Staff Blog

Last week I was walking into the Duterte House and was struck with what an incredibly beautiful building it is. It made me realize that you, the blog reader (or Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube follower), have probably never seen some of the "nooks and crannies" of CSC. So I decided to do a photo walk yesterday to try and capture some of these "places unseen." Hopefully these pictures help to communicate (1) how well CSC takes care of their facalities (2) how safe, secure, and protected these kids are and (3) that the only way these buildings and walls could have been built was with the generous donations from CSC supporters all around the world.

The Duterte House

The Cherne House

The Eicher House

Trees in the yard (the colored specks are kites).

The walkway that connects the infirmary with the Duterte House (and three boys flying kites).

The view from the infirmary.

The infirmary.

Iso, short for isolation - This is the place kids stay when the are first admitted to CSC (or are sick). As you can see, it sounds worse than it actually is. :)

The water tower in the back yard of the infirmary.

All of the walls around CSC have barbed wire to keep intruders out.

The main gate to CSC.

The hallway into the Children of Hope School. Daniel, one of the CCHS guards, is writing my name down in the "log book." Every person that comes and leaves CCHS is recorded in this book.

The main area in CCHS. This area is partitioned into classrooms during the school year.

The guard house and motorcycle parking at CCHS.

An interesting side note - It's rare to see a motorcycle bigger than 125cc here. Lindsay and I have a Honda XRM. It doesn't go very fast, but on an average week we spend around $2 on gas. :)

While these buildings and structures are incredible, it's what they hold that is truly beautiful:

McDonald's, a cup of coffee, and a plastic chair.

Those are a few of the things that you would have seen if you were watching the CSC banquet on the other side of the world.

Some staff here in Cebu got up early on Sunday morning to watch the banquet via Skype. We all met at 7:30AM in the school library (hence the plastic chair), Tammy was kind enough to order McDonald's (yes, McDonald's delivers in the Philippines), and I had brought with a fresh mug of coffee from home. Needless to say, it was a really different experience compared to the CSC banquets that I attended while in Minnesota.

After the videos were played, the speeches made, and the donations collected, Lindsay and I headed down to the shelter to play with the kids for a little bit.

I was incredibly moved by experiencing these two things back-to-back. On one side of the world there were people learning about, praying for, and sacrificially supporting these precious children. On the other side of the world, these same children played with kites, laughed with their friends, and slept safely in their cribs.

Today, in a way that I've never been able to before, I saw how incredible connected these two places are.

One thing I've been able to witness this year is how often visitors are able to use their skills and abilities to help give back to CSC. So many times people don't just visit CSC, they also volunteer at CSC.

Here are some photos from the past year of family and friends that have visited and volunteered at CSC.

1. Gordie, one of CSC's board members, recently came to see CSC in action. This is a picture of when he led a Bible study for the older boys and girls at CSC about having a positive self image.

2. My family visited CSC in February. My mom taught the kids origami and led a workshop for the teachers. My dad did a pottery demonstration and then led an art activity where the kids made clay fish (or sharks or piranhas).

3. When Lindsay's family came to visit her dad, Allen (or Dr. Mork, in this picture), helped out by seeing some of the kids that were sick.

4. Our friend Angie recently came to visit Lindsay and I. She's an elementary school teacher back in Minnesota. She volunteered to help the preschoolers who had a lesson on clowns. She jumped right in. I love this pictures!

What an honor it is to have such incredible people visit and volunteer at CSC!

I'd like to introduce you to Elesio Ewayan, or as he's known as around here, Sho.

Sho has worked at CSC for 13 years.

Sho is one of the reasons why, as a visitor recently told me; "the Children's Shelter of Cebu has the best kept facilities in all of Cebu."

If you're looking for Sho the first place to check is the workshop. The kids know that this is a place they can't play, but they will often times stand at the invisible fence in front of the shop doors as Sho works to patch the sole of a shoe, repair a desk drawer, or mix a batch of paint.

The workshop isn't state of the art, but it's amazing what he can accomplish with a basic set of tools.

When CSC's president Matt Buley came to Cebu earlier this year he met with the staff and handed out bracelets. The braclets had CSC's logo on them and the phrase "These hands change lives." As I watched Sho work I looked down and saw that he was wearing his bracelet.

What an incredible example of someone using their hands to change lives.

One of the things we often hear at CSC is laughter, and one of the best places to hear it is during a movie night.

It's hard to organize a trip to the movie theater, so often times staff will gather up a group of kids and setup the projector in the library at the school. The movie night below was a "girl's night out" that Teacher Lindsay organized. However, being the IT guy, I was allowed to attend because I had to setup the screen and projector. :)

The movie was Mr. Popper's Penguins.

It's hard to see much in the video below, but it's really fun to listen to the laughter of the kids.