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Faith Children's Home - Bohol, Philippines
Pastor Allan Manzanilla is the CRC National Leader in the Philippines. He travels to the Home by boat from Cebu several times a month, and he writes …
Last Christmas holiday we traveled with the nine children by boat from Bohol to Cebu to spend Christmas and New Year with us. We took them around to see the sites of Cebu City. They joined our Church family for a Fun Day and church services. They also helped the team doing children’s outreaches and visited the Philippines School of Ministry and it’s new building which be officially opened on May 5th, 2007. People were amazed at the maturity of the children and their ability to share their testimonies publicly, to lead prayer groups and to minister to younger kids as well. They really enjoyed their time and some people from the church blessed them with some small gifts.
Ariel, the 10th Child, Comes Into Our Home
On January 10th, Ariel Siapel Oro came into the Home. He is 13 yrs old, born on August 31, 1993. He was originally to be the first child to come to our Home. He attended the children’s ministry program that we conduct in his home place. He had shown an unwillingness to come earlier, not wanting to be away from his mother who is a widow with 3 other children all sisters. Ariel was the youngest. Their mother Josefina, earns a small income by providing a laundry service. But she has some health problems and is unable to adequately look after her children.
Because of this, Ariel stopped going to school and went out gathering food from the rubbish bins and dumpsites to help his family survive. There were times also that other boys took him with them to steal food from other houses. His mother and sisters are being helped by the local church here in Mandaue. I spoke to them again , and Ariel was released by his family to be cared for at Faith Children’s Home, His school records are being transferred in time for the commencement of the school term.
The Children's Health
Due to the change in the weather some children had coughs and colds last month. Joselito had a thorough medical check to make sure that he did not have TB, as he showed some signs of it when he first came to the Home. The doctor suggested that all the children should have a test to make sure that none of them have TB which is prevelant in most of the places that they came from. This will cost 550 pesos ( approx $15 each) .We will take them to the doctor for a test. We allocated funds for their vitamins also and the nutritional level of their food has been improved since last December. We implemented a special menu for them and Siony (Cleofe’s sister) does very well in managing the budget. They have all put on weight which is a good sign.
Their Schooling
The nine kids are doing well except for two, Joselito and Raymond, who are a bit slow in catching up. The staff have allocated time for them every night for tutorials. The other seven kids are doing well. Shiramae, Julius and Javeson are the top three students in their class and two others are in the top 10. Two more are improving and are above average. They have lots of friends in the school and are very close to their teachers. There’s a strict monitoring of their progress with the cooperation of the Children Home’s Staff and teachers. Nine of the children sat an exam last week for admission to the next level. We conduct a feeding program once a month in the school feeding 160 malnourished kids. Funds for this are raised by local outreach churches. On Thursdays we hold Bible Studies for 375 kids at the school.
The teams which came from Australia did some wall paintings and drawings with the children - the kids loved it! They also gave some toys and clothing to the children.
Their Spiritual Lives and Attitudes Progress
The kids all came from difficult environments - rejection , hurts, physical abuse , broken homes, etc. It will take time for them to be healed and be restored. Their negative habits of disrespect, hatred and stealing used as weapons for survival were very evident when they first came. But we praise God for His grace - He is working powerfully. Since being filled with the Spirit there has been a consistent change in their attitudes and outlook in life. They have a daily morning devotion before going to school and night prayers. Their faith is being developed and their attitudes and bad habits are gradually being changed.
On behalf of the kids and our staff we would like to thank you for your help to see these kids’ lives being transformed by the wonderful grace of God .
God bless you !
Sincerely, Ps Allan and Cleo Manzanilla