I finished up by telling her "I'm not sure why Marlyn took us by those places; I know there are other ways out of the airport. When we've gotten to know her a little better, I'll ask her – but I'm not really expecting any kind of real answer, either."

Kelly listened to all of this, and when I was done, I saw her give a small shudder as she thought about what she'd seen.

The only consolation I could offer her was to say "I know, Kelly. I don't like it, either. But by being here, we are helping; and if things work out, we'll have helped even more."

"How?" she asked.

"While we're here, we're spending money – good old U.S. dollars – that they didn't have in their economy before. The money we're spending is going into the pockets of the people here, more than the politicians.

Marlyn has as much as a couple months of work while we're here – and the money she earns will be spent on things that make jobs for other Filipinos. We've got a driver and bodyguard; he only has to work because he wants to – but the money we pay him will be spent to increase his life style a little. For all we know, he'll throw away enough aluminum and other stuff to feed a couple of those families on the garbage mountains for several days. When we leave Manila, more of the money we spend will stay in the local economies – which means that they'll have that much more for things like schools and such; maybe some child will have a textbook that they wouldn't have if we hadn't come here. If my client builds a facility here, they'll be hiring Filipinos – creating jobs that wouldn't have existed otherwise.