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.
Carmelita's Crew Goes to Leyte
Carmelita Baya, our Senior Social Worker, led a team from CSC that went to Leyte to distribute relief goods. She was accompanied by Edwin Martinez, our veteran driver, his brother Jessie Boy, one of our maintenance men, and Dondon Enriquez, our Eicher Home house father, who accompanied the team as far as his mom's place in Ormoc, one of the places on our list for relief goods. Dondon's mom's house was destroyed in the recent typhoon Yolanda.
We had a list of 10 families to help, and the team was able to find all of them. The all live in Western Leyte, from Biliran island in the very north, to Hilongos in the south. Praise God that none of the families experienced loss of life, though most of their houses were destroyed. Finding food and water are still big problems in Leyte, the hardest hit of all the islands. Our team brought boxes of food and sacks of rice, as well as clothing and some tarp to help with temporary walls and ceilings. They were all thrilled with what we were able to bring and were thankful that CSC has not forgotten them. Most of the families are birth parents and siblings of former CSC residents who have been adopted in the United States.
We were able to send one our CSC vehicles on a ferry between Cebu City and Ormoc, Leyte, so we had reliabe transportation for the trip. Since there is no gasoline for sale on the island of Leyte, we brought our own in plastic containers.
Thanks be to God for a safe trip, and that we were able to brighten the lives of these three families. Next we will be considering how we might help, even in a modest way, with the reconstruction of the destroyed houses of these families.
God bless all who gave for these relief efforts, and for our brave team for going over to Leyte to distribute goods and hope to these families.
Click here for more pictures of the Leyte relief trip.
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Thanksgiving at CSC
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
"O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name: Make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works." Psalm 105:1-2
Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving here for the kids and the staff! Much fun was had and the children told of the many things they are grateful for:
God
the Aunties
CSC
the Staff
Food
Family
We have many things to be grateful for here at CSC. We are safe, the kids are healthy and happy. We have food to give them, teachers to teach them, house parents to guide them and so MANY supporters who are praying for them and giving to this ministry. THANK YOU! And God's hand is on CSC, on our kids, on our workers and on our lives.
We are truly blessed!
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Relief.
In response to the devastation on our island and on the neighboring island of Leyte, CSC has mounted some relief efforts to relieve suffering and give hope. Although we have not actively solicited donations for a major relief initiative, loyal and generous CSC donors have given. The outpouring of love has been amazing. Some of it comes from former residents and their families who want to help birth families. The rest comes from people who have heard about and seen the tragic results of the typhoon that hit our part of the country.
On Tuesday, November 19, Carmelita Baya, CSC's Senior Social Worker, went to northern Cebu to deliver food and water to families known to the CSC family. She and our driver, Edwin Martinez, brought mineral water, canned goods, rice, noodles and dried fish to three families of former residents. Although Cebu City was spared significant storm damage, northern Cebu got hit very hard. The families were thrilled to receive the boxes for good. Their only other option was to fall in line for hours at a government distribution center where they would only be given a small bag of food. One of the women that they visited was standing in the long line when someone came and told her that Carmelta was at her home. When she ran there Carmelita said, "You don't have to wait in line. We came to see you!" All three families have major damage to their houses which was assessed by Carmelita. We will try to help them with building supplies soon. We cannot help all the people who need assistance. We can't even offer aid to all the people we know personally. But we can help some and we are trying our best to do that. We are not a rescue or relief agency, just a group of people who want to help, even in relatively small ways.
The next trip will be tomorrow. Carmelita and three others will be going to Leyte, the hardest hit of all the islands. Again, we will be distributing food and doing assessments of houses of people we know. This morning we went to the supermarked in Cebu City and purchased food for ten families. This will be a three day trip and the team will be going to several towns with these goods.
Here are some pictures of the damaged homes of the families that we are helping:
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Quarterly Examinations
Quarterly Examinations! When kids hear these words, they have different reactions… some are happy…. some are scared… but for CCHS students, it’s anticipation!
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Level C1 kids ready to take their Math test. |
As part of the education process, quarterly examinations are a means of measuring the students’ performance in school. The students prepare a lot for them. They take their studies seriously. They go through sleepless nights studying and hoping for very good scores in the end. The exams not only serve as encouragement for the students to work hard and aim for good grades, but also unite students to study together and strengthen, if not build, new friendships. For teachers, they make sure their tests reflect what has transpired during the quarter and show the true learning of their students.
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Level B1 kids seriously taking their Math test.
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Quarterly examinations always bring excitement to every child at Cebu Children of Hope School. “For me, quarterly examinations are fun. It keeps you alert and makes you feel nervous at the same time,” a student from Level C said. “It excites me because it tells me how far I’ve learned from my teacher. It also reminds me to always listen to her during class discussions because I know that quarterly examinations will soon come,” said another.
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Level C2 kids while taking their test in Language Arts. |
For teachers, quarterly examinations are a way of measuring how much the students learn from their lessons. The tests give the teachers a sense of fulfillment especially when their students get good scores. The exams also remind teachers about how important their role is, in shaping the minds of the young children. “My students’ scores do not really matter to me, although, it would be a great feeling if they’d get good scores. What matters most is, how they would use that gained knowledge in their personal lives and how they’re going to live their lives soon after,” one teacher said.
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Level C1 kids smiling after their Language Arts test result was given. |
No matter how different people view quarterly examinations, one thing remains certain. The exams are given to help the kids and remind them to always study hard and use that knowledge in shaping their bright futures.
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Piling On
A good friend of mine, Howard Plucar, missionary, pastor, blogger and devotional writer, who has lived much of the past decade in Japan and the Philippines, remembered something from his high school football days when thinking about the difficulties faced by hundreds of thousands of Filipinos these days:
"Back about 45 years ago when I was playing high school football, there was a rule against “piling-on” a player who had already been tackled and was down on the ground." 
I can also remember a guy who used to play football at the college where I attended. He as known as "Spike," and I can remember some classic late hits that resulted in "Piling On" penalties for our team. Well after the whistle he would race to downed ball carrier and jump on him with his helmet leading the way. 15 yard penalty. But, as Howard Plucar notes, "it seems there is no such rule for life because life has a way of' 'piling-on' when we’re already down and discouraged. The people in The Philippines whose lives have been devastated, first by an earthquake and now by the monster typhoon, surely must feel as though life is “piling-on” when they are already down. Even in our personal lives, we go through periods when we wonder, “what’s next?”, as we go from crisis-to-crisis ourselves, or walk and pray with family and friends who are getting piled-on by life. ...... We pray…”Your Kingdom come; your will be done on earth…”, clinging tenaciously to Jesus while working toward rightness in every way possible (especially toward those who are being “piled-on”) in anticipation of complete rightness being established at the return of the King."
We have been told to expect another storm in the coming days. It isn't supposed to pack the wind power of Yolanda, but will bring lots of rain. And it could develop into a stronger typhoon. Piling on! Lord, I pray that you would calm this storm, right out in the ocean, as it moves towards our part of the country. The people of Leyte and other battered islands just can't handle any more destruction.
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