Poverty, Drugs, and Rehabilitation…
Meeting with my cousins while back in Manila, I was able to see how life is back home. It is very different than the way it used to be 20 some odd years ago. It was not only a surprise, it was heart-breaking.
The streets are lined with houses with tin roofs, cardboard walls, and many impoverished children. It was probably not their choice, but the choices that our government has made. The streets are filthy and the smog was visible, it was so thick.
I am mad. No, I am furious! How can this be? Way back in the 70′s as I remember, life in the Philippines was still good. Although, some traces of poverty have started to creep up – I don’t remember it being as bad as it is today. And what comes with poverty? Let me tell you – a lot!
I heard that one of my cousins got into drugs heavily. He has two children and separated from his wife. He was stealing to feed his habit. He didn’t even care whether he was stealing from his brothers or even his parents.
But, I believe God has His ways and still – fortunately, his petition to come to the United States was approved last year and he and his two children are now in San Diego, CA. How then can he kick the habit? After long conversations with his brothers and sisters here in the U.S., they agreed to have him and his children live with them as long as he is open to drug treatment.
My cousin agreed and is now trying to the grips of drug addiction. He is one lucky person who has a family that cares and a family who was able to take him out of that environment and obtain drug treatment. How about the ones that cannot? The people left behind with no one to care for?Â
This is why I am furious. Our government has done nothing to improve the lives of the people of the Philippines. The government officials think nothing of the people but their own pockets.
When will this end? Will it ever end? I don’t know. I don’t even know what I can do to create a clean government. Is anyone even trying? I hope so.
This is a sponsored post.
