Such bright students!
4th grade class in Zambales
4th Graders in Zambales
1st graders in Zambales
Friday, August 14, 2009
Teaching School!
Teaching the elementary and highschool age kids in Baguio- having fun with the word "supercaligfragilisticexpialidocious"
Such bright students!
4th grade class in Zambales
4th Graders in Zambales
1st graders in Zambales
Such bright students!
4th grade class in Zambales
4th Graders in Zambales
1st graders in Zambales
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tagalog
Tagalog is confusing.... I looked up the word "cut" and this is what I found...
Cut (break) pumutol
Cut (slice) naghiwa
Cut (chop) nagtadtad
Cut (vegetables) naggayat
Cut (with scissors) naggupit
Cut (with axe) nagsibak
Cut (tear off) pumunit
Cut (behead) nagpugot
Cut (remove) nagtanggal
Oh dear...
:-P
Cut (break) pumutol
Cut (slice) naghiwa
Cut (chop) nagtadtad
Cut (vegetables) naggayat
Cut (with scissors) naggupit
Cut (with axe) nagsibak
Cut (tear off) pumunit
Cut (behead) nagpugot
Cut (remove) nagtanggal
Oh dear...
:-P
Monday, June 15, 2009
CONCERT FOR LIFE Photos
The "Concert for Life" was held in the ballroom of the Heritage Hotel in Manila. There was room for 500 guests and we still had people standing in the back!
SOTH kids singing "I believe I can Fly" with guest artist Drae Ybanez, finalist from "Philippine Idol"
Nathan and Ruth Mejica, directors of SOTH, singing "The Prayer"- they had many audience members in tears!
Another view of the guests
The SOTH band performed several songs and were appluded louder than some of the popular Filipino artists that also performed at the concert! *Hannah's heart swells with pride* :-D
SOTH kids waiting for thier cue backstage
Concert guests in the lobby near registration, information, and merch tables (One of my projects- oversaw the kids making t-shirts, jewlery, paintings, etc to sell to the guests.
VIP packages- another of my assignments! Each one contatined a DVD presentation about SOTH, a brochure, a pledge card, and a handmade gift and thank you card made by the SOTH kids.
The art gallery! This was my favorite thing I worked on and it turned out lovely the night of the concert...
Our official poster for the concert!
SOTH kids singing "I believe I can Fly" with guest artist Drae Ybanez, finalist from "Philippine Idol"
Nathan and Ruth Mejica, directors of SOTH, singing "The Prayer"- they had many audience members in tears!
Another view of the guests
The SOTH band performed several songs and were appluded louder than some of the popular Filipino artists that also performed at the concert! *Hannah's heart swells with pride* :-D
SOTH kids waiting for thier cue backstage
Concert guests in the lobby near registration, information, and merch tables (One of my projects- oversaw the kids making t-shirts, jewlery, paintings, etc to sell to the guests.
VIP packages- another of my assignments! Each one contatined a DVD presentation about SOTH, a brochure, a pledge card, and a handmade gift and thank you card made by the SOTH kids.
The art gallery! This was my favorite thing I worked on and it turned out lovely the night of the concert...
Our official poster for the concert!
June 16th Update
Hi Everyone!
Once again it’s taken me way to long to get out an update…. :-/
I know that everyone has been waiting for news on our big concert on May 16th! It went quite well, in my opinion, for being Shepherd of the Hill’s very first big event- Thanks so much for your prayers! Unfortunately, there were a lot of glitches the night of the concert- the program went overtime and people started to leave before the concert was over, we had some technical difficulties and weren’t able to show the video presentation about SOTH that Kuya Nathan worked really hard on, etc. The SOTH staff were pretty discouraged after the event, especially since we raised very little money. I think, though, that the experience that we gained through doing the event was priceless and next time we’ll have greater success! I learned a lot through the process of preparing for the concert, too, and all of my assignments for the event turned out pretty well- I was able to get a few good sponsors to cover the costs of putting on the event, and we had quite a few VIP guests in attendance (Thanks Lord!). I also spent a lot of time working on putting together a kid’s artwork/photo gallery, and creating VIP packages for all our important guests as well as thank-you packages for all the artists and entertainers who participated. We had 12 different Filipino artist/celebrities perform/appear at the event, all Christians and some quite well known, so that was exciting! It’ll be valuable to be able to have those contacts now- and most of them were so moved by the kids of SOTH that they want to help us out in the future too!
The weeks from the concert until now have been the hardest of my time here in the Philippines. I’ve been dealing with a lot of tension between the leadership here and myself. I could use a lot of prayer, though things are beginning to get A LOT better.
