So this month I lived in Malay Balay on the island of Mindanao
in the Philippines. We worked with
Kids International Ministries at the New Faith Family Childrens Home. There are about 24 kids who live at the
home ranging from a one year old to fourteen years old. Our responsibility was to make sure
that the house was always manned.
So we divided up shifts.
There were morning shifts from 5:30 -9 in the girls and boys rooms to
get them up and showered and ready for school. There were also evening shifts from 3 – 8 in the girls and
boys room for when they came home from school to play with them and then get
them showered and in bed by 8.
Several of us were tutors in the afternoons from 3-8 to make sure that
all the homework was done and help the people working in the boys and girls
rooms if the kids were particularly crazy that day. On the weekends the shifts were longer and covered the whole
day since they weren’t at school
they were 6-1 and 1-8. The
Infants and toddlers always had someone working. The shifts were 6 am -2 pm, 2 pm -10 pm, and 10 pm – 6 am.
Out of the nine teams on my squad five
of us were at this ministry so there were a lot of people to cycle through the
shifts so that we wouldn’t burn out fast.
There were also other projects to be done. For instance we were working on building a soccer field
which meant pulling up a lot of thorny weeds and then digging holes. Going to get sod, fertilizing the holes
with chicken poo and then planting the pieces of sod in the holes. It was an interesting and long process
but always good to have some work to get your hands dirty. For a few days we also worked on the
church they are building on site for Belen and Pastor Larry to both have for
their congregation as well as to live in the attached apartment. We worked on digging trenches, pulling
more weeds, mixing concrete and mortar, and building walls with cement
bricks. We only worked on it for a
few days while the supplies lasted and the architect was their to direct us.
I also was asked to help our contact
Jeremy with a fundraiser that will be taking place in the states in
February. They are trying to raise
money to pay for the kids school tuition which is due in march. So it had been mentioned to him that I
had some experience in video from school and he asked if I would be willing to
make a video for him to show at his dinner to help raise money for the
kids. It was difficult but I was
finally able to finish it the morning we left and give him a dvd copy that I
was fairly pleased with. I would
love to share it with you all but one of the rules relating to kids who are
orphans in the Philippines is that you can not show their faces, share their
stories, or names on the internet where anyone can find them. However, I can email the video or at
least attempt to.
So if you are
interested in seeing it please attach a comment with your email in it and I
will do my best to get that to you.
Thanks for all your prayers this month we dealt with a lot of sickness
and even a few hospital stays for some but other then a small bout with a
stomach bug I made it through a second month with no hospitals or doctors so
praise God for that! And I even
got to skype into my Mom’s birthday party and sing to her which was such a
great thing for my heart.
