Staff Blog
A few weeks ago I had a heart attack. They put in five stents because of significant blockage. I spent a few days in the hospital and went home to embark on a new lifestyle. I exercise every day and am very careful about my diet. Because I am diabetic, the need for controlled intake is doubly important. I am super blessed to have understanding staff at CSC, a loving wife who takes good care of me, and health insurance that will pay for much of the medical bills associated with my surgery, hospitalization, therapy and medications.
In addition to exercise and diet, I have been advised to try and identify areas of stress in my life and work to lessen them. The past year has been very stressful at CSC with lots of personnel and program changes and some difficult situations to handle. There is no way to eliminate stress in my job, with the responsibilities of overseeing a ministry that employs 135 people and provides care for 80 children. But I can say that, in the midst of changes and challenges, God has provided some significant "de-stressers" for me through the people on our Leadership Team. They help manage the challenges and absorb a lot of the stress that would otherwise come my way. For example:
Eldie, who directs our new Human Resources department, takes on issues relating to managing our employees. He handles problems and policies. When we recently had to terminate an employee, he handled it. We discussed it and came to the decision together, but he was the one to implement it. Ging, our Financial Director, manages our funds. This is budget preparation season and she has handled much of the work of gathering the information and working with the staff on the preparation of the various departmental budgets. Klaris, our Social Work Director just got back from a quick trip to Manila for pre-matching one of our children with the Inter-Country Adoption Board. Six months ago I would have had to make that trip and deal with the challenging work of choosing a family with all the complicated procedures and policies of the government for matching. She also does all the editing of child study reports that go to the government for all our kids, again, something I would have been doing a year ago. Jinkee manages the Child Development department, seeing that our kids get the care they need from our house parents, child care workers and therapists. Marlys heads up the medical team of four nurses, making sure the children get the medical care they require. Ben and Cris are at the reins of Children of Hope School, managing the teachers and curriculum so ably and professionally. Although I am responsible for the care our children receive, our relationship to the government, and our financial and human resource management, I don't need to worry about the details of the work being done by these fine people and their teams. They handle problems and challenges, spreading around the potential stress that I need to minimize.
Our generous supporters are also de-stressers. This is crunch time at CSC. We need to raise a lot of money in November and December to meet our income needs for the year. We watch the daily mail counts carefully and prayerfully. Admittedly, we worry a little at this time of year! But much of that is alleviated by the knowledge that our supporters always come through in big ways. Our hope for year-end 2017 is based on the awesome provision of our God through our supporters every years since 1979. That's 38 years of faithfulness! God's admonition for us in Philippians 4:6-7 not to "worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Not only is it important to show our faith and appreciation to God for what He has done, we will avoid stress as we "experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. " Truly His peace will "guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus."
Thanks for your important role at CSC for the children, first of all, but for those of us who lead this ministry as well.
Who is the teacher?
Teacher Kristen is new to the CCHS team and we are so glad she is with us. Read on to find out what lesson she learned in her first few weeks on the job.
This is my first year ever teaching and I am so glad to be at Cebu Children of Hope School! The things they taught me in college have prepared me for the classroom, but only to a certain point. I've been struggling a bit with new routines and new students. I have tried many of the strategies I learned in college to help students focus in class but they haven't helped much.
I remember when I was a student like them. School was tiring for me as I had to sit most of the day and just listen to the teacher. Not very fun. When I started teaching this year I realized I was doing the same thing my past teachers did, things that made me, as a student, bored. In the first few weeks of school my students at CCHS taught me that I was too idealistic when it came to teaching. They taught me that I needed to cool down and start embracing their unique qualities.
Once I realized this I made some changes in my classroom. I started to really listen to them and smile more. Very quickly I saw changes in their behavior. Now I am having fun teaching them and I love how they respond in class- showing excitement to learn!
Teachers are supposed to be the ones to teach kids. At CCHS I have learned that often kids can be great teachers.
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Preschoolers and Plants
The preschoolers have been learning about the difference between living things and nonliving things. One example of a living thing, which we have been studying a lot about, is a plant. Every time I review with the children they say, "Sige ug balik" (It's a repeat). By the end of the unit the preschoolers were able to identify a plant, tree, shrub, vegetable, and grass. They also learned the parts of the plant (stem, flower, fruit, and roots) and where plants live (in desserts, farms, forests, and gardens).