Ok, on to a more recent update (today )- I’m wearing long sleeves! Yeah! I’m high up in the beautiful (cold and rainy!) mountains of Bagiou city, an 8-hour bus trip from Manila. I’ll be here for two weeks to a month helping Teacher Leah, the full time SOTH staff member here. I’m being assigned to teach English (over two hour long sessions every day- whew!) as well as various other random tasks. I am really enjoying the cool weather, as I haven’t been feeling very well and it’s hard to deal with the heat, and I’m also enjoying the more peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. Life at SOTH Baguio is much less stressful and hectic than it is in San Antonio or Manila.
We have just 14 kids here in Bagiou- Anna, Joan, Irma, Marycon, Kristine, Henry, Erwin, Bernard, Larry, Richard, Jeremy, Rustom, Teddy, and Gelyn. Jeremy is the youngest at age 12 and Gelyn is the oldest at 21 (she’s a junior staffer now). There are two staff members here- Teacher Leah, who takes care of all the kid’s schooling and is basically the “house mother”, and Ate Analyn, our social worker who also does a lot of administrative work. We also have a young college grad here now, Ate Edna ( a relative of one of our local supporters), who is staying with us. She is pregnant (was drugged and raped at a party) and she is staying with us until she has the baby because she can’t go back home to her family.
I have to run for now, much to accomplish today!
Once again it’s taken me way to long to get out an update…. :-/
I know that everyone has been waiting for news on our big concert on May 16th! It went quite well, in my opinion, for being Shepherd of the Hill’s very first big event- Thanks so much for your prayers! Unfortunately, there were a lot of glitches the night of the concert- the program went overtime and people started to leave before the concert was over, we had some technical difficulties and weren’t able to show the video presentation about SOTH that Kuya Nathan worked really hard on, etc. The SOTH staff were pretty discouraged after the event, especially since we raised very little money. I think, though, that the experience that we gained through doing the event was priceless and next time we’ll have greater success! I learned a lot through the process of preparing for the concert, too, and all of my assignments for the event turned out pretty well- I was able to get a few good sponsors to cover the costs of putting on the event, and we had quite a few VIP guests in attendance (Thanks Lord!). I also spent a lot of time working on putting together a kid’s artwork/photo gallery, and creating VIP packages for all our important guests as well as thank-you packages for all the artists and entertainers who participated. We had 12 different Filipino artist/celebrities perform/appear at the event, all Christians and some quite well known, so that was exciting! It’ll be valuable to be able to have those contacts now- and most of them were so moved by the kids of SOTH that they want to help us out in the future too!
The weeks from the concert until now have been the hardest of my time here in the Philippines. I’ve been dealing with a lot of tension between the leadership here and myself. I could use a lot of prayer, though things are beginning to get A LOT better.
Ok, on to a more recent update (today )- I’m wearing long sleeves! Yeah! I’m high up in the beautiful (cold and rainy!) mountains of Bagiou city, an 8-hour bus trip from Manila. I’ll be here for two weeks to a month helping Teacher Leah, the full time SOTH staff member here. I’m being assigned to teach English (over two hour long sessions every day- whew!) as well as various other random tasks. I am really enjoying the cool weather, as I haven’t been feeling very well and it’s hard to deal with the heat, and I’m also enjoying the more peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. Life at SOTH Baguio is much less stressful and hectic than it is in San Antonio or Manila.
We have just 14 kids here in Bagiou- Anna, Joan, Irma, Marycon, Kristine, Henry, Erwin, Bernard, Larry, Richard, Jeremy, Rustom, Teddy, and Gelyn. Jeremy is the youngest at age 12 and Gelyn is the oldest at 21 (she’s a junior staffer now). There are two staff members here- Teacher Leah, who takes care of all the kid’s schooling and is basically the “house mother”, and Ate Analyn, our social worker who also does a lot of administrative work. We also have a young college grad here now, Ate Edna ( a relative of one of our local supporters), who is staying with us. She is pregnant (was drugged and raped at a party) and she is staying with us until she has the baby because she can’t go back home to her family.
I have to run for now, much to accomplish today!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A Dozen Things You Don't See in the USA!
#1:It's called "star apple", but it looks and tastes nothing like an apple! It looks sort of like a large plum on the outside, and on the inside it's slimy and tasteless.
#2: Not your typical laundry room! This is where we do all the laundry in project 4, by hand, in large plastic bins.
#3: Whitening creams and lotions are everywhere in the stores here! Ironic, isn't it... in the US, we buy tanning lotions and spend tons of money in tanning salons!
#4:Chicks on a stick! Poor babies... :-(
#5:Bilo-Bilo. This is a Filipino dish that is sort of like hot vegetable/fruit soup. It contains coconut milk, bananas (different than the bananas in the US- cooking bananas), and a sort of sweet potato as well as balls of a sort of dough made with glutunous rice flour.
#6:Chicken Feet! MMmm!!!
#7:People sleeping in the public transportation terminal.
