Staff Blog
This past Monday some of our kids got to experience a music event at CSC. As I have mentioned in previous posts, for the past 4 months I have been teaching private voice and piano lessons to 8 talented CSC kids. All of their hard work culminated into a special music recital. For the past month or so, the 8 students had been working hard to make their 2-3 songs performance ready. I had been working equally as hard to prepare the setting for what I believed would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for some of them.
For the voice students (there are 6), Disney and Broadway songs have been the focus in our lessons. Some of the songs performed included: Part of your world - The Little Mermaid, Consider Yourself - Oliver, I Could Have Danced All Night - My Fair Lady, Colors of the Wind - Pocahontas, Do Re Mi - The Sound of Music, and Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - Phantom of the Opera. As you can see, we had quite the selection! Considering the fact that most of their pieces were very theatrical songs, I decided that I would gather costumes for EACH of their songs. I really wanted the kids to have the chance to get in character, and perform in a more dramatic and theatrical way. In all honesty, the costumes actually helped them become better performers, because it helped them use better facial expressions and actions, so as to match their costumes.
The piano students (2 of them) performed a mix of classical and contemporary pieces. Some of the selections included: Somewhere Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz, Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven, Carol of the Bells, and A Whole New World - Aladdin.
There was a lot of action building up to the performance. Besides finding all the costumes and fitting the kids, I had to coordinate helpers, set up the stage, create a picture board, make snacks, prepare a slide show, and coordinate group practices. Normally individual lessons take place after school each day, but the week before the performance all of the students stayed after school every day for group practices. It was a bit chaotic at first, trying to pull all the acts together, but at last I could see the big picture. On the Friday before the performance we had dress rehearsal. This was really fun for me (and the kids) because we could at last see all of our hard work coming together. It was also really exciting to see the songs put together with hair, makeup and costumes!
The excitement of the kids was clearly building, both for the performers and for the other kids at CSC. This recital was a bit different than other recitals, because it did not include every child at CSC. The performers were each given 3 invitations to pass out to friends, so that in the end there would be a total of 25 children, along with house parents, teachers, counselors, staff and other outside guests (making the total around 80). The kids at the shelter could not wait to see what we had in store for them!
The day of the recital finally arrived, and the performers headed up to school around 3 for some last minute notes. At about 4:00 we started doing hair and makeup (without lipstick), because at 5:00 we had 2 3-foot pizzas delivered for dinner. No I am not joking, these pizzas were 3 feet in diameter!! It was crazy! After chowing down, we finally got everyone into their costumes in time to go out to the music room for warm ups before the show. The kids expressed that they were nervous, but very excited. After a short prayer we headed out to start the show.
Everything about the recital went just as I had planned - maybe even better! The kids really came through in their performances, and truly showcased how hard they had been working in the past 4 months. It was exciting to see the performances come to life as the kids added their actions and personalities to the songs. I was particularly impressed by one of my student's performance. All throughout practicing and lessons she had quite a hard time learning and memorizing the words to her songs. Even all the way up to the day of the performance I was worried that she would not have the confidence to sing her songs completely. I had been working with her so hard on building her confidence in herself, so despite my worries, was feeling hopeful for her performance. Boy was I surprised what she would bring to the floor! Not only did she say the words better than she ever had in practice, she had strength in her voice and sang with confidence and accurate pitch! I felt so proud.
We ended the recital with our surprise number "Let it Go". Once we finished, I felt instantly relieved, and I know the kids did too. It was a complete success, and I have never been more proud of my students!
Biking is Fun
Learning how to ride a bicycle is an early moment of accomplishment and freedom for a child. It is difficult to balance and pedal all at once while steering to avoid obstacles and other people. Of course a child will be proud of themselves when they learn how to put it all together to ride a bicycle down the driveway. Guiding the bicycle where to go starts to give a child an idea of freedom.
I enjoy riding a bicycle. I must confess; I have more than one bicycle. Watching a child wobbling along on two wheels finding their sense of balance brings a smile to my face. When they finally get the hang of it I will shout for joy along with them.
This little guy is learning how to balance without the complications of pedaling.
This guy is hesitantly figuring out how to start from a stand still.
