After our visit to Paranaque National High School, we took a trip to the Kaybuboy Bridge. We had been told in advance by locals that this place was going to be hard to take in. They weren’t wrong.

This is not just a bridge - this is home to hundreds of Filipinos. They live in the underpass below the busy duel carriageway. The conditions are beyond belief - Travis summed it up perfectly after venturing inside saying “I thought I grew up poor, but now I realize I didn’t know poor until today.”

We made our way down a muddy, heavily littered slope - a slope that led us to the 4 foot tall entrance of the bridge. We had to squat to even get inside. Once inside it was pitch black - only our senses could guide us… mud squelched under foot and the thick sweaty air filled our lungs.

The first thing I saw was a tiny baby hanging in a net suspended from a metal strut. This was this baby’s home. No regular milk or food supply, no electricity, no clean running water. I couldn’t help but think that this baby was going to grow up here - in these squalid conditions. I thought about all the babies born back home and their luxurious surroundings. It seems so unfair.

Entire families live inside this bridge. As we trekked deeper into the darkness we saw, by candlelight, the homes these families had created for themselves. Every nook of the dank concrete space was occupied.

We were only inside for a few minutes, but they’re a few minutes I will never be able to forget….

Travis on top of the bridge…

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