#8: This cute little (big) fuzzy critter (rat) decided to come out for a photo... awww!!
#9: The air conditioning of the van really isn't strong enough to cut through the intense heat, even on full blast... so how to keep the chocolate from melting? Stick it right in the AC vent!
#10: Bamboo as big as trees!!! It's hundreds of years old!
#11:Beetles!!! yummy! (Yes I eat them).
#12: Typical "neighborhood" in one of many, many, slum areas in Manila.
#2: Not your typical laundry room! This is where we do all the laundry in project 4, by hand, in large plastic bins.
#3: Whitening creams and lotions are everywhere in the stores here! Ironic, isn't it... in the US, we buy tanning lotions and spend tons of money in tanning salons!
#4:Chicks on a stick! Poor babies... :-(
#5:Bilo-Bilo. This is a Filipino dish that is sort of like hot vegetable/fruit soup. It contains coconut milk, bananas (different than the bananas in the US- cooking bananas), and a sort of sweet potato as well as balls of a sort of dough made with glutunous rice flour.
#6:Chicken Feet! MMmm!!!
#7:People sleeping in the public transportation terminal.
#8: This cute little (big) fuzzy critter (rat) decided to come out for a photo... awww!!
#9: The air conditioning of the van really isn't strong enough to cut through the intense heat, even on full blast... so how to keep the chocolate from melting? Stick it right in the AC vent!
#10: Bamboo as big as trees!!! It's hundreds of years old!
#11:Beetles!!! yummy! (Yes I eat them).
#12: Typical "neighborhood" in one of many, many, slum areas in Manila.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Three Minutes
I was thinking about my time in the Philippines last April, and was trying to pin down the exact moment when I knew that I couldn't stay away from the Philippines- that I'd be coming back (for good). Here's my story, the story of three minutes that changed my life.
Three Minutes
I knew when I decided to take an eleven day trip overseas last year that I would see things that would wake me up, things that would change me. That’s partly why I wanted to go so badly. I wasn’t disappointed. Shortly after flying from the US to the Philippines, I found myself at a home run by a group of nuns with some of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever seen. It’s a place for the very sick, the very old, and the very young. It’s a place for those that have the least chance of surviving on the streets of Manila. It’s often a place for them to spend a few weeks or days of their lives being cared for and shown the love of Jesus before they die.
Walking inside the front door of the first house in the compound, there were kids everywhere, more than one piled on some of the small beds. Dying kids. Kids with diseases like encephalitis or tuberculosis. I looked at the few nuns scurrying from one child to the next and realized that there was no way that they could possibly care for so many children properly. I guess that they just couldn’t turn anyone away despite the overcrowding. The smell in the air proved that many of the children needing washing or changing. Overwhelmed, I looked up and caught the eyes of one of the sisters. “How can I help you?” A few minutes later, I found myself sitting cross-legged on the floor holding a bowl of runny rice gruel. Gathered around me in a semi-circle were half a dozen tiny malnourished toddlers. They reminded me of scrawny baby birds, opening their mouths and staring at me with eyes that seemed to huge for their tiny bodies. The bowl was empty all too soon. One of the sisters took it from me and motioned to me that she would take care of the babies.
I stood up and wandered into another room, this one holding children of various ages with handicaps or deformities. I found myself drawn to a yellow crib near the center of the room. In it lay a child whose limbs were baldly twisted and bent, looking like nothing more than a tangled mass of skin and bone, really. The child’s hair was closely shaved, and I couldn’t determine the sex. It was impossible to tell the age of the child as well- could have been 7, could have been 13. The child couldn’t speak and didn’t have much mobility, but was responsive to my voice. I watched as the child’s eyes fluttered open and fixed on me. I reached down and grasped the child’s hand, and my grip was returned firmly. I began to sing softly, an old hymn my mother sang to me as a little girl, as tears began to well up in my eyes:
“I am Jesus’ little lamb
Ever glad at heart I am
For my Shepherd gently guides me
Knows my needs and well provides me
Loves me every day the same
Even calls me by my name”
It struck me how fitting those words were. I didn’t know this child’s name, or anything else besides what I could observe, standing beside that crib. But I didn’t need to. This child was known and loved intimately by the Good shepherd who gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart (Isaiah 40:11). I knew that the indescribable love that I felt flooding through me for this unknown child was not mine, and I felt privileged to be an extension of Jesus, holding that hand and singing the words that He wanted to be sung to that child. I think that my words were understood despite the barriers of language and physical disability.
“Who so happy as I am
Even now the Shepherds lamb
And when my short life is ended
By His angel hosts attended
He shall fold me to his breast
Ever in His arms to rest!”
