Staff Blog
How can people be so heartless?
How can people be so cruel?
Easy to be hard, easy to be cold
How can people have no feelings?
How can they ignore their friends?
Easy to be proud, easy to say no.
Songwriters: Ragni, Gerome / Rado, James / Mac Dermot, Galt
The words of this song from the late 60s were brought to mind recently when a 12 year-old boy was referred to us. His story reveals the heartlessness and cruelty of people, and the ways that some children have to suffer at their hands. We'll call this boy Roberto and his younger brother, Michael.
Roberto and Michael were brought to an orphanage in Cebu City when they were babies. The orphanage, which was connected to a Protestant church, was not a good place. When the boys were older they were abused. Punishment was severe, sometimes cruel. The lady who was in charge of the place was the one dealing out the beatings. Luckily, the place was closed down and the children were parceled out to other child caring institutions. CSC got three girls from that place, but we did not have room for boys at the time, so Roberto and his brother, then nine and 10, went to live at a home for children on a neighboring island. Shortly after there arrival there, one of the boys threatened Roberto. (The home catered to older kids, and their residents included some who had lived on the streets and were used to fighting and intimidation.) On the second night they were there, Roberto decided to run away. Michael was afraid to go out into the dark night, but Roberto was able to find a young boy, just five years old, to go with him. The gate was always left open so they had no trouble getting away.
Roberto only knew one place to go, back to the church where he had lived. He didn't know that it was 18 miles from where they were starting out. And they had to cross a long bridge that led to Cebu island. But he knew he wanted to leave that place, so off they went into the night.
It took two days and nights to get to the church. They slept
along the road, wherever they could find a spot that looked safe. On the second
morning Roberto woke up and discovered that his little companion was gone.
Without a trace. All he could do was keep going. When he finally got to the
church he found that it was closed up. The gate was locked. One of the former
orphanage workers said that he could be their family's houseboy, but that didn't
last for long. One day that family packed up and left, and Roberto had no place
to go.
Out of desperation, he found a big piece of cardboard which
became his bed for the 
next months. He slept just outside the locked gate of
the former church/orphanage. He would look for food wherever
he could find it, in garbage cans or occasional handouts from neighbors. Other
times he would steal food to feed his hungry stomach, which enraged people in
the community. He was often beaten by neighborhood boys. One family took pity
on him and would stop the boys from beating him, and would give him food. Life
was hard for Roberto. No place to live. Nobody to take him in. He missed his
brother and worried about the boy who had disappeared along the way. How can
people be so heartless? How can they be so cruel?
One of the compassionate neighbors knew about CSC and informed us about the situation of Roberto. We get lots of referrals and can not respond immediately to all of them. Eventually our social worker and counselor went to visit Roberto and hear his story. They were overwhelmed by the things that had happened to him. In the next few days we made contact with the place where Michael was staying and arranged a meeting with their social worker. Two of our social workers, Chris and our new Social Worker Director, Klaris, and our counselor, Eldie, made the trip to the neighboring island to discuss the boys' case. Michael was relieved to hear that Roberto was okay. He hadn't heard anything about him for a year and a half. Both boys wanted to be reunited and it was determined that this should happen the next day at CSC.
The reunion was so sweet for the boys. They were more than a
little amazed at the facilities of CSC and the course of events that had
brought them back together. After more counseling and some medical
tests, and a talk with a representative of the place where Michael was living,
our staff made the decision to admit Michael and Roberto. The boys would no
longer be separated and Roberto's days of homelessness would end. It was an
exciting day for all of us. They boys needed to go back to their respective
places, get the few things they owned, and say goodbye before becoming official
CSC kids. But first we brought them to Jollibee, a fast food restaurant near
CSC. It was so much fun to watch the boys eat and laugh. It must have seemed a
little surreal to them to be together at that place with a group of adults who
were concerned about them and wanted them to be together in a nice and safe place.
Roberto was not able to finish his chicken and we were surprised when he asked
if he could have a bag for "take-home."
When they got to the place where Roberto had been staying, he ran to one of the houses near the church, the place where one of the people who had protected him from the cruel boys lived. This was the first person who had shown concern for him, maybe in his whole life. Roberto wanted to give this guy the leftover chicken from Jollibee! It was one of the most touching things that we have known about in our many years of working with kids. A few acts of kindness had made a huge difference in Roberto's life and he wanted to say "thank you" in the only way he knew how.
Later that day the boys were
officially admitted, and spent the night in the infirmary while 
we waited for
their lab results. The next morning they moved into the Cherne Home, where
house parents Tarex and Pureza and the children welcomed them. It was the
biggest day in their lives, so far. And there are many big days ahead. They
will be making a lot of new friends and will soon be enrolled in our Children
of Hope School. They won't be apart. They won't be hungry. If they are sick
they will be provided with the best medical care available in the Philippines.
If they are sad they'll be comforted. And they will get the chance to learn
about a loving Heavenly Father and a friend and Savior who will never abandon
them.
Yes, its easy to be heartless. Easy to be cruel. But its also easy to be kind. Easy to be a needed friend. Kids need a friend. Thanks to all who make it possible for us to say yes to kids like these two and the many others who need the love and care of our Shelter.
Girl's Night
For the past month and a half, the older girls of CSC have had the chance to experience "girls night". Almost every weekend, two girls are invited to my apartment for an evening of fun!
The event starts long before the weekend even arrives. On Monday after school the group for the week is told that they are invited to girls night. Their excitement is immediate, and only builds over the coming days. On Wednesday the girls are given menu choices. I have a variety of dinner dessert choices that the girls have the chance to agree upon, and then make. Many of the foods on my list are meals that are uncommon here in the Philippines, so I often have to explain what the meal consists of. So far, each group has chosen something that they have never tried before!
