Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

It’s been a busy year here on Palawan! We've had some difficult moments but lots of happy times too. This season is a very packed one for me and Shiela, we are now busy with wedding planning. Lots to be done on our land as well (as you will see below), and thinking about what we will do for a house.

I am still loving my work with The Fathers Refuge based here at the children’s safe home with ministries to the city refuge and Badjao... read on!

Animal adoption

While were in the Christmas mood, here's a heart-warming tale from down on the farm... which fits rather nicely with the aim of the safe home.

Our breed of chicken is very good at laying eggs (and makes for good meat!)... but they are rubbish at sitting on their eggs.

Meanwhile, our ducks and turkeys have very strong motherly instincts. So when a duck or turkey starts sitting on eggs we add or replace chicken eggs. The new mum readily sits on them and accepts them as her own. When they hatch she then continues to protect and care for the adopted chicks as her own. They make great mothers.

We're proud of them

The children with us at the safe home have done very well over the last year. We are very proud of them and it's great to see all they have achieved. After difficult starts in life, living at the safe home has given them new opportunities and chances in their lives.

Some of the kids joined the drum and majorette club at school. They did so well that they made it to a regional competition. Others have finished this year in the top five or even top two of their class. Yet others are doing well at home school. It is a joy for us to see the changes in them since they first came to us and to give them opportunities that they never would have had.

Learning: another way

We 've started a one-day-a-week school every Friday at the centre we built in the Badjao village. This is for the Badjao people, set in their own community, to use the Alternative Learning System (ALS).

ALS covers the education curriculum and is designed for those that have not completed (or started) the normal schooling system. Our students can graduate to  elementary and high school level though ALS training. Over twenty have enrolled so far, including teenagers who do not go to school, some of them young parents. There are even a few older mums that have not studied but want to learn.

Many of the Badjao have not completed their schooling. Often this is due to arranged marriage at a young age and teenage pregnancy. (We are
trying to teach the younger generation to wait first, and we are helping the ones already married with family planning. Click here to read more.)

Boys often don’t study because they have to work at a young age to help support their poor families. But ALS gives them a second chance to complete their schooling in their own village. Just one day a week means they can still work and look after their families... and have a chance to improve their own lives. With an education they will be able to get a much better job.

Our piece of Palawan

After months of searching and looking at dozens of plots of land, we have finally found the right place. After weeks of negotiations, checking papers and talks with an attorney and government offices, everything is checked and complete… and the land is now ours!

It is a beautiful place that is only a five minute walk from the safe home where we work. It is a large plot of 3,500 square meters. We got it at a very good price because it has a right of way going through part of it. But that doesn’t worry us as it is only a quiet track – and the plot is so big we still have more than enough space for everything we have planned. The position where we will build a home is far enough away from the track that it won’t bother us.

It has loads of different kinds of fruit trees including coconut, mango, guava and avocado. There is also a small stream and a view of the mountains. It includes this small hut that I like to call ‘The Shack’, which will be a temporary shelter and store for materials while we build our home. It also means we can apply to have electricity connected to the plot. 

Gently sloping uphill, it gives us a nice overlooking view. It’s mostly very green and lush with lots of plants and at its top end, where it is higher, its dryer and has bamboo growing.

We are very happy with our piece of land, it’s a great plot in a beautiful area. It’s more space than we hoped for and will allow us to plant lots of fruit trees and keep a few animals after we are married.

We feel this is the place God has planned for us and we could never be able to own it without his help and provision. We are very thankful to Him for providing such a beautiful place for us to start our life together after the wedding early next year.

In the family way

We partnered with NGO Roots of Health to run a family planning conference, based at our centre in the Badjao village. Couples came to learn about family planning and receive free contraception.

The Badjao people have a culture of arranged marriage while still young (school age) and we are trying to teach the younger generation to finish schooling first and wait until they are able to care for a family. These early marriages often don’t last and leave young girls looking after their babies alone. For the young couples already married (and others with loads of kids), family planning is a great help for them to wait until they are ready.

The hunt for land

Time is running out to find a piece of land and build our first home in time for our wedding next February! So for much of our free time, Shiela and I are searching for the right place we can call home. 

Over the last several months we have seen dozens of plots of land spread throughout the area, but ideally we need somewhere near to where we both work at the KNA safe home on the farm. 

We have come close a few times, but there was always something wrong that stops us – usually something incomplete with the papers. You have to be very careful with documents here... there are some people that sell plots again and again to different people, often cheap, but the buyers can end up with nothing if not careful. 

So the hunt continues… but the more we ask and the more we look at, we keep meeting people that know of still more plots… so there is always more for us to see. We trust that God has the right place for us, and I hope to show you some photos soon!

Once we are married, we will go home after work several evenings a week and on our days off. Like the other couples here at KNA, we will still spend a few nights a week here at the farm, so there is always enough people with the kids. It will be a very simple home, but we need a place to call our own, some privacy and personal space… as much as I love it at the farm!

Veggie-licious

It is delicious eating our own home-grown organic vegetables from here on the farm. Self-sustainability is one of our aims and we are moving towards that with several large vegetable plots. Most of the veg that we eat now is home-grown.

Crop rotation is also important and we rotate the vegetable plots with the chicken or duck pens from time-to-time. Devis (in the photo) does a lot of the work on this. Work in the veg plots is never finished, but well worth it when they bring in a big harvest.

