Project 951 & JM

What a fantastic visit to Compassion Project 951 in the middle of Tagbilaran at United Church of Christ of the Philippines.

About 4 years ago our church started a partnership with some churches on this Island through Compassion Australia. About 50 children are now sponsored by members of our church, and 27 of these are at this project. What we didn’t realise until today is that these 27 children are just a fraction of the 565 children who are being sponsored by people from around the world at this particular project. Today we got to meet about 20 of these children for almost 2 hours.

When we arrived at the church and Compassion centre the children were there waiting for us and greeted us warmly with pretty necklaces and a welcome song. A little overwhelmed we quickly got organised and introduced ourselves.

Hamish did a great job teaching a song again, and Elijah was the games master. These activities seemed to work a bit better than yesterday, partly as it was our second time around, and partly as this time it wasn't just with 3-5 year olds who didn't speak English!    

We very much wanted our visit to not just be for us but to come on behalf of all the sponsors of these children, but unfortunately we couldn't fit them in our suitcase - and may have had trouble getting them through customs as well. So instead, many of them had made videos with special messages for their sponsored child. 

The children loved seeing their sponsors, and  receiving the gifts their sponsors had sent with us. It was great fun for me to give these to the children. I did feel a lot like a fat man in a red suit (just can’t remember his name). They patiently waited until everyone had received their gift and had their photo taken, and then there was a great flurry of excitement as they opened them.

We loved getting in amongst them to enjoy their new books, colouring pencils, paints and toys.

The children then showed great skill in writing thank you cards to their sponsors, and then to close, the staff organised them into a circle and asked me to pray for them all. A special moment indeed!

But still the fun continued as Hamish taught the kids a hand clapping game which was very well received.

Finally it was sadly time to say farewell to the children and to be shown around the church. Though the current building isn’t that old, God’s people have been meeting here for 110 years. Last year a whole new education centre of 3 classrooms was funded by a group of Korean sponsors who visit each year. We met Senior Pastor George, the youth Pastor Angelos, and the Conference Pastor (this sounded like a good gig for anyone who likes organising events, but it turns out he doesn't actually pastor conferences. He is the head pastor (= bishop) over the 80 churches on the island.

A very fun and encouraging visit. Looking forward to joining them tomorrow for their monthly service for the families of the sponsored children. Should be around 200 people.

Of course we were not just there to visit on behalf of the sponsors from our church, but to meet our own sponsored child JM. Elijah suggested earlier this year that we sponsor another child and we are so glad to did. JM is a gorgeous little boy who is looking forward to starting school next year. 

It was great to meet him and his mum Mary-Rose at the program, and we then headed out for lunch at the mall. Heaps of room this time in the car – only 6 people and it was 10 minutes on concrete roads. One road could have had three lanes each way – though there wouldn’t have been any point painting the lines on, since everyone would just ignore them anyway!

When we visited Raine yesterday they asked us whether we had Jelly Bean and Choking in Australia. At least that's what I heard. Eventually we worked out that they weren't talking about their latest health scare, but about their fast food restaurants 'Jollibee and Chowking'. 

Elijah had already asked if we could go to Jollibee, so he was excited when it turned out that was where JM and Mary-Rose wanted to go. It has been here in the Philippines even before McDo, and it certainly matches the golden arches for nutritional value and actually filling you up, just with more chicken and rice; but its hugely popular! As a result, fast food it is not - the food came quicker at the restaurant yesterday!

But JM loved the chicken and clearly thought the fries tasted better dipped in coke and pineapple juice.

After lunch we drove to JM’s house. It was not far and we had live directions, which were much better than our friend Google, but the roads in this part of town are very narrow and rocky.

JM lives in a small 2 room house built when his parents were married 4 years ago - concrete floor and thatched walls that still need the inside wood attached to stop the rain coming in. Their wedding photo is the only decoration. An outside fireplace for cooking. The land belongs to Mary-Rose’s mother, so they are surrounded by members of her family. No more than 50 metres away there are large and impressive houses, but most here are very basic.

We met JM’s father Julius and his sister Julia, plus various members of the family. They generously presented us with some souvenirs as gifts, and as we did for Raine, we were delighted to give JM a photo album of our family, and some other gifts, plus some for the whole family. They were all so excited for JM to show us the bike he received from us through Compassion. We didn’t know what they had arranged for him, so it was a great treat to see it.

Mary-rose completed 1 year of college in business administration, but had to stop because the fees were too expensive. She now dreams of starting a simple shop in her house so that she doesn't have to go away from her children to work. She also shared with us her concerns for good health and safety for her family. We had the great privilege of praying with them all. We will continue to pray these things for the whole family, and that the support of the Compassion Project will help them greatly, including JM in completing all his education.

Sadly saying farewell, we struggled back though the crazy traffic and enjoyed being back at our hotel. I played in the pool with my boys and Elijah and I watched my favourite movie of all time Toy Story 2. I think we would all agree that the highlight of the day and the thing that will stay with us for a long time was being with the children and seeing the difference people from our church and their church are making in the lives of these children and their families. 

Everything about what I have seen about this partnership through Compassion in the last two days has recommended it even more to me – investing in children all the way through to independent adulthood by working through the people of the local church to care for the physical and social and spiritual needs of the children; and all through effective, caring and generous staff and volunteers. How great to see it in person!