I am sure each momma would vote for her own, but there are some real cuties here in the Philippines. We left Central America on New Year’s Eve and after 5 flights, multiple hours of layovers, taxis and busses, we finally arrived in Malayblay, Philippines. We are on Mindanao Island working with Kids International Ministries (K.I.M.) at the New Faith Family Children’s Home and Mt. Moriah Camp. There are 23 children living at the children’s home from babies to teenagers.
Working alongside the Filipinos here, we are invited to share daily life with the children. Each morning and each evening, we can help prepare the children either for the day or for bed. They participate in daily devotionals and chores. We have opportunities to help tutor them after school if they need help with homework. We also have a 24 hour baby rotation broken up into 8 hour shifts working with the 2 babies and 4 toddlers.
To be eligible to live at the children’s home, each child must be considered by the government to be unable to receive the necessities of food or shelter from their family. After that determination, the government embarks upon a searching process for a relative willing and able to provide those 2 things to the children. During the searching process, they are welcome to live at the children’s home. If the government determines there are no available relatives to care for the children, the children then become eligible for potential adoption. There are some children adopted from time to time, but as is the case with many places, some children recognize they will grow up here.
I am impressed with how intentional the workers here are about infusing the love of the Lord into the children’s lives. They hear praise and worship music quite a bit (sometimes all day in the babies’ area), they participate in devotionals each morning and each night, they are part of a weekly church service and Bible study on the campus. When the children are going around and doing their chores, I hear them singing or humming worship tunes. I think that’s almost all they know outside of some of the basic ABC type of songs. The memory verse that I see posted everwhere is a great reminder for us all “Do all things without complaining or murmuring” – Philippians 2:14.
Of course, kids are kids. They will fight and talk back and try to stay up too late, but they will also run and laugh and kiss and hug and say whatever is on their mind. There is a real joy in the community here and it is obvious how much the workers here love each of the kids. It is priceless.
Out of respect for the Filipino government and the policies of K.I.M. and the privacy of the children, we are asked to only post pictures of the backs of children’s heads but not to show any faces (side profiles are OK). So, I’m sorry you can’t see in full the joy of these beautiful children, but trust me-they are precious and wonderful! Oh, and the names are changed as well for their protection.
Here are a couple of pieces of some of their stories to give you an idea of who they are and what they have been through. Eric came to the children’s home after his mom made him sniff superglue to curb his appetite so she wouldn’t have to feed him. Charity’s dad is in the local prison and used to visit her once a month in the early days (I have no idea how that worked). One of the children not currently here was a born with multiple and severe issues and disorders since his mom took pills to abort her fetus (obviously unsuccessfully). Although the child is now about 2-3 years old, he is still unable to hold his head up on his own. He is starting to learn how to do it. Although there are pieces of stories that may be shared with us, other stories are not verbalized but seem apparent with the behaviors exhibited. There has definitely been abuse that has done long term damage to many of these children. Others have suffered through neglect. Regardless of where they’ve been, they are here now for me to love on and to help tutor. It’s a great month!
