Harvesting rice

This is Jun, our farm manager, showing me the latest rice crop that we have just harvested.

On the farm we have our own rice fields that allow us to grow our own rice. Most of the rice we eat here comes from what we grow. There is a three-month dry season when rice won’t grow, so we use that time to grow other crops in the fields. We are not yet 100% fully sustainable but are moving well towards that with most of our foods and we plan to keep increasing that in the future.

The farm is organic for more healthy produce. Here you can see the rice still on the plant, which then needs to be threshed to separate it from the plant. The plant stems become a straw for the animals. The rice then needs to be ground to remove its hull; the hull can be used for cooking on or ground to powder as an organic animal feed. Once the rice is removed from its hull, it is ready for cooking and looks like it does in the shops.

What is left of the plant left in the field will gradually rot down and help fertilise the next crop, supported by lots of our own compost and animal manure which will be added and ploughed in before the next crop is planted.

Jungle party

It was a day of jungle life to celebrate Duncan's birthday! 

Duncan, with his wife Sara, started KNA and are directors of the organisation. They help the whole group in many ways, not only fostering the kids here on the farm but they are always happy to help and offer advice. So his birthday was a big celebration! 

So, a day of jungle activities meant that our lunch was only what we could catch, hunt or gather. We built jungle huts using only natural materials, dressed and danced like the tribal people. And we made fire with no match or lighter. It was also a way for the kids to learn jungle skills, while having a lot of fun, and they loved it. 

There are many different tribes here on Palawan; some in the mountains have maintained their traditional cultures and lifestyle for hundreds of years. We were split into four tribal groups on the island for our games and it was great to see a little of how the tribes used to live and how some still chose to live. 

It is amazing that even though it is quite a small island it still has several very distinct people groups or tribes. There is also several different languages over the island. Tagalog has become the national language of the Philippines, so most can understand each other now, but before it was difficult as the native languages were so different they couldn’t understand each other. Most Filipino people today still speak their native tribal language as well as Tagalog.

Engagement Pamahikan

Big news... well, for me! I am very happy to say that I am now engaged to the beautiful Shiela May Carmaran, who also works at KNA. 

Here in the Philippines culture there is an important meeting of the two families that is an important part of getting engaged. This is called a Pamahikan. My Mum and Dad have just been out here to visit me, so an important date while they were here was our Pamahikan. It involves the two families, especially both sets of parents and the engaged couple. It's a discussion about the wedding and the life of the couple after they are married, it is important in the culture here that this happens for the two families to be happy with the engagement.

After the discussion there is a feast for all family and friends so I met more of Shiela’s family and we all had a great time. It is the responsibility of the guy to provide the feast for the event... I had a pig on the farm for that purpose although it almost escaped while transporting it. But thanks to the guys at the farm, after much chasing around it was caught and moved with no problem. I had my pig spit roasted for the event and that made the centre piece of the feast. 

It was a great day and we are now very happily engaged.

Shiela and I met when I first arrived on Palawan as she was already working for Duncan and Sara. The first year we were just friends and we have been courting for almost two years before the engagement.

Kids gardening

Meet little Junjun watering his plants. It's just one of the many activities to keep the children active and teach them gardening, which they love doing.

Everyone from the KNA family has been given a bed in a vegetable plot and is responsible to plant, care for and water their vegies. The kids have great fun; its currently dry season here so watering is needed every day.

Junjun is always very keen to see his plants and water them after school. He is the newest arrival – we don’t yet know anything about his past, family or where he is from. We are trying, but it is hard to find anything other than he was found out on the streets on his own at a very young age... and during a long time at the city-run orphanage, no-one ever came looking for him.

Bridge over troubled waters

More than 50 tall trees at our farm will soon be cut down – for an amazing purpose.

In the picture I am choosing the trees that are good straight wood in an area that will become a play area for the kids here. But that's not the main reason.

The finished wood will be used in a massive project to help the Badjao people, building a new walkway that joins all their homes built out over the sea. Theirs is currently rotting away.

The Badjao are a people group here on Palawan and found across the Philippines and Malaysia, They are a sea gypsy people that that make their living on the sea, fishing or collecting pearls. They are a very poor people living in poverty in houses built out over the sea. 

The main central bridge walkway through the middle of their village is needed for most of the community to reach their houses or boats, and is in very bad condition. The bridge (as they call it) is falling apart and is patched up with whatever they can find, but people are regularly hurt or fall through. So, we will use the timber from our farm to replace the bridge. Working side-by side with the local Badjao people, a team from KNA including myself will section-by-section replace the bridge over a couple of months. 

Currently, our ministry to the Badjao people is mostly working with a group of youth, bringing them to the farm each week for education work skills training and Bible study. However, after the bridge is finished they have said we can build a meeting area in their village. They rarely allow outsiders to build among them; it is a great honour and a massive opportunity for us. It is an exciting time and opens a door for us to do many more activities with them and help them more.

At the same time, our kids at the farm will benefit from a new climbing obstacle course that I will cut from selected trees made in to posts or cut into slabs. This will be one of my big jobs here at the farm over the coming months – as I have experience in using a chainsaw, I will be doing the cutting.

This is me

I am here on Palawan Island, one of the beautiful and hot islands of the Philippines! I work with organisation Kanlungan ng Ama (The Father's Shelter), helping rescued street kids, among other things.

The organisation is run by Brits Duncan and Sara Kellard. They bravely followed God and sold everything to move to the Philippines and start this amazing work. I am very honoured and happy that God has called me here as well to help them – and I'm loving the work and vision they have to help people. 

KNA is a safe home for street kids. Some of them now with us have no family at all, others have been kicked out or ran away from abusive families and have spent time scrounging and living on the streets. We give them a safe and loving family environment to recover from the hurts of terrible pasts, and a good hope and life for the future. 

We are based on a farm in a rural area on the island. My work is a mixture of being with the kids, practical and joining with the many other activities and ministries that are part of KNA.