Staff Blog

This week, one of our house fathers celebrated his birthday and he decided to bless everyone by renting a tartanilla for all the kids (and adults) to enjoy!  What is a tartanilla you ask?  It is a horse-drawn carriage.  Back in the day in the Philippines---the Spanish colonial days that is----tartanillas were the common mode of transportation.  They have since been replaced by Jeepneys, but you can still see some here and there----like on the congested streets of the marketplace or in the provinces!  Check out the pictures to see all the fun that was had by the kids, the birthday boy and ME!  :)

Happy riders---Aunties and kids alike!

The birthday boy had fun being the driver!

The view from my seat---pretty cool! 

SMILES GALORE!!!

Many people comment on two things when they arrive at CSC. The first thing lots of people say when they come through our gate is that CSC seems to be an “Oasis” of green grass, cleanliness and hope in a neighbourhood that is lacking all three of those things. The second thing that people say is that our kids seem happy and that they have beautiful smiles. I agree. It is hard to give you the opportunity to really see that CSC is an “Oasis” in photos….but I can show you some beautiful CSC smiles. Enjoy. 

Something I saw the other day touched me and has stayed with me ever since.  I was driving down a busy road, a road I often travel down.  I was looking straight ahead, intently focused on my final destination.  I don’t usually look around on that road as it is quite familiar to me, and while driving---let’s just say that there is way too much going on to do that without dire consequences!  There was a lot of traffic so I had to come to a stop. 

I looked around then.  To my right was an open space where once there had been trees and dilapidated storefronts.  There was a new strip of concrete, about 4 feet wide probably and about 25 feet long.  I think it will someday be connected with the road I was driving on---the eventual plan is to expand that road---however, for the time being it was set back about 6 feet from the road.

On that skinny strip of concrete, there were about 7 kids, boys and girls, ranging in age from 4 to 12 probably.  They were playing a game, a game that looked to me to be a combination of baseball and kickball.  There were no marked bases---the kids just seemed to know.  And they did not have a bat---they alternately used their arms or legs and they used wadded up paper for their ball.  There were not enough kids to have teams really, but they were definitely playing hard and having fun.

I watched all of that in a matter of a few seconds before traffic began to move again.  I had a mix of reactions to that scene.  I was impressed by their creativity and their energy.  I was saddened by the small and ill-equipped “playground” they were using.  I was aware that there were no adults around and that very small children were playing dangerously near a very busy road.  I was happy to see the smiles on their faces and the excitement they had for their play!

Then I thought of our kids.  They played like this before they came to CSC---for many, it was in even worse conditions.  Sometimes they talk about it---games they played, kids they played with or that they didn’t really play because they were begging or helping their family members earn money for food.  And then I thought of how they play now and where they play now.  They have grass to run in or to crash into when they are still too unstable to maneuver around on Rollerblades!  They have swings and slides and bikes and scooters.  And helmets!  They have jump ropes and soccer goal posts.  They have adults to sit next to, hold on to or talk with. 

Visitors have often described CSC as an oasis, a haven.  When the green gate opens and you enter the facility, what you see is very different from the dirt, and chaos of the busy, city streets of Cebu.  The streets our kids are all too familiar with---the streets that were their playground, their workplace and their home.

Thanks for caring about CSC.  Thanks for giving to this organization.  Thanks for making this oasis an everyday reality for our kids.  They have a safe place to live and play because of you!  God Bless you!

Last night Marlys and I had the chance to attend a capital campaign kickoff for Habitat for Humanity here in Cebu. We attended with Paul and Shari Reasoner. Paul has been working with HFH, with the intention of getting homes built for some of our workers. He has been raising funds in Minnesota, and coordinating with the Habitat leadership, both in Manila and here in Cebu. Habitat is very interested in working with our employees to build homes. It is exciting to see this developing and to imagine what a huge difference it will make to them and their families to have quality housing.

Watching the videos and listening to the speakers last night, I was struck, once again, with just what a quality organization Habitat for Humanity is. They have a great reputation for financial integrity and are meeting basic needs around the world. They are successful because they maintain their high standards, they keep their focus on what it is they are called to do, and they combine compassion with hard and practical work.

I think that CSC has similar strengths to Habitat, though we function on a much smaller scale. I think that our success over the years has been that we have kept our focus on what God has called us to do: to take care of homeless children in the Philippines.  While the needs of children in the Philippines are great, and seemingly insurmountable, we are involved in practical ministry, caring for some of these kids, offering hope and a better future.

I think that, like HFH, people have come to trust CSC for the way we go about our work and the way that we manage our people and our funds. I hope that we will always be an organization of integrity. We certainly are committed to that, from our staff to our board of directors. I hope that when people hear CSC mentioned, they will know easily know what it is we do, why we do it, and how we do it.