Cebu girls home seeks security improvements; the story of one orphan girl’s path to success and her dream to be a teacher

Photo: Your support of this program has made a world of difference for this girl who lives at our girls home on the island of Cebu, Philippines.

Today we bring you an update from our native team on the island of Cebu, Philippines — we want to share their urgent need to install security lighting down the main driveway leading to and from our main campus. The main driveway approaching our campus is very dark and we feel it is dangerous for our children when leaving to walk home from the after school care program. So to avoid any incidents in the future, we are seeking to raise $1,875 to purchase 10 outdoor lamps, 20 metal pipes, 8 rolls of wire, 40 plastic PVC pipes, 10 junction boxes, and 3 gallons of red paint to create the lighting system.

In other news, thanks to your support, we were able to purchase 20 more desks for our Children’s Hope Center which now gives all 40 of the children enrolled a comfortable place to sit and work on their studies. This provision is especially timely as our children started back to school at the end of October. We are now hoping to raise sufficient funds to buy 4 air conditioning units to keep the children cool and comfortable at the Hope Center during the hot spring and summer months of the school year.

We are also happy that our farmland enterprise on Cebu continues to flourish. We recently planted 25 new banana trees, which brings our current total number of trees on our banana grove to 128. Our last banana harvest on October 5th yielded 6 large stalks of bananas — an average single bunch yields a profit of $6.00 which quickly adds up since we harvest bananas weekly. It may not sound like much but in the local economy $36 equals several days’ wages. We also recently planted more papaya plants, bitter gourds, and eggplants, and we look forward to a generous harvest of these crops and our coconuts by March.

We are happy to report that our hen house project has been operating successfully since we recently relaunched it as integral part of our farmland enterprise. All 250 of our hens in the hen house have now reached maturity and egg production has therefore reached optimal levels — our hens are currently laying an average of 190 eggs per day. There is such a high demand for fresh eggs from local neighbors that our native team has been selling them on a wait listed basis directly to the consumers every day. Along with your support, our hen house project will help with some of our funding challenges, providing more profits to help at-risk children and orphans succeed in school. In addition, two of our goats recently gave birth to 2 baby goats each, so we now have 4 new goats living on our goat farm.

We also want to share the redemptive story of a child living at our orphan home, 17-year-old Analyn.* She came to live with us in 2011 when she was 12 years old because her family situation was very difficult for her and her 4 brothers. Analyn and her brothers were not able to continue in school due to their parents’ extreme poverty. When Analyn lived with her parents (who are simple tenant farmers) and brothers, they lived in a very small home made of flimsy materials, and there was only one room where they all slept together with no privacy. Sometimes they did not have enough to eat and were not able to buy new clothes. Their living situation was so impoverished that sometimes Analyn and her brothers would stay at a friend’s house to receive meals and more comfortable sleeping situations.

Since Analyn has come to live with us at the orphan home, she has been very happy because she can now attend school and receives loving support from our teachers and staff members. She is currently in the 12th grade, has excelled in her studies, and will be graduating from high school in March. Thanks to the nutrition, clean living conditions, and quality education we’ve been able to provide her with, she is now well equipped to gain entrance to university studies that will allow her to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a school teacher. Her favorite thing to do when she is not studying is to play volleyball. She says of the home and her experience these past several years, “I am so thankful for this home and the love of my new family here. I have learned so much during my time here. It will always be home to me.”

We remain very thankful for your continual prayers and generous support which enable us to continue to bless the lives of our children and to break the tragic cycle of poverty.

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* Names are changed to protect our program beneficiaries.

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