Staff Blog

Dear Wilmar,

Today, you will be marching as a graduate of Cebu Children of Hope School. Congratulations! What an accomplishment! I also congratulate all your teachers, past and present, for all of this would not be possible without their unconditional teaching hearts.

I also want to congratulate your house parents, Auntie Lourdes and Uncle Patrick, and the rest of the aunties at the shelter who have been a great help in your growth. A special thanks to Auntie Teoping for her amazing love; I know she will always have a special place in your heart. A game of basketball and badminton would not be the same without her.

Let me take you back nine years ago when we first met. You were such a cute peanut. You were very eager to learn, be at school and at therapy. It was never a pain working with you because you made it fun and interesting for me. Remember our games of basketball in the therapy room using the back of the ceiling fan as a basketball hoop? (Of course we used a beach ball and a not a regular ball because we didn’t want to get in trouble!)  And dips in the Jacuzzi in the therapy room—why we never turned the air conditioner off is still a mystery to me! You always kept me on my toes. I was “Tin-Tin” to you then, years later I was “Checher Jinks” and then finally became “Teacher Jinkee;” one of the many examples of the progress you have made.

You have always been a performer. Not a day passes by when we do not hear you sing. I am still in awe of how easily you pick up a song after hearing it only once. You have always shared your silly antics at parties and programs at school and the shelter. I will never forget your dance moves. And you never fail to make us laugh.

You have made good friends over the years. Friends who are also classmates, helpers and buddies. Although they sometimes complain about the “noise” you make, there is always a hand holding and guiding you in school activities and programs. That to me is an amazing bond of friendship.

As you march today, let every step you take up to the stage be a representation of your progress and growth, your teachers and therapists, your aunties and uncles, and the staff and friends who have supported you all these years.

I might not be able to hold back my tears—which by the way is very hard to do while writing this—but know that I am very proud of you. I, together with the rest of the people at CSC, will be here to support you in the next stage of your life.

Remember what our friend Dory said? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim, swim.

Your Friend,

Teacher Jinkee

A little toddler boy goes walking down the hallway during the school day pushing a cart.  It looks cute and some people pause to watch.  If you didn't know the back story, you wouldn't really think twice about it except that he seems a bit young to be at school.  Maybe you'd wonder why he is pushing the cart or why he is wearing ankle weights.  Otherwise, it wouldn't seem all that significant. 

Back up a couple of years.  This little guy had some significant troubles when learning how to walk, so the therapists started physical therapy to help strengthen his legs. The therapists kept working with the little guy and he started to make small gains.  Then, when he had enough strength and coordination to stand and walk with assistance, they had the idea of making a suspension harness.  What a cool contraption!  And the little guy got really good at walking and even running in that thing. 

Now the next step to becoming stronger and more coordinated while walking needed a new kind of aid, something like a walker that old people use sometimes.  So a cart was made just the right size and weight to be able to move around, but still provide some support.  To make the exercise even more beneficial, ankle weights were added to the mix. 

So that's the cute, excited toddler with the blue cart and weights on his legs walking around school each day.  It's taken a lot of hard work and ingenuity, but it's been worth it.  Look at him go!    

I just finished a meeting with our social workers and I was reminded of the work that they do to locate birth documents for our children and, sometimes, their parents. It can be incredibly complicated work, often involving hospitals or community midwives, parishes, local government officials, civil registrars and census offices and other government offices. Often, if our child has no birth document we have to file a delayed registration of birth. This work takes a lot of know-how on the part of our social workers, and a lot of persistance and dedication. Many of our kids do not have any birth record when they  come to live at CSC.  Without a birth document we cannot process adoption papers. And, if a child returns to his or her birth family, or stays with us in our teen home, they will have difficulty in registering for school or finding employment. Its tough to navigate through life if you can't prove you exist!

At exactly 10:15 the kids are suddenly all excited.  Why?  It’s time for math, their favorite subject.  The kids are eager to start a new lesson on time.  We start the discussion and I ask them questions to spark interest. “What is time?”  “Why do you think time is important to us?”  “Why do we need to use our time wisely?” 

The kids come up with thoughtful answers.  One student replies, “We only have one chance to live, Teacher. All things are just passing by.  That’s why we need to use our time wisely.”  I am really happy to hear this type of answer.  It shows they are thinking that things are important and have different purposes.

Everyone actively participates in the discussion. They are excited to use small clocks as a manipulative tool while they answer some time questions as a group.   They are now ready to try the short informal assessment on their own. 

“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.”  These words are running through my mind right after the activity.  It’s sort of related to our topic about time.  My time with the students is never wasted.  It is a blessing given by God.  I will forever treasure this journey as one of the significant events in my first year of teaching.

CSC kids have overcome huge odds to get where they are today. Never count them out. Our children include a girl who suffered burns over much of her body, including her hands, but who is amazing everyone with her dexterity, her dogged determination and her zest for life. We have a boy who had multiple major surgeries including brain surgery, before he was a year old. Today he is running around the house, impressing everyone with his ability to communicate and to run around the playground with the kids his age. We have a girl who came to us as a malnourished baby who was way behind developmentally, and who the doctors told us would probably never walk. She is walking. Very well, thank you. We have a boy who was badly abused and didn't have the self confidence to speak, much less be able to learn or join in activities at school. Now he is participating in school plays, is learning to communicate with adults and his peers, and was recently able to join the other big kids at camp.

No, never count any of our kids out. In fact, we should never give up on anybody. With a loving, healing God, and people like our therapists, nurses, houseparents, teachers and staff, there is always hope.CSC is all about hope.