Classes began at Cebu Children of Hope School yesterday, our school's 13th year. Each day of opening classes is a very exciting time for the children. While all of them enjoy summer vacation and all of the activities that brings, most of them are very excited for classes to begin again when summer is done. Why? Our kids love school. Why? Because our school takes education very seriously and our teachers make learning fun. We have terrific teachers and a knowledgeable and creative support staff. There are a lot of fun activities throughout the school year for the kids that enhance the whole learning experience. The fun activities are not done at the expense of learning, but to make learning more interesting and complete.
The kids in our school come with so many challenges as many have never been to school before, some are far behind their age group, while others face a diminished capacity due to the ravages of malnutrition and sickness. Our teachers must do so much specialization for each and every student. But it really gives our ministry, school, and teachers the opportunity to focus on the individual needs of each child. None seem to get lost in the shuffle. And with such an intense focus on each child, the kids realize their education is important and tend to enjoy it more.
The bottom line is our kids like to be in school. It makes our teachers' jobs a lot easier and our kids benefit from that. It's a win-win situation!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Not Just a Job
This evening I had to run back to the shelter for a couple of things before heading home and I had the chance to sit down with one of our housefathers for a while. He seemed a bit down and shared some frustrating things that had been happening with the kids in his home. It was nothing too out of the ordinary for kids, but it was wearing on him nonetheless. He shared how he had spent time with the children in prayer that evening and how each of the children really like him to pray individually for each of them every evening. And despite being a bit burdened, he was encouraged by the prayers of one of the girls in the home - prayers that were mature beyond her age. She had prayed that God would really help her and the other kids apply the things in their lives that they had learned in their Bible lessons. It was so encouraging to me to know how seriously this housefather was taking the spiritual health of the children in his care.
Then he went on to share even more about how he prays for the children he and his wife have been entrusted with, even to the point of praying for the children that have YET to come to their home - children that SOMEDAY God will bring to CSC for them to minister to. SOMEWHERE there are children in Cebu - in an abusive home, in a crowded maternity ward, on a dirty sidewalk beside a busy street - whose lives are already being affected by the prayers of one of our houseparents. I sat down to encourage, and left incredibly encouraged myself. It had been an incredibly long day by that time, but a day never gets too long for that. I left thinking how fortunate the children would be that would come into these houseparents' care.
Then he went on to share even more about how he prays for the children he and his wife have been entrusted with, even to the point of praying for the children that have YET to come to their home - children that SOMEDAY God will bring to CSC for them to minister to. SOMEWHERE there are children in Cebu - in an abusive home, in a crowded maternity ward, on a dirty sidewalk beside a busy street - whose lives are already being affected by the prayers of one of our houseparents. I sat down to encourage, and left incredibly encouraged myself. It had been an incredibly long day by that time, but a day never gets too long for that. I left thinking how fortunate the children would be that would come into these houseparents' care.
Friday, June 11, 2010
"Kung Walang Karup, Walang Mahirap"
The title phrase is a Tagalog slogan used by Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, proclaimed winner of the May 2010 presidential election in the Philippines. It means, "if there is no corruption, there will be no poverty." It's a catchy phrase, especially in a country where there is so much of both elements. It's also incredibly simplistic. But it's also fair to say that if there were little or no corruption, there would almost certainly be far less poverty.
Poverty slams us in the face every day here in Cebu, especially as we on the staff of CSC strive to make critical decisions about children's lives and the direction of the ministry. Nearly every day we are faced with decisions about admitting children to the shelter, how we are going to care and provide for them in light of their sad and usually tragic backgrounds, and often about how we will fund certain needs. It's pretty easy to feel overwhelmed at times with the enormity of it all.
It never goes away, so it's helpful to be able to constrict our view a bit to focus on the needs we can help - our 75 kids. We don't want to delude ourselves that the ocean of depravity and poverty around us has disappeared, but it's helpful to know we have an island to stand on and do our work with the children God has brought to our care. We can swim if we need to, want to, or God directs us to, but we always have our island.
What is our island? It's made up of our wonderful facilities of the shelter, school, and teen home. It's our staff with a combined 167 years of experience. It's our few thousand loyal supporters who give generously and pray regularly. It's our families who have made the sacrifice to let us go and do this work. And it's our God who sustains us and gives us the wisdom we need to plow through it each day.
Noynoy Aquino faces an insurmountable task. From our island, it's hard to imagine the corruption and poverty in the Philippines even being lessened. We face challenges at CSC, however difficult they may be. But we get to see victories and God's blessings around us daily.
Poverty slams us in the face every day here in Cebu, especially as we on the staff of CSC strive to make critical decisions about children's lives and the direction of the ministry. Nearly every day we are faced with decisions about admitting children to the shelter, how we are going to care and provide for them in light of their sad and usually tragic backgrounds, and often about how we will fund certain needs. It's pretty easy to feel overwhelmed at times with the enormity of it all.
It never goes away, so it's helpful to be able to constrict our view a bit to focus on the needs we can help - our 75 kids. We don't want to delude ourselves that the ocean of depravity and poverty around us has disappeared, but it's helpful to know we have an island to stand on and do our work with the children God has brought to our care. We can swim if we need to, want to, or God directs us to, but we always have our island.
What is our island? It's made up of our wonderful facilities of the shelter, school, and teen home. It's our staff with a combined 167 years of experience. It's our few thousand loyal supporters who give generously and pray regularly. It's our families who have made the sacrifice to let us go and do this work. And it's our God who sustains us and gives us the wisdom we need to plow through it each day.
Noynoy Aquino faces an insurmountable task. From our island, it's hard to imagine the corruption and poverty in the Philippines even being lessened. We face challenges at CSC, however difficult they may be. But we get to see victories and God's blessings around us daily.
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