"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.