Bizarro World

During my 25 years of living in the Philippines and being a part of the ministry of CSC, I've had the chance to have a lot of different experiences and see and hear things that boggle the mind. Sometimes those things are the result of an American's westernized perception of a vastly different culture and that culture's values, other times it's unrelated to culture and something that's way too close to home, and occasionally it's an unfortunate collision of those two things. Being a participative observer of one of those unfortunate collisions can leave a person almost speechless and shaking one's head. I've been shaking my head way too frequently lately and today was another one of those days. But who doesn't have an occasional visit to Bizarro World?

But later in the day I spent some time at the shelter just cruising around to see what different kids were up to until I finally plopped myself down for a while. While making my "rounds" I got to see: one of our short term staff playing a spirited game of basketball with a group of kids, one of our teachers doing some prep work at school and explaining to me how one of her kids who used to hate doing puzzles now loves doing puzzles, one of our teen girls successfully playing a prank on kids and workers in the home, one of our younger boys repeatedly calling my attention that he likes lions, one of our Level A students reading part of a book to me that she thought she couldn't read, that same Level A student showing me a very touching picture her sister had drawn of their previously intact family, and a small group of precocious toddlers trying to convince me that I was, in fact, not myself but one of the other CSC staff. And upon my goodbyes to these wonderful kids as they sat down to eat with their houseparents, I received several invitations to stay for a while and share their meal with them.

I couldn't, but it was the final dose of the perfect antidote to Bizarro World.

(Not So) Extreme Makeover: Cherne Home Edition

If you have been following our newsletter, website, and staff blogs over the past month, you have probably been reading about the Eicher Home kids moving to our new Duterte Home and our Cherne Home kids moving to the Eicher Home. You are probably wondering why all of our kids are moving around willy nilly and how our newly built home got occupied by our existing kids. If you haven't had the chance to visit here (yet!), the logistics of it all probably wouldn't seem to make much sense. There is rhyme to the reason, however.First of all, our brand new Duterte Home is a much different facility that our 1992 editions Eicher Home and Cherne Home. It serves several new purposes, is quite a bit larger, and has a larger load of responsibility along with it.

Expanding our ministry by an additional home means hiring new houseparents to be the authority figures in that home for both the children who will find a home there and for all of the childcare workers employed by us there. It is a tremendous amount of new responsibility for any new houseparents (there really isn't any such thing as hiring experienced houseparents since it is such a specialized job) that requires at least a two year learning curve to begin to feel comfortable with the job. It would be very unfair to ask any new houseparents to take on the responsibility of a home that is much larger, specializes in the care of children with special needs, and has the additional functions of a storage facility and game room for the rest of the compound as well. We felt that one of our existing houseparent couples would be better suited to the higher level of responsibility of the new facility so that our new houseparent couple could start off in a bit lower-key facility.

But why all of the additional shuffling kids around? Well, we are taking the opportunity to do makeovers on our two original homes, the Eicher Home and Cherne Home. Having just completed and occupied the new Duterte Home leaves one of the older homes unoccupied for the next few months. It gives us the chance to do a comprehensive overhaul of both homes. That's why the Cherne Home kids and houseparents moved over to the Eicher Home for a couple of months. We have the opportunity to clear the house of everything and do some very dirty and messy work, work that we couldn't do with a house full of kids. We will do the same for the Eicher Home when the Cherne Home kids can move back to their own home, hopefully the weekend before Christmas.
In both homes we will be resurfacing floors, re-tiling bathrooms, painting all rooms, fixing grout, repairing any termite damage (a constant battle), upgrading the kids' closets and personal storage cubbies, replacing part of the kitchen counter and sinks with a new stainless steel unit, and adding more ceiling fans and lights. It's a lot of work, but we've gotten a good start already.
We're making the most of a good opportunity and look forward to having three fresh facilities to use for the care of our kids as we expand the number of kids we care for early in 2010!

Ron Would Be Pleased

Since we dedicated our new facilities a few months ago, my work at the shelter has taken me many times past the plaques of recognition we put up for that event. One plaque was in honor of Ron Duterte, our close friend and the president of our foundation for more than 25 years. When I pass this plaque in his honor and in memoriam, I often think about him and what he meant to CSC's ministry and our staff.
I think to most people in Cebu, Ron was known as an attorney, or mayor of Cebu City, or president of the University of Southern Philippines, the positions he most prominently held. I think to most people in Cebu, Ron was known as someone that people could ask something from, or even expect something from, the unavoidable expectation of being a politician and person of power in the Philippines. I have to imagine in some ways that must have been a lonely side of his life - never being able to meet the expectations of everyone that would come to his door, and then to have people stop coming when he was no longer in a position to provide.

It was not that way at CSC for Ron. Sure, Ron did countless things to help CSC get off the ground in its fledgling years. He continued to do things for CSC and our kids until the day he passed away four years ago. Helping our ministry was a top priority for Ron and we wouldn't be were we are today without his help. He was always happy to give and didn't have to be asked to meet one of our needs. God certainly used Ron mightily for His kingdom.

But CSC was a place where Ron could relax and catch his breath away from the pressures of court appearances, leading the second largest city in the Philippines, or running a major university. Ron was our friend, our mentor, our golf buddy, a facilitator and host for a lot of our recreation, and a fierce competitor at table games. He was our kids' defender and also their Santa Claus. He was just as comfortable with a child on his lap as he was helping to provide legal counsel for one.

No single person has ever done more to help CSC be the champion it is for homeless and neglected children in the Philippines. He brought CSC from its infancy to the mature and respected ministry it is today. For that reason we honored him by naming the Duterte Home after him - a home that provides love for the least of God's little ones in Cebu. The plaque that honors his name and his memory hangs on the wall outside Joemar and Jacob's room, two of God's children with special needs that Ron knew for 20 years.

Ron would be pleased.