This young lady took a few pointers from me and in an afternoon put it all together.
It is so much riding around! It is even more fun with puddles!
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Creatures!
Creepy, crawly creatures are everywhere here in this tropical climate. And everything that crawls seems to come in gigantic versions; big moths, big spiders, big geckos. The kids (OK it's mostly the boys) are fascinated with bugs and seem to go in seasonal cycles playing with different insects as the bugs hatch and find homes in the vegetation.
Recently spiders were all the rage with the boys collecting certain kinds and then conducting spider fights on the bristles of brooms. One day I drove by a large group of school kids at a roadside vendor who was selling something in plastic bags about the size of rulers with something small and black in each bag. The kids were buying the fighting spiders on their way home from school!
For the last couple of weeks the boys gravitate to the flowering plants as they enter the school gate in the morning. Praying mantises have been emerging and the kids want to see how many they can find. They don't use them to fight (thankfully), but are eager to carry the cool looking bugs around during the day. Impromptu mini-science lessons have happened with the appearance of these green creatures like learning that the female mantis eats the head off the male!
So if you are into bugs, Cebu is the place to be. Hang out with the kids for a while and you'll learn new and creative ways to play with bugs.
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Busy with Birthdays!
It’s a busy birthday week! Today is Tuesday in Cebu, we just finished birthday parties on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights. We have a small break and then, coming up we have two more celebrations on Thursday and Friday! Whew!
There are times (this week for instance) when I think it might be wiser to celebrate once a month for everyone who has a birthday that month but not most of the time. For these kids who have had very few special moments just for them, an individual birthday party, celebrating them seems more than appropriate. Here are a few photos...
Monday's birthday was especially exciting because the birthday girl turned 18. The picture below is of her reading a wonderful letter she wrote thanking her house parents, care givers, and God for the love and provision she's recieved while at CSC.
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Auntie Warlita Retires
Auntie Warlita has worked as a nurse at CSC since 1997. She has taken hundreds of children to the
doctor in the past 18 years. Lovingly taken care of and prayed for the kids and
the ministry of CSC. Her love,
dedication, and Godly example was a great encouragement to everyone she came
into contact with. All of us at CSC were blessed to have her be a part of our
lives the past 18 years.
On September 30th we had a farewell party and lunch for Auntie Warlita hosted by the nurses. Uncle Mitch shared about Warlita followed by a lunch with many of the CSC workers. A wonderful time of fellowship, laughs, and appreciation to Auntie Warlita was had by all.
Thank you for your ministry to CSC Auntie Warlita. May God bless you as you continue to serve Him!
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Reading for Everyone
The final activity related to CCHS's Reading Challenge was a trip to the Cebu City Public Library, so the kids headed out to visit the library one day last week. The trip was meant to be the kids' reward for doing such a great job during the Challenge, but another underlying purpose was to expose them to the idea of a public library. Unlike most communities in the United States, the existence of public libraries in the Philippines is rare, so most people have little or no opportunity to avail themselves of the multitude of services public libraries provide. The Cebu City Public Library is the only public library in the city of 870,000 people!
When we got to the library, the head librarian welcomed us and explained what a public library is. Then the kids were allowed to browse through the books in the children's section for about thirty minutes. Great fun! Most of our children have not had the opportunity to read books when they arrive at the shelter. The idea of being able to look at and read books whenever they want is a foreign experience, so they thoroughly enjoy our school library and the mini-libraries in the classrooms and houses. This was another chance to be exposed to books in a different environment.
While we were at the library, we learned about a program to bring books into the communities in the city. Books bags are distributed by the library to kindergarten and first grade students and their families for them to keep at their homes for one week. The book bags are returned after a week and the family is given another bag for the next week. It's sort of a creative revolving check-out system. Coupled with the book bag distribution are sessions teaching the parents how to read with their children. It was encouraging to hear the public library is reaching out into the communities in this way.
The kids are still pumped about reading and continue to challenge themselves by reading a lot. Right now they are into book series and books related to what they are studying in science class. Maybe that will shift to books about countries and people around the world since United Nations Day is coming up. We'll see...
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