The story of a Korean high school student’s mission experience in the Philippines.
My name is Hildegard Min-Young Kang and I am a first year high school student at the In-Chun Pakmun High School in Korea. From July 20 until July 30, 2016, I had the opportunity to participate in a mission experience organized by the Columban Fathers for high school students to Manila, the captial of the Philippines.
I knew this experience would be different from everything I had experienced in my life and that it would make a big impact on me. Our accommodation in Manila was at the Columban headquarters.
Our mission experience began when we set out to visit one of Manila’s poorest areas, called Nabotas. Here there is a feeding programme for poor children and we were asked to help serve the food. The food offered was just one boiled egg placed in soup and poured over rice on a food tray.
The children ate their meal as if it were the best meal of their lives. Many children came back to the delivery table to ask for more food, even hurriedly snatching the trays from us.
One of my classmates made the comment, “I wish I could show this situation to the children who complain about food back in Korea!” This comment pricked my conscience and I realized that a Korean child who complains about food was not the problem but rather it was important for us to see that these children were happy to receive even this non-nutritional meal. In this very district, there were other people with no food at all. For these children this meal was their first and last meal of the day.
In the afternoon we visited the places where these children live. The people were living in uninhabitable conditions.
It was horrible! Many generations were forced to live together in overcrowded conditions. I felt sorry for their situation and I feel terrible that they have no other option. Despite this, the children smiled and were delighted to go swimming in very dirty water. They even tried to greet us with smiles. Inside I felt hurt and pain for the swimming but smiling children.
On another day we got up at 5:30am to be able to travel to a cemetery in the southern part of Manila, where many families live on top of the graves. It was painful to see the children whose lives are spent among the graves. Sharing breakfast together was an opportunity to get to know each other better. 
We then moved into a gymnasium near the cemetery and had a sport’s day. We were divided into two mixed groups of Filipinos and Koreans. We played volleyball, badminton, basketball and relay. The relay game made a big impression on me. We had to jump rope and throw shoes 10 times, hit a shuttlecock with our feet five times while doing hula hoops. I noticed how excited the Filipino children became, shouting loudly during the game. Back at my school in Korea this would be considered boring, but here as the children say they never play games, it was really exciting for them. Even though the children were having a great time, I felt very sad inside, remembering their situation.
After finishing the sport’s day, we all returned to the cemetery for the celebration of the Eucharist. During a moment of meditation, children from the cemetery played a recorder and all of us had tears in our eyes.
By the end of the Eucharist, I noticed I had developed a terrible headache. On the way back to the Columban headquarters I felt I would faint. I spent the rest of the day recovering. I think my headache was a combination of the steamy heat and the many new and emotional experiences I was having.
Fortunately I had recovered by the next day so I could visit the Missionaries of Charity Sisters’ home for handicapped children. We were asked to help the children wash their clothes. To be honest, I feel ashamed to say it, but I was afraid of taking care of these handicapped children. I did not want to hurt their feelings so I tried my best to hide my fear and discomfort. Even though we were there less than three hours, it was very difficult for me. What was more difficult, however, was to discover a different side of my personality that I was not aware of previously.
In retrospect, although the Philippine mission experience was difficult for me, it did teach me a lot about the lives of other people and also about my own personality. It showed me areas in my life I have to work on. I believe this experience has really helped me to mature in ways that I would not have experienced otherwise. I am much more aware of the tragedy of poverty.
I will never forget the gratefulness of the children whose meal consisted of just one boiled egg placed in soup and poured over rice. It was their first and last meal of the day. This image has stayed with me since then and I am still thinking about it.
Hildegard Min-Young Kang is a first year high school student at the In-Chun Pakmun High School in Korea.
Read more from The Far East, October 2016