One of my favorite parts of the unit was taking the preschoolers outside for a mini field trip. Our school is surrounded by many different kinds of plants. On our "living things walk" we saw many banana trees, mango trees, and even an avocado tree. The preschoolers loved searching for living things and telling us what they found.
What a joy it was teaching the preschoolers about plants. We had a fun time learning together!
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Creative Minds
Having conversations with my students helps them learn to interact with their peers and teachers. It has a great impact on their learning and ability to listen as well.
I started this year with just three kids in my classroom. Three kids who love conversation and enjoy sharing their thoughts. One afternoon, during Civics class, one of my students shared with me about one of the CSC aunties (child care workers).
Student 1: Teacher, our auntie just had a baby! (saying it excitedly)
Me: Wow, that's great! Do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl?
Student 1: I don't know.
Student 2: Teacher, I know where the baby comes out.
Me: Where?
Student 2: Here! (referring to his bottom)
Student 1: No Teacher! I heard that a baby comes out from your belly button.
Student 3: Teacher, I know where babies come out of, here in our back.
Student 1: (reacting with a shocked face) No, the baby can't come out of there!
Me: Why?
Student 1: Because our back has a lot of bones. The baby will get hurt!
I love teaching at Cebu Children of Hope School for many reasons. One of them is the creative minds these little children have. You never know what ideas they will share.
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Goodbye Up There!
Child welfare types refer to children who become very close while in care at a place like CSC as "institutional siblings." They are not siblings by blood but by affinity. Many of our children experience that kind of relationship while living at CSC. For the younger ones, they don't understand the difference. Such was the case with little Jacob. He had four very good buddies in the Eicher Home nursery. They spent lots of time together eating and playing. They looked out for each other, fought like true siblings and were known to tattle on each other on occasion.
Recently, Jacob was adopted by a great family from Europe. Shortly before Jacob's family came to get him, two of his pals got
sick and had to be in isolation. Their ailment was very contagious. We worried that Jake, too, would get sick when he was supposed to travel but, thankfully, that didn't happen. But we felt bad that Jake wouldn't be able to say goodbye to his buddies. So Marlys came up with a plan. The infirmary caregivers brought the sick children outside to the bridge and Jake was able to look up, see them and say goodbye. The overhead kids shouted "bye-bye" and it was very touching. Certainly they didn't understand that he was going far away and they might never see him again. But they knew something big was up.
There is lots of love at CSC. Jacob experienced that from house parents, child care workers, staff and the other children. Now he will be feeling the love of a family. And a new sibling that will be his forever.
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Science Can Be Funny
The official school year has begun at CSC! Teacher Lyrah, one of our dedicated and gifted teachers, shared about a science lesson she taught the other day:
Everyone was ready and calm as I stepped into the classroom. The students seemed very excited for the afternoon's discussion entitled "The Scientist and the Science tools."
I asked my students about the science tools and the brainstorming happened like this:
TEACHER: Can you still remember some of the science tools that you learned about last year in your class?
STUDENTS: Yes, Teacher Lyrah!
TEACHER: Tell me about one of those science tools.
STUDENT 1: Teacher, a hand lens.
STUDENT 2: How about a balance?
STUDENT 3: A measuring cup.
STUDENT 4: Thermometer!
TEACHER: WOW! You are really thinking about these tools. What are some others?
I called on one student who hadn't answered yet.
TEACHER: Okay, what is it?
He was very hesitant about his tool and just smiled again.
STUDENT 5: Teacher, how about a telecopter?
He was laughing so hard because he mentioned the tool in a different way. Everyone in the class was puzzled about his answer.
STUDENT 1: What do you mean a telecopter?
Student 5 laughed so hard and kept on saying the word telecopter.
STUDENT 5: (laughing) Teacher, what I mean is a telescope not a telecopter!
TEACHER: A telecopter? That word is a combination of a telescope and a helicopter. Isn't it?
He laughed and said: " Yes, teacher because we use a telescope to see the stars and other flying objects like helicopters."
Then I remembered the time last year when I showed them a telescope and we talked about how it worked.
Everyone in the classroom was amazed with his great new word invention!
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