there full time. The visitors were Hoang from Vietnam, Paul and Liya from China, A-Yong, Liliana and Ming Hung from Taiwan.Ming Hung is a PhD student at Dong-Hwa University in Hualien. As part of his effort to help eradicate poverty, Ming Hung works with a rural area project with teenagers called Wu Wei Wu. He also is part of a small network of people who support a child in poverty who has lost her mother and is now living in an institution although she attends school with other children.

During his visit in the Philippines, Ming Hung was particularly interested in how people experiencing poverty become responsible for ATD Fourth World projects like the Street Library and the Ang'Galing literacy program.

But first he had to adjust to life in Manila, using a language foreign to him and to the Filipino members he met. He wrote about first impressions: “My body cannot rest completely because of the trucks and trains, noise always nearby, even in my dreams. Outside, I make an effort to protect myself from danger but the cars, tricycles (taxis) and jeepneys (buses) are always too close and threatening with their pollution and endless honking.During these days I live in a bilingual environment all day long. I cannot understand well and therefore cannot respond well to people. All this new information is too much! It weighs on my heart because my goal in this trip is to be with people.Please understand me, I am not complaining at all. Does this experience of weakness and unspeakable situations happen every day to people in poverty? Does the tiredness exist all day long in their bodies because they are exposed to bad living conditions all the time? I am not sure. Maybe in some sense they feel like a foreigner in this society. Do they just get used to it or have no choice but to get used to it?

I am still processing these four days of learning. These images and scenes are powerful to me even though I didn’t understand them very well. To see the beautiful faces and the shining existence of the friends living in poverty is so important. There was Tita who lives in the North Cemetery where ATD Fourth World runs a Street Library and the Ang’Galing literacy program. I see her as a thoughtful woman and a positive activist but not as a person in poverty. Then there was Lydia who lives with her family under a bridge where she sells bottled water for a living. The following day at a bigger gathering of members she was curious to learn more from me and kept asking questions in Tagalog through Cherry, another member, who interpreted for me. I am impressed by the effort she makes to make sense of what a foreigner is saying. Liliane accompanies children in North Cemetery to go to school, doing her best to take away obstacles preventing them from getting an education. Her smile is so shining and lovely. It seems the wisdom to help people in poverty just hides behind her white hair and her confident face.

I don’t want to idealize them or to forget their reality of always fighting to have the basic right of living in this society. And I won’t forget my responsibility either when I come back to Taiwan. I will continue to be there for the families who consult me on things that bother them in daily life; I will keep on working with my colleagues to care for the kids in the village where I work and to help the young girl who has lost her mother.

What I learned most is to prepare myself to “follow” the quick change of situation or intention of people in poverty, so as to adjust and find a way to be with them, not left behind by them. Actually the people in need will never leave us behind. On the contrary, but it’s possible that we cannot follow them very well because their life changes too fast and they are occupied with coping with all the dangers and threatening things happening to their families. To become a good follower in their life will be the first thing to know for both of us to lead a better life.”