Staff Blog

Children are explorers. Curiosity often leads them to peek inside the doorknob's key hole; enthralls them to touch a squealing kettle; and ferry their feet into places where they are not allowed to be. Often, boundaries are broken.

Children are expressive. Emotions often steer their ship as they navigate their social world. They jump, giggle, grin, and laugh when happy. A frown, a downturned face, and a shoulder-drop paint their sadness. Talking back, kicking the wall, shutting down, spitting, throwing things, and crying are the easiest cards to pull out when they are angry. Often, adults' patience is challenged.

Children, most of the time, do not listen, nor take heed of instructions and reminders; they have a loose grip of morality that even memory verses fall short of reminding them to be good. But this does not mean we stop teaching them to be kind. This is to remind us that children are fallible and that they do not have the skill sets to fully self-manage; even adults have difficulty regulating themselves, too. And children who misbehave a lot are often painted with a different color palette, viewed as a problematic child.

At CSC, children do not only go through these developmental obstacles. They are also bringing with them their adverse experiences. For some children, this baggage magnifies their difficulty to self-regulate. Without a proper lens, dealing with these children might be quite challenging. As adults, the common response is to control these behaviors but with the aid of Trauma Informed Care, houseparents, caregivers, and other staff have a better understanding of the underlying factors of such behaviors. Rather than seeking control, comfort is offered. Rather than spending time preaching the rules and whatnots, cultivating a relationship is the focus. Rather than seeing the child as problematic, the child is seen as a work in progress, still growing to reach his/her full potential, and to give the child a chance to lead a more meaningful life. Through Trauma Informed Care, we are always reminded with how Khalil Gibran viewed how children should be guided. In his poem, he said:

"...You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
 For they have their own thoughts.
 You may house their bodies but not their souls,
 For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
 You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
 For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
 You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
 The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
 Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
 For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
Khalil Gibran, excerpt from On Children

Kids or adults, men or women, nobody loves to see needles. It's still a needle, no matter how tiny its hole may be or how small it is. Giving vaccines could be challenging as it would hurt the child, the person holding the child, and the one giving the shot in different ways. Poking tiny little arms or thighs with a fluid-filled syringe containing different ingredients that help the body to build immunity against various diseases is not pleasing stuff. However, as adults and advocates of these vulnerable kids, we chose to submit them to these immunization shots because we know it will bring them better protection against illnesses later. That is what love is sometimes, as the scripture says in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Just as the Father sacrificially gave His only son for us imperfect people to have everlasting life with Him, we also, as stewards of these kids entrusted to us by God first before the government, always give thought and act on what is good and for the best interest of these kids.

Meet a delightful five-year-old who is eagerly anticipating his birthday this month.

Four months ago, whenever I had a chance to talk with him, the topic of our conversation was always his birthday. He was already excited for his next birthday! But, unlike other children who come up to me telling me what birthday gifts they want to receive, this boy had asked that he and I should celebrate our birthdays together, since mine is in April. He wants me to pray for him on his birthday and that he will pray for me.

This exchange of conversation has been going on since then. What struck me the most is this five-year-old boy giving a particular importance for prayer, birthday prayer to be specific. This is our hope. For children to have a heart of prayer. And for us at CSC, to be picked by the birthday celebrant to pray for them is such an honor. If you are celebrating your birthday or just celebrated your birthday, I pray that you will be a blessing to others and that the Lord will use you mightily!

Blessed to be a Blessing

Another year is upon us. Already! Someone once said, "The days are long, but the years are short." I'm not so sure any more. It seems that time is moving faster and faster, at lease for me it is. So, what do we do?! We LOOK FORWARD with anticipation for all that God will do with the time He gives us and consider ourselves BLESSED—and blessed to be a blessing.

Henri Nouwen writes, "It is remarkable how easy it is to bless others, to speak good things to and about them, to call forth their beauty and truth, when you yourself are in touch with your own blessedness. The blessed one always blesses. And people want to be blessed! The voice that calls us the Beloved will give us words to bless others and reveal to them that they are no less blessed than we."

For CSC, the new year holds countless opportunities. There will be birthdays to celebrate. There will be comings and goings of children who enter our homes and those who are placed with families. There will be many milestones to celebrate, both for the children in our care AND for the employees who care for them. Not to mention there is a massive construction project going on currently that, Lord willing, will be ready for move-in at the end of the year—but such much to do before then for that to happen!

We at CSC commit the year to upholding our Mission as a way of being blessed to be a blessing. We know first and foremost that we exist to glorify God and demonstrate His love to those around us—being a blessing. We look forward to all that comes our way and we hope that, just maybe, you will cross our path at some point in the year, too.

Blessings,

(names removed for privacy)

As adults, we typically abhor traffic. A commute that takes 3 or 4-times longer than usual would be exhausting, leaving us on the verge of tears or on the verge of calling it quits. There are, however, those rare occasions when traffic jams can be one of the most amazing, uplifting, and life-altering experiences.

Not long ago, I walked into the Eicher home as [John] and [Jane] were preparing their packed lunches. I closed my rain-soaked umbrella, set it by the door, and made my way towards the kitchen where they worked diligently and with purpose. In an hour, they would be leaving for their second day of school.

"Uncle Roberto, you won't believe what happened yesterday," yelled [Jane].
"Yeah, it took us almost two hours to get home," added [John]. "It was amazing!"

Initially, I was confused by their statements. Yesterday was their first day at the University of Cebu. In fact, I had gone to the Eicher Home specifically to ask them about it. How were their teachers? How was the campus? How was the commute? Judging by their words, their first day of school was awful, and yet they seemed overjoyed and anxious to get back.

"What happened? Tell me about it," I asked.

They proceeded to tell me that the rain wreaked havoc on the roads; not a single vehicle was moving when they started their commute home. On top of that, all the Jeepneys were full, but even if they could get onto one it would likely be stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic from downtown to Banawa. They told me that they, along with the other CSC residents that attend UC (7 in total) decided to start walking together towards home while keeping an eye out for open seats on a jeepney. They eventually made their way to One Pavilion in Guadalupe when they called a house father to come pick them up and bring them the rest of the way.

I was in shock, but they were overjoyed. As they were sharing their story, it became clear that the source of their excitement was rooted in a deep sense of accomplishment. In their minds and in their hearts, they had finally done it. They had been taught and trusted by their houseparents and all of us at CSC to commute to school on their own, and they were able to accomplish the task on their first try, on their very first day, and in the face of difficult circumstances. In that moment, they had taken a big step towards independence and adulthood. Plus, they were able to experience something that, in many ways, is quintessentially Cebuano and quintessentially Filipino; something that they had heard every adult, every laborer, every taxi and jeepney driver, every Auntie and Uncle at CSC complain about. They were able to experience traffic, and like responsible adults, they didn't give up. They found a way to make it home, finish their schoolwork, and prepare themselves to do it all over again.

As I bid them farewell and opened my umbrella, I couldn't help but wonder what new and amazing things their second day of school would bring.