Related articles and links |  1 of 2

When Robin Haines Merrill visits the deserted streets of Ermita, the former site of Manila's notorious red-light district, she lingers over the shuttered bars, the closed storefronts where pimps and prostitutes used to stand, and the tiny park where once, not long ago, children could be rented for sex. The streets are virtually empty, the clients and the trade slowed to a bare minimum. For Merrill, the place holds many memories. Since her first glimpse of the Philippines in 1983, on a summer missions program, Merrill was drawn to Manila. "I could see that people had a great love of art, but there were also pressing spiritual and social problems," she says. After graduating from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, she determined to serve God in Manila as an artist. But a providential delay slowed her return.While on assignment as a photographer in Mexico City, Robin inexplicably developed an immune-deficiency illness. During a lengthy recuperation, she managed to pick up some Tagalog, the Philippines' official language, at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. Her zeal for missions in the Philippines was fueled by Fuller professor Tom Brewster, New Zealander Viv Grigg of Servants, and the Tottens of the Fellowship of Artists in Cultural Evangelism (FACE). Finally able to return to the Philippines, Robin—single at the time—stepped into the chaotic post-Marcos era. Robin recalls dodging bullets on the street. "I ran for my life," she says. "At one point I was hiding in a building behind some soldiers—and I didn't know which side the soldiers were on." Robin hid her camera, knowing that foreign journalists were prime targets. Later she put it to good use: the Ermita district became her subject."I drew upon my media training to document outreach work," Robin says about her work with Action International Ministries. "I found myself drawn deeper into the lives of some of these girls. I'd go into the beauty parlors to practice my Tagalog and build relationships." Posing as a photojournalist doing a sympathetic documentary on Ermita prostitutes, Robin struck up conversations with streetwalkers, gradually gaining their confidence. She quickly saw that the profession of these women was far from lucrative by Western standards, and much of what they earned went into the pockets of their pimps in ex change for board and lodging.Some of the women were Christians but trapped in their jobs. "I felt there were practical ways we could help these women leave their old lives behind," Robin says. Her initial conviction blossomed into the Christian Cultural Development Foundation (CCDF) and the Evangelical Coalition of Ministries among Prostitutes. "The Rosemary Fund," another CCDF-sponsored outreach, helps former prostitutes get education, train for a vocation, and discover ministry opportunities.One of Robin's earliest street contacts, Edith, is completing a biblical counseling course at the local seminary; she has already opened a halfway house for single mothers and their children. Robin, who met Edith over a decade ago on the streets of Ermita, supplies Edith's ministry with sewing machines, baby clothes, and assorted materials.Ermita's landscape changed radically in the early 1990s when a reform-minded mayor padlocked the bars and nightclubs. Joined by Youth With a Mission workers, Robin had prayed about the area. "We would have prayer walks, or 'Jericho Walks,' asking God to bring his light into that darkness and to tear down the strongholds," she says. "Through Mayor Lim's efforts, the very areas we prayed over were shut down; they remain closed to this day." Robin believes that Lim was not aware of Christian efforts in the city.

next page... |  1 of 2

September 4 2000, Vol. 44, No. 10