Staff Blog

Uncle Edwin and Uncle Ike were washing one of the vehicles and waiting for the next errand in need of a driver. Joemar was hanging out with them.

I asked Joemar, "Is Uncle Edwin a good driver?"

"Yes," he answered.

So I asked, "How about Uncle Ike, is he a good driver?"

Without thinking, Joemar answered, "No." And then a huge smile spread across his face as he started to laugh.

All four of us busted out laughing. Joemar had jumped on the chance to tease Uncle Ike, who is always joking with Joemar.

Uncle Ike, Joemar, and Uncle Edwin

I walked away, still chuckling. Joemar looks up to Uncle Edwin and Uncle Ike. They have driven him all over the city--to work at McDonald's, the doctor and dentist. They have helped him get on the right jeepney. They have been great role models for Joemar.

It is wonderful that Joemar can feel comfortable and at ease with the men he looks up to enough to joke around with. It is wonderful that they welcome him to joke with them. Love surrounds the children of the shelter.

The 2013-2014 school year came to a close at Children of Hope School, culminating with the graduation ceremony.  Four students graduated from preschool and are ready to move onto kindergarten and elementary school.  Three students graduated from sixth grade and now high school awaits them. 

Smiles were all around, teachers smiling because of all the hard work of the students, proud house parents smiling at the children, and students smiling because of a job well done.

Mitch Ohlendorf, CSC Executive Director, gave an inspiring speech to the graduates.  The sixth grade graduates performed a dance with four fifth grade students to the song, "Children of the Heavenly Father."  The preschool graduates were super cute as they performed to the song, "Come Young Citizens of the World." One fifth grade student even sang her own original composition, "Savior of All." 

The graduation was a great symbol of the great school year.   Now the students and teachers can take a break of a couple months before starting into the next school year.

A Saturday full of crafts, games, and new friends is always a great day.  Recently, a group of visitors from Taiwan came to the shelter and turned a normal Saturday into just that—a great day. 

There was face painting, crafts, coloring time, nail painting, reading time, jazz music, and Mandarin lessons.  The children rotated to different activities in the morning.  Then after a Jollibee lunch picnic style, it was a free-for-all in the afternoon.  Some children went back for more face painting or crafts. A touch rugby game started up, then a volleyball game.  Through it all lots of friendships were created.  The day culminated in a drum circle with the visitors and the children—everyone working together to make great music. 

A few nights later, the Taiwan group also invited the recent graduates of elementary and high school to join them for a dinner at a nice hotel.  It was another great time of fellowship.  It is amazing how children from different places and different backgrounds can find common ground in seemingly no time at all.  After dinner the children arranged an impromptu concert next the beach.  Children from each group joined together for songs, showing what they could do. 

CSC is blessed by visitors giving their time to the children at the shelter. 

I was rummaging through old files the other day and came across a file titled "CSC Kids' Work."  Inside I found a set of poems written by four CSC "kids" from the school year 2006-2007.  The four guys had each written a poem using the same format of a poem they had read in their reading material.  The title of their poems was the same, If You're Not From CSC..., but the content was original for each of the guys.  At the time the poems were written, the boys were actually young teenagers.  Since that time, three of the guys have been adopted and they have graduated from high school.  Julieto was one of the poem writers and  the last of them to graduate from high school just last Friday in Cebu.  Jules, as he is affectionately called, has gotten other press time recently, but after coming across those poems, I could not  pass up the opportunity to share his education story with you.  His story illustrates the miracle that takes place when some of the CSC kids graduate from high school. 

Julieto came to CSC when he was 10 years old.  He had never been to school, so he started off at the beginning of the learning continuum with letter recognition.  He attended Children of Hope School through the 2006-2007 school year and he was in fifth grade by that time.  He was also in his mid-teens and a bit tired of being in elementary school as a teenager.  He felt he needed to move on.  We cautioned him about not finishing elementary education, but he wanted to try something else.  So with help from some people at CSC, Jules got a job on the construction crew building the new Duterte home.  He loved the job and worked for a year and a half on the project.  By that time, Julieto had thought long and hard about his future and he decided he wanted to go to high school.  Well, he needed to finish elementary school first, so he returned to our school as an older teenager!  That in itself took a lot of courage.  After his final year at CCHS, Julieto started high school.  Four years later, he is a new high school graduate with plans for his future! 

What an incredible journey it has been.  Lots of people have been in on Jules' journey, encouraging, tutoring, advocating for him, but he is the one who has stuck with it.  Pretty miraculous!  Congratulations to Julieto and the other current and former CSC "kids" who are graduating from high schol this year. 

If you're Not from CSC...

By Julieto Sido

If you're not from CSC

You don't know Christmas

You just can't know Christmas.

                    Christmas is the best time for me.

                    I can dance, sing, and be happy as can be

                    With lots of gifts from foster friends and Santa Claus

                    And many parties in the house. 

                                       If you're not from CSC

                                       You don't know Christmas.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know discipline

You just can't know discipline.

                   In CSC we have rules to obey.

                   They are made to help us grow OKEY.

                   If we don't obey the staff will get sad

                   Because they don't want us to be bad.

                                      If you're not from CSC

                                      You don't know discipline.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know sports

You just can't know sports.

                    Sports is our way to have fun

                    We jump, we throw, and run.

                    Basketball, baseball, and soccer.

                    We play with one another.

                                       If you're not from CSC

                                       You don't know sports.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know kindness.

You just can't know kindness.

                    Kindness for me is to share and care.

                    That's what we do here.

                    Children share with each other

                    And the staff and house parents care for one another.

                                       If you're not from CSC

                                       You don't know kindness.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know ME.

You just can't know ME.

                    You have not experienced what I had

                    The fun, the laughter, the good, and the bad.

                    The kindness, the love, and the discipline I had here

                    Will stay with me even when I go somewhere.

                                        If you're not from CSC

                                        You don't know ME.

The other day I hung around the playground in the late afternoon.  That is our playground's most hectic and entertaining time!  It was such a pleasure to watch the kids in play.  Tumbling from our monkey bars, swinging as high as they can, whizzing by on the scooters, flying kites, kicking balls and playing tag.

While I watched, I caught many precious moments with my camera.  Thankfully, a camera's memory cannot be faulty---it caught every smile, every flip---and in greater detail than my memory ever could.

So, here they are---these precious moments!