On July 29th, my team arrived in Manila, Philippines; our last destination on the World Race!
Our squad of 19 girls was picked up from the International airport by our ministry host, Norm and his son-in-law Austin and proceeded to drive an hour and half through Manila traffic (one of the worst in the world) to get to KIM Ministry. (Kids International Ministries)
What I didn’t realize was that we were going to be living in World Race paradise while doing ministry with KIM.
Upon arriving we were given a quick run down of the facility. Our first stop was to the balcony that over looks an amazing swimming pool that has two slides and platform jumps.
He then preceded to tell us that they have a spa room where you can get inexpensive massages, manicures, pedicures and hair cuts to support local women and their families. AKA it’s part of ministry! — Lets just say I had a massage the following day and I plan to get a couple more…you know for ministry’s sake 😉
Norm also informed us that all the water is filtered AND they have a large ice machine! — a rarity on the race.
Last but not least, Norm told us they have a gym, but in order to use it we would need to clean it out and organize it. — The following day we spent a couple hours doing just that so now we have a gym!
Our teams were given a couple options for sleeping arrangements. My team called dibs on the first floor rooms, where we have several beds, two western bathrooms and high powered fans to keep us cool. Plus we were given cotton towels and access to free laundry!
So not only are our accommodations killer, but this ministry organization is incredible!
The following morning, Norm gave us an orientation/tour of all their facilities and ministries.
Children’s Home/School
We learned that KIM Ministry started as a children’s home by an American family. It started with little kids, but after a year or two it was time for them to go to preschool and kindergarten. Because the school system isn’t very good in the Philippines (typical classroom has 50-100 kids) and they wanted their children to receive a quality education with Christian principles, the staff decided to school them.
From there, as the kids in the Children’s home moved up in grade levels, they decided to invite the Care Givers’ children to go to school. The following years they started inviting more and more kids from the neighborhood and community to join.
The school now has 500 children and goes all the way up to 10th grade!
The Children’s Home and schools are their main ministry focus. Their children’s home currently has 40-50 kids. They are as young as 2 years old and as old as 15 years old. The government brings kids to them and they usually stay anywhere from 3-7 years. Some of the kids are up for adoption; however when possible they work to reunify kids with their parents.
When kids reach 15 years old, they are legally required to leave the Children’s Home. For that reason, KIM is trying to start an independent living program for them to transition into afterwards.
Feedings
In addition to nearly free schooling ($2/month), the kids in need (approximately 150-200 students) receive a free lunch. Parents who can’t afford to pay the $2 are asked to help cook and clean.
In 2009, when a typhoon Ondoy flooded Manila (30ft of water in the roads), teams here started a feeding outreach. They got in touch with an organization in the US called Orphan Grain Train that sent them 1200 boxes of food. Since then, the feedings have not stopped; in fact it’s expanded.
Orphan Grain Train continues to send them boxes of food. Currently they receive 6-7 containers a year with 1200 boxes per container, which is way more food than they need. They actually get so much food that they use only about 10%, so they give the rest to other churches, Children’s homes and organizations to help their communities.
Pregnancy Clinic
KIM ministry also runs a pregnancy clinic. It started as a result of a team that had a couple nurses and midwives who were helping out in the community and met some young pregnant teens. They built relationships with them and found out they had no idea how to care for a baby. They were under the impression that if you starve yourself the last trimester, the baby will be smaller and easier to deliver. These teens also had poor nutrition and no prenatal vitamins. The team wanted to help these young moms, so they gathered vitamins for them.
Now an organization, Vitamin Angel, sends them boxes of vitamins. Women can come to the clinic for free checkups/measurements, vitamins and eggs. During this clinic, the women also hear a short devotional.
Teams
Norm informed us that he sees teams as part of their ministry. Every year they get about 800-1000 people that come through KIM to help volunteer. He sees it an an incredible opportunity to invest in their lives. They have Christians, non-Christians, schools, church groups, families, and other organizations come through. Often they have never seen poverty or had their heart touched by what they’ve seen so they leave here changed. Several non-believers come to Christ as a result.
Teams who come here are typically involved in a construction project. It’s past teams over the years who helped build the facilities, schools, Children’s Home, library, pool and even homes for families in the community. As a result of KIM and teams, the surrounding neighborhood has completely transformed over the last 10 years. — I can’t imagine what it looked like back then.
Future/Projects in the works
KIM is not stopping there. Soon they will be starting another school to allow further education after 10th grade. They are going to build a gynamsium (Filipinos LOVE basketball) that can also be used for graduations. They also want to build a soccer field because currently there is no place around here for them to play. Their goal is to use sports as a means to bring the community together, build relationships and share the gospel.
Norm also took us to a plot of land that they will soon use to train pastors how to farm. These pastors will then be able to use the produce to support their family, children’s home and other ministries. However, eventually they hope to make this space a vocational/technical school where they can teach skills in automotive and wood working.
Our Involvement
This past week, our squad has dabbled in just about everything. Our three teams rotate between helping out in the Children’s Home, feedings, pregnancy clinic and helping out with projects around the campus including painting and cleaning/organizing their storage closet.
At the Children’s Home we help entertain a handful of 2-3-year-old toddlers in the morning and afternoon. At 7pm we go back to lead a 15 minute worship/devotional for all the kids.
For the pregnancy clinic, we were quickly taught how to check the pregnant women’s blood pressure as well as measure their baby’s size and monitor their heartbeat. We also led a 10-minute devotional.
Three of my teammates were even able to help deliver a baby! I’m up next on the list! We also added a new team member for 2 days; a 5 day old baby whose mom was recovering in the hospital. Two of my teammates watched him overnight waking up every couple hours to feed him. The following day I had the honor and privilege of babysitting Prince for 4 hours! We were excited that the mom was able to reunite with him later that night, but at the same we were sad saying goodbye to our little guy who quickly stole our hearts.
In addition to my team’s assigned ministry day where we went on the morning and evening feeding excursions, we’ve also had a couple days of a squad-wide feedings. On Saturday, we actually traveled to the poorest town in Manila. No picture or description could do justice to the level of poverty and smells we encountered in Tondo. (I dare you to Google search “Tondo, Philippines”).
Overall it’s been an awesome experience thus far. I am so impressed by this ministry and all that they have, are and will do in Manila. It’s been a huge blessing to be here and partake in all of these ministries and definitely eye-opening.
If you’re ever looking for a place to go on a mission’s trip, I would highly recommend checking out KIM Ministry! Check out their website here: https://www.kidsim.org/
We ONLY have one more full week of ministry here before we leave and head up to the Banaue Rice Terraces for our pilgrimage.
