Staff Blog

A cool thing happened the other day.  I was unpacking a box of math workbooks Tammy Vosika had brought over to Cebu.  I had actually packed the box of books myself in Minnesota and taped it up, ready to go, and dropped it off at Tammy’s house.  In Cebu as I unzipped the travel bag around the box, I noticed the tape was gone from the box.  That was not surprising as boxes are often inspected at some point during the travel route.  As I was taking the books out of the box, there was a five dollar bill taped to one of the books!  I was a bit surprised and wondered out loud if Tammy had taped the money in between the books just to see if the inspection guys were honest.  Tammy came around a bit later and I asked her about the money.  She said she had not put any money in the box!  So that meant an inspector at one of the airports, most likely Minneapolis or Chicago, had taped the five dollars to the box, contributing to the shelter and school.  Maybe that person read the name of the orphanage on the outside of the travel bag. Maybe he had a connection to the Philippines.  We’ll never know, but what a sweet and powerful reminder of God’s work.  Thank you to that anonymous donor! 

I was rummaging through old files the other day and came across a file titled "CSC Kids' Work."  Inside I found a set of poems written by four CSC "kids" from the school year 2006-2007.  The four guys had each written a poem using the same format of a poem they had read in their reading material.  The title of their poems was the same, If You're Not From CSC..., but the content was original for each of the guys.  At the time the poems were written, the boys were actually young teenagers.  Since that time, three of the guys have been adopted and they have graduated from high school.  Julieto was one of the poem writers and  the last of them to graduate from high school just last Friday in Cebu.  Jules, as he is affectionately called, has gotten other press time recently, but after coming across those poems, I could not  pass up the opportunity to share his education story with you.  His story illustrates the miracle that takes place when some of the CSC kids graduate from high school. 

Julieto came to CSC when he was 10 years old.  He had never been to school, so he started off at the beginning of the learning continuum with letter recognition.  He attended Children of Hope School through the 2006-2007 school year and he was in fifth grade by that time.  He was also in his mid-teens and a bit tired of being in elementary school as a teenager.  He felt he needed to move on.  We cautioned him about not finishing elementary education, but he wanted to try something else.  So with help from some people at CSC, Jules got a job on the construction crew building the new Duterte home.  He loved the job and worked for a year and a half on the project.  By that time, Julieto had thought long and hard about his future and he decided he wanted to go to high school.  Well, he needed to finish elementary school first, so he returned to our school as an older teenager!  That in itself took a lot of courage.  After his final year at CCHS, Julieto started high school.  Four years later, he is a new high school graduate with plans for his future! 

What an incredible journey it has been.  Lots of people have been in on Jules' journey, encouraging, tutoring, advocating for him, but he is the one who has stuck with it.  Pretty miraculous!  Congratulations to Julieto and the other current and former CSC "kids" who are graduating from high schol this year. 

If you're Not from CSC...

By Julieto Sido

If you're not from CSC

You don't know Christmas

You just can't know Christmas.

                    Christmas is the best time for me.

                    I can dance, sing, and be happy as can be

                    With lots of gifts from foster friends and Santa Claus

                    And many parties in the house. 

                                       If you're not from CSC

                                       You don't know Christmas.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know discipline

You just can't know discipline.

                   In CSC we have rules to obey.

                   They are made to help us grow OKEY.

                   If we don't obey the staff will get sad

                   Because they don't want us to be bad.

                                      If you're not from CSC

                                      You don't know discipline.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know sports

You just can't know sports.

                    Sports is our way to have fun

                    We jump, we throw, and run.

                    Basketball, baseball, and soccer.

                    We play with one another.

                                       If you're not from CSC

                                       You don't know sports.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know kindness.

You just can't know kindness.

                    Kindness for me is to share and care.

                    That's what we do here.

                    Children share with each other

                    And the staff and house parents care for one another.

                                       If you're not from CSC

                                       You don't know kindness.

If you're not from CSC

You don't know ME.

You just can't know ME.

                    You have not experienced what I had

                    The fun, the laughter, the good, and the bad.

                    The kindness, the love, and the discipline I had here

                    Will stay with me even when I go somewhere.

                                        If you're not from CSC

                                        You don't know ME.

Sometimes I am called upon to step in and help diffuse a situation happening in a classroom.  Yesterday that happened again.  A student who was bothering his classmates needed some help.  This was someone who had had trouble complying with rules and expressing frustration appropriately when he arrived at the shelter.  He was having trouble again yesterday. 

After leaving the classroom, I had him cool down while sitting in a chair near me.  After a few minutes we talked.  He said he was angry and why.  He told me what he had done to his classmates to tell them he was angry.  We figured out what he should have done differently to tell his classmates he wanted them to stop.  He said he’d try that next time.  In the world of counseling and school, it was textbook stuff for learning social skills. 

As we walked back to his classroom, I marveled at how much he has learned about how to express himself in positive ways when he is frustrated or angry.  I thought of the people (counselors, house parents and teachers) who have coached him and modeled this for him. 

As we entered the classroom together, he apologized to his classmates and sat down in his seat.  Class continued. 

A little miracle in the midst of a busy day.   

Tammy Vosika is closing out her time at Children of Hope School after teaching here for eight years.  Tammy started at CCHS in June of 2005, but her relationship with CSC started a long time before that.  She had visited CSC a number of times and her family adopted four brothers in the late 90s, so she had deep connections before even starting her teaching time in Cebu.  Now she is leaving, heading back to Minnesota to start a new chapter in her life.  Wow! Will she be missed!

Tammy has touched hundreds of kids' lives throughout her time here (she counted about 250 kids have passed through the doors during the time she has worked in Cebu), but Tammy has made the biggest impression on the older kids.  Tammy taught in level C (grades 4-6), so she had the kids as they studied the harder stuff at the elementary level and as they headed into their teenage years.  She taught American Studies to the kids after they were matched with their forever families, contributing to the kids' transitions to their new country.  Tammy became known as the cool science teacher.  Truth be told, Tammy was terrified to teach science at first, but she grew to really enjoy it and she helped develop the curriculum for our school. 

Tammy is a fun person and she loves games, so she often has been the one to encourage the school staff or kids to try a new game.  Tammy's gentle spirit has been an encouragement to her fellow teachers.  Her pure love for the children has been evident each day.  Thank you, Tammy.  God's peace to you as you go...

Over Easter weekend my husband and I drove from Minnesota to Louisiana to visit our daughter.  Before starting on the trip, I was unable to contact one of our former Children of Hope School teachers whom I knew lived in the Baton Rouge area.  Instead, Grace got hold of me and said she was more than willing to drive the 170 miles (one way) in order for us to see each other.  Later that night, Grace and her husband, Noel, sat in our hotel room reminiscing about former CSC kids and colleagues and sharing what we are doing now.  I had not seen Grace in about seven years.  It was a great time! 

As Grace and Noel were pulling away to drive home, I was struck by the incredible connections there are all over the world through the common thread of CSC.  Grace's life is forever woven into mine because we worked at CSC together.  We share common interests in the children we taught at Children of Hope and the people we worked with.  It was encouraging to hear how Grace is being used by God in a very different educational setting in the United States.  Seeing Grace again reminded me the CSC family is strong and I am richer for it.