Joel's Journal

There are many great days at CSC for each kid.  Going on the beach, playing in a baseball game, ice cream and a movie, any number of school activities, and their birthday party are all up there on the list of memorable days.  This past weekend, several kids had their second best day at CSC!  They were told they will be adopted and were able to see pictures of their new family!  The kids walk into a room with their house parents and all the CSC missionary staff, so right away they suspect something.  Once the kids are told, the reactions differ.  It is hard to know how to react to the biggest prayer/hope/dream of your life being answered.  After the initial shock, they go and share the news with the other kids and they are all smiles.

Have you guessed what the Best Day at CSC is for the kids?  The day the kid gets to join their adoptive family!

CSC is here for the children.  I came here to help care for them.  The longer I am at CSC the more I realize that it is a HUGE team effort.  The American missionaries (I am one of them) are by no means the only people caring and providing for the children.  There are childcare workers (aunties), guards, social workers, accountants, teachers, therapists, guards, Stateside office staff, etc.  Those are just the people employed by CSC.  Local people also lend a hand in helping care for the children as well as supporters around the world. 

I have been able to spend time with some of the workers at CSC outside of working hours.  Several of us found we have a common interest in riding bicycles. In the past year, we have have met up several times at Jollibee (Filipino fastfood chain) early in the morning to pedal.  The traffic and scenery keep you on your toes through the entire ride.  When my dad was here in Cebu in June, we made sure to organize a ride up the coast.  Our group in is a make shift group of guys.  One guy works at CSC part time, another used to work at CSC, another puts in more hours than there are hours in the day and there is me, the odd-ball American.  Having a common bond in our interest for biking has been a real joy. 

In January, councilor Victor and I started a Bible study with the older boys.  Every Wednesday we gather the boys 13 and above and head to our usual meeting place--the Children of Hope School library.  We started by looking at men in the Bible and how God used them and worked through them.

There is a fine line for teen boys between having fun learning, joking, being engaged in the topic and complete chaos.  It is great when the group can walk that line.  Victor and I want the boys to be comfortable and relaxed so discussions can be candid and open.  The silliness and comfort levels seem be settling in at a good balance.  The boys are opening up more, asking more questions, offering more ideas.  When it comes time to close in prayer, all the boys shout out prayer requests from thanking supporters to new construction, healing sick kids to asking for adoptive parents.  However, it is hard to get the boys to volunteer to offer up the requests in the group.  Over the past months, Joevanie and Christian have stepped forward to pray almost each night.  Joevanie has since left for adoption, but Christian is picking up the slack.  The moments of openness and volunteering to pray are encouragements for me. 

Something in Boys' Club must be fun. 

• The 12 year old boys count down the days until the first night they can join. 
• Throughout the day on Wednesdays, I am asked several times, "We have boys' club tonight?" 
  
• Joemar calls Boys' Club "church."  Monday mornings Joemar is already asking me when we have "church" next. (Joemar is a 33 year old guy with mental limitations.  He can hold three or four thoughts at a time.) 
• The girls keep asking to join.  However, the criteria for attending Boys' Club is strict: 1) You must be a male.  2) You must be 13 years or older.

Birthdays are a big deal here. For the kids at the shelter it is one of the few days that all attention is on them.  My birthday just passed so it was my turn to be the center of attention.  Bart (almost 5 years old) wished me a happy birthday by saying, "Happy Birthday Bungot."  Bungot means beard in Cebuano.  He had decided that sounded better than Uncle Joel.  A couple days later at Argei Kem's birthday party I sat at the little kids table with Bart and his little sister Jashly (3).  Bart was still wishing me a "Happy Birthday Bungot."  He started chanting it and pulling my goatee.  Jashly joined in with the chanting and pulling.

Two years have passed since the two new buildings started going up.  Now the Duterte House and Frankie Wright Center have been finished!  It is an extremely exciting time at CSC.  The children, staff, workers and visitors are all smiles when these beautiful buildings are mentioned. 

Here is a video tour of the new Duterte Home. It is a beautiful building designed by Alan Wright, addressing the specific needs of CSC. The entire building is handicap accessible and has two rooms specifically for handicapped residents. The center courtyard and its skylights make for a striking entrance. There is a lot of storage space in the basement. And, of course, there is a nursery, bedrooms, dining room, kitchen, house parents' apartment and places for the children to play and hang out. It is exciting to have the Duterte Home finished!
   

Here is a video tour of the Frankie Wright Center. This new infirmary building will be a huge improvement from the existing three-room infirmary. The Frankie Wright Center has a bigger office and laboratory for the CSC medical staff. It also has six isolation rooms surrounding a nurses station, making it easier to look after more sick children at one time.