At 4:30 on Friday, the girls meet me at the guard shack. From there, we get a ride down the road to One Pavilion, a shopping center near my apartment. I give the girls a list, and they are then responsible for finding all of our needed ingredients. Once we check out, we make the trek to my apartment on foot. It has been fun to provide this experience for the girls, and have the chance to teach them life skills like cooking and grocery shopping. When we arrive at my apartment, I give the girls instructions on how to prepare the food. Everything we eat that evening will be prepared and cooked by the girls.
Cooking has been a joyful experience for all involved. Jonnalyn and Andrea enjoyed mixing up and frying meatballs. Jannice and Pretchy made some interesting choices in dessert (corn and cheese ice cream!!). Joanna Mae and Hannah devoured their tacos (they each had about 5!). Adelyn and Ven Ven went into a sugar coma with s'mores dip. Cheryl Mae and Sarah got messy kneading cookie dough.
The final event of the evening includes watching a movie. With these girls, it was no surprise to find my collection of chick flicks exhausted. Like any teenage girl, the girls of CSC are saps for a good romance movie...especially a Disney one! Watching their reactions to particular scenes has been the most entertaining part for me. Cheryl Mae almost started hyperventilating as the kissing scene in Pride and Prejudice approached, Jonnalyn giggled constantly during A Cinderella Story, and Janice melted at the romance in The Lizzy McGuire Movie.
With the rotation of teens finished, I can say that girls night has been a great success! I look forward to many more nights of fun with these wonderful girls!
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Roxaboxen
Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran was the last story in our theme on Imagination in reading this quarter and it was the best story I have ever heard for this theme. When I was reading before the class started, I was fascinated with how the children in the story enjoyed their childhood life and played all day with their neighborhood friends in a village they created from stones, boxes, and desert glass. Even after the children in the story had grown up and moved away, they still remembered the make-believe village they had created so long ago. After reading the story, I remembered my childhood days with my brother, sister, and neighborhood friends. We did not create a village like Roxaboxen, but we played in the mansanitas tree, rode our bicycles, and ran in our neighbor’s garden taking the fruit and vegetables. I wish I could go back to where I grew up, full of enjoyment and excitement.
Every child has memories of his childhood days. After we finished reading the story in class, I asked my Level B2 students to share experiences from their childhood days. They all shared about their life at the shelter. Similar to my experience, they have not had a Roxaboxen, but they are very happy and enjoy playing with their friends at CCHS.
In order to experience this make-believe Roxaboxen a little bit more, we made our own small town on a board filled with beads for stones in between houses drawn on the board.
Everyone was so excited. While we
were making our own Roxaboxen, my students felt like they were in a real place. They used their imagination to create a great Roxaboxen
of their own. Congrats kids!
Remember! “Laughter
is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.” So never stop
imagining and dreaming. God Bless!!!!
-Clayd Verzales, Level B Teacher
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Morning Meeting
Morning Meeting! This is one of the most popular activities in school that CCHS children look forward to. Each level is given a slot every quarter to share what they have learned in SRA (reading and language arts) class through songs, poems, stories, and other activities.
Level B1 students did a great job in their morning meeting last week. They shared about kindness and sharing stories, the two most recent themes they had covered in reading. There was a variety of presentations.
One group of students
shared a song about kindness.
Another
group told a story using hand puppets.
One
of the boys talked about sharing stories using a big hand-made book.
The children ended the morning meeting with a
dance about sharing.
It was fun to see Level B1 students perform!
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French Fries
Typical day in the therapy room: student having his speech therapy session with the therapist.
Conversation:
The therapist asks, “Where do French fries come from?”
Without any pause or hesitation, the student answers, “McDonald’s!”
My co-therapist and I burst out laughing. I know we are not supposed to laugh when a student makes a mistake, but we couldn’t help ourselves. It was so cute! The answer does make sense though, if you are a kid. The student just looked between me and my co-therapist with a look that said, “Okay, so what’s funny?”
It was, in fact, a true and genuine answer coming from a seven-year-old boy. McDonald’s and its counterpart, Jollibee, are a hit here in the Philippines, especially for the young kids at the shelter. It is a big deal for them when they are able to go to one of these establishments. (My blog is not about advertising for these businesses, by the way.)
Sometimes as adults we are so caught up with our adult stuff that we forget how to live life like a child, worry free. The kids at the shelter remind us that, in spite of the difficulties they have already faced at a young age, we have a God who is bigger than our worries.
I sat in the therapy room with the speech therapy session still going on thinking how blessed I am to be in this environment. I teach and treat kids with special needs and in turn, they too, teach me even more. As an English proverb says, “The soul is healed by being with children.”
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Opening the Doors
Of course, most of the students at Cebu Children of Hope School are from the shelter since that is the main reason for the existence of our school. However, over the years we have had a handful of community kids attend the school for varying amounts of time. There was VJ, Andree Kaye, John Ray, Rufa Mae, Christian, and a few others. CCHS is not big enough to be able to open its doors to the community at large, so we have always brought in community kids just by word of mouth. It has usually been the case that a commmunity student attends CCHS because he cannot go to another school due to extenuating circumstances.
For the past three years we have had our hands pretty full with the kids who need schooling from the shelter, but we had our eyes and ears open for a community child who may fit into our school. Well, meet Lael. Lael lives with his family nearby and his parents heard about CCHS from someone who works in their church. Lael is eight years old and suffers from a rare syndrome called Lennox Gestaut Syndrome. His mom and dad have been looking for a school where Lael can interact with other kids his age in a safe, caring environment.
Last week Lael started attending CCHS for library and art classes two times a week. It was a great start for everyone and we are excited to have a new student in our midst. After all, we are Children of Hope for children of hope.
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