As the last few words of the song escaped my lips, my friends began to call me, telling me that it was time to leave. I didn’t want to go, but I began to peel those little fingers off of mine. The child wouldn’t let go! I couldn’t believe that a child who looked so weak could have such a vice like grip. And those eyes, they were starting to bore into me. I gently tugged my hand away. Not ready to give up, the child’s hand closed around a fistful of my hair as I bent over the crib. One of the sisters had to come over to help me disentangle myself.
My encounter with this child had lasted for only about 3 minutes, but those 3 minutes were enough to make me a misfit. I turned and walked out of the door of that room entirely wrecked. That’s when everything changed for me. I knew that I would never be able to go back to my life as it was before. That little one’s grip had reached around not only my hand but my heart, and I still haven’t been able to pull away. Nearly a year later, I’ve found myself back in the Philippines, and back for good this time. I spend each day surrounded by abandoned and orphaned Filipino kids. I see things that horrify me often, but I also see beautiful examples of the tenderness and compassion of Jesus’ heart. I will forever be thankful for my 3 minutes with Jesus in the form of a child.
Three Minutes
I knew when I decided to take an eleven day trip overseas last year that I would see things that would wake me up, things that would change me. That’s partly why I wanted to go so badly. I wasn’t disappointed. Shortly after flying from the US to the Philippines, I found myself at a home run by a group of nuns with some of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever seen. It’s a place for the very sick, the very old, and the very young. It’s a place for those that have the least chance of surviving on the streets of Manila. It’s often a place for them to spend a few weeks or days of their lives being cared for and shown the love of Jesus before they die.
Walking inside the front door of the first house in the compound, there were kids everywhere, more than one piled on some of the small beds. Dying kids. Kids with diseases like encephalitis or tuberculosis. I looked at the few nuns scurrying from one child to the next and realized that there was no way that they could possibly care for so many children properly. I guess that they just couldn’t turn anyone away despite the overcrowding. The smell in the air proved that many of the children needing washing or changing. Overwhelmed, I looked up and caught the eyes of one of the sisters. “How can I help you?” A few minutes later, I found myself sitting cross-legged on the floor holding a bowl of runny rice gruel. Gathered around me in a semi-circle were half a dozen tiny malnourished toddlers. They reminded me of scrawny baby birds, opening their mouths and staring at me with eyes that seemed to huge for their tiny bodies. The bowl was empty all too soon. One of the sisters took it from me and motioned to me that she would take care of the babies.
I stood up and wandered into another room, this one holding children of various ages with handicaps or deformities. I found myself drawn to a yellow crib near the center of the room. In it lay a child whose limbs were baldly twisted and bent, looking like nothing more than a tangled mass of skin and bone, really. The child’s hair was closely shaved, and I couldn’t determine the sex. It was impossible to tell the age of the child as well- could have been 7, could have been 13. The child couldn’t speak and didn’t have much mobility, but was responsive to my voice. I watched as the child’s eyes fluttered open and fixed on me. I reached down and grasped the child’s hand, and my grip was returned firmly. I began to sing softly, an old hymn my mother sang to me as a little girl, as tears began to well up in my eyes:
“I am Jesus’ little lamb
Ever glad at heart I am
For my Shepherd gently guides me
Knows my needs and well provides me
Loves me every day the same
Even calls me by my name”
It struck me how fitting those words were. I didn’t know this child’s name, or anything else besides what I could observe, standing beside that crib. But I didn’t need to. This child was known and loved intimately by the Good shepherd who gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart (Isaiah 40:11). I knew that the indescribable love that I felt flooding through me for this unknown child was not mine, and I felt privileged to be an extension of Jesus, holding that hand and singing the words that He wanted to be sung to that child. I think that my words were understood despite the barriers of language and physical disability.
“Who so happy as I am
Even now the Shepherds lamb
And when my short life is ended
By His angel hosts attended
He shall fold me to his breast
Ever in His arms to rest!”
As the last few words of the song escaped my lips, my friends began to call me, telling me that it was time to leave. I didn’t want to go, but I began to peel those little fingers off of mine. The child wouldn’t let go! I couldn’t believe that a child who looked so weak could have such a vice like grip. And those eyes, they were starting to bore into me. I gently tugged my hand away. Not ready to give up, the child’s hand closed around a fistful of my hair as I bent over the crib. One of the sisters had to come over to help me disentangle myself.
My encounter with this child had lasted for only about 3 minutes, but those 3 minutes were enough to make me a misfit. I turned and walked out of the door of that room entirely wrecked. That’s when everything changed for me. I knew that I would never be able to go back to my life as it was before. That little one’s grip had reached around not only my hand but my heart, and I still haven’t been able to pull away. Nearly a year later, I’ve found myself back in the Philippines, and back for good this time. I spend each day surrounded by abandoned and orphaned Filipino kids. I see things that horrify me often, but I also see beautiful examples of the tenderness and compassion of Jesus’ heart. I will forever be thankful for my 3 minutes with Jesus in the form of a child.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
