Daniel and Jacob were born three months pre-mature because their mother was taking poison in hopes of aborting them. She was poor and unable to care for them. The clinic took the twins and paid for their hospital bills as they spent the first couple of months in an incubator.
When they were healthy enough they came to live and be cared for at the Faith Family Children’s Home. Here they are today five months old, five fingers, five toes perfectly healthy and happy boys! It is truly a miracle that they are alive, let alone so healthy!
They now live in the infant and toddler house (which is actually on the first floor of the house we are living in). we get the privilege of helping to care for Daniel and Jacob, along with the other three toddlers at the home. The rest of the children are next door, about 40 children ranging in ages from 5-13.
While here in Manilla the whole June squad is staying in a house in the middle of a squatter camp.
It is a full house to be sure, but it is great that we can all be together this month and really live in community.
I really like it when we can all be together – never a dull moment around these parts!
I am so excited about the things we will be investing in this month!
There are a plethora of things to get involved in. Everyone is plugging into their passion and where they fit best to serve.
While here we will be investing in:
– The orphans at the Children’s home (www.kidsim.org)
– Tutoring/teaching at the community school
– Doing a clean up project — cleaning up the roads – installing toilets – installing water — installing showers — installing pipes for proper sewage removal preventing it from running into the streets — making a community garden
– Visiting prison inmates
(Angel kissing baby Andrew – two of the children we have
the privilege to care for at the children’s home)
– Media projects – such as web site help – pictures being updated for the kids to help in the adoption process
– Administrative / organizational help
– Painting
– Free Health clinic
– Free dentist clinic
– Helping to do logistic work for The Homeless World Cup (www.homelessworldcup.org)
– And last but certainly not least a couple of people are working on a chicken selling business for the locals and training them to be entrepreneurs
– On another front some are also getting involved in working with a prostitute ministry in down town Manila. I am still finding out details but I really would like to be involved!
….whew — its a lot — but there are a lot of us and I am super excited for all that is going on here and all the Lord is doing!
Jeff Long is the founder and president of this organization. He originally moved to the Philippines to work at Faith Academy, an international school primarily for missionary kids. The school is located near a squatter camp that has many street children and in poverty. One day his daughter asked him why they were not doing more for the street kids? This got Jeff and his wife thinking and the New Faith Family Children’s Home in Manila was born. Jeff does not want to just be this “white man” coming to “fix” the problems in the community but really empowers the locals to get involved. The majority of his staff are Philippine locals.
Jeff & Colene’s role is to enable and empower Christian’s to involve themselves in the children’s homes and ministry centers – to motivate people to engage in ministry and reach out to meet the needs of children on the streets of Manila and other cities in the Philippines and eventually other countries throughout SE Asia. It is the desire of their heart to save these children from future neglect, abuse and abandonment and to take these little ones and make disciples of Christ and see them impact their world in the Philippines and beyond.