We grow organically and have several large composting areas, like the one you can see in the photo. Kitchen waste such as old veg skins are rotted down, mixed with animal dung and then dug into the ground to prepare for growing veg. 

Home school starts

Nim is the first of our kids here to try a different way of learning – in our new home schooling program. This way of learning is much more tailored to him and his needs. 

Street children – like the kids we take in – are often years behind with their schooling and they usually lack the social skills needed to enjoy school life. So Nim was years older that his class mates at elementary school and struggled to keep up. When the time came for high school we gave him the choice, knowing how he struggled to make it through elementary, and he chose to start home-schooling. 

So, he is now based here at the safe home on the farm. Every morning he has study time and he does a kind of apprenticeship on the farm where he is learning all the farming skills. Helping with our Livelihood projects is giving him other new skills and experience he can use in later life. 

Life skills time is also a part of his learning, involving everything from cooking to computer skills. We think that in the future, as more children come to us, others will follow this way of home schooling that can be tailored to their needs. Nim is certainly very happy with it!

Cashew fun

Spending time with Shiela's family is a delight; I always enjoy seeing them on my day off.

Her younger brother and sister Eric and Michel love to show me things I haven’t seen before and teach me games I don’t know.

They were excited one day to show me a cashew tree in fruit, close to their house. If you haven’t seen it before, this is what the cashew fruit looks like… the fleshy part can be eaten as a fruit and the nut is the part inside. Cashews really do grow on trees!

Badjao weekly outreach

Every week we hold an outreach activity at the new centre we recently built in the Badjao village. A group of Badjao youth and out-of-school children regularly attend. Now in their village, we are able to work with even more children. 

The activity includes basic education (many of them have no education), Bible stories/teaching, worship time, games, snacks, drinks and a fun time for all. Some of the team are learning the Badjao language.

It has recently been summer school holidays here on Palawan and our kids from the safe home came along and helped with the activities at the centre. It was wonderful to see them now confident and having changed so much since arriving with us – and helping others less fortunate to learn. Another pleasant reminder of the positive change we are making in their lives.

Keeping things running

I’ve got a new job title… supporting services manager. It comes with a few responsibilities – as well as being assistant house parent and other work at the safe home and farm, part of my work here is being in charge of transport and procurement (anything that need buying or collecting). 

So, I organise our drivers (all of whom I have trained to drive) and care for our vehicles, including a weekly check on them. 

Every Friday is our weekly shopping for food and supplies and a busy day in my week. Animal food, maintenance supplies and extra food (other than the food we grow on the farm) are on the weekly list, as well as finding any larger items we need. You can see in the picture sacks of supplies, everything needed to keep things running for another week.

Brightening up the City Refuge

Our regular activities at the Bantay Bata (the City Refuge for abandoned kids) now include brightening the place up. Despite the fact that the kids are locked behind the high-walled grounds, I love our visits. It’s always such a happy time with the kids... they are so excited and happy when they have visitors and activities to do.

Shiela and I lead a small team that visits the kids to help enrich their lives. Recently, our trips have included planting shrubs and flowers – and fruit trees, as in the picture – to help cheer up the place and hide the concrete walls.

The centre is part of the social services and is where any street kids, orphans or children removed from neglected/abusive families end up until other family can be found – or until they can go to a charity like us here at KNA.

Working with kids from difficult backgrounds, it always amazes me how they can still find such enjoyment in even simple games and activities even though they have been through terrible things.

The date is set

Life is very busy at the moment. Apart from the work and ministry activities here (which I love doing), we are also busy planning a wedding and searching for a plot of land where we can build a home for when we are married. 

The date for the wedding is now set as February 16, 2017, at Friendship Baptist Church, Puerto Princessa. It’s an open-sided building to let the wind through and keep it cooler. This has been Shiela’s church since she was small and we now regularly worship there. The reception will be held at Hotel Centro, further into the city. 

We are looking to find a plot of land in an area close to the KNA safe home. It’s a nice area outside of the city where it is cooler nearer the mountains. We haven't seen anywhere yet, but we are trusting God that he has the right place for us. Our days off are usually spent now planning wedding details or hunting for land. 

Our organisation Kanlungan ng ama (Fathers Refuge) has gone through some tough times recently. But God helps us through such times and we will come out stronger and closer to Him and each other.

Enriching lives

One of my favourite activities of the week is a regular visit to the bantay bata – the government run city refuge, part of the social services. It's where any child removed from an abusive family, neglected or abandoned can end up. 

Shiela and I go to play games with the kids, tell Bible stories, do some art or educational games and take snacks. We try to help enrich their lives. The centre has recently moved to a new, larger location which is better for them, but they are still not allowed to leave the compound and there isn’t much for them to do. 

The new premises are well outside of town so they get very few

visitors… in fact, we are the only regular visitors and the kids enjoy the time greatly. Having visitors and things to do is a highlight of their week. 

Shiela and I really enjoy our time there and having the chance to work together. Most of the kids at our KNA safe home have come from the bantay bata. They love to come with us sometimes and play with the kids who, like themselves, have a tough start in life.

(The children posing for the photo are not from the city refuge… we are not allowed to take pictures inside.)

Free, renewable fuel

There are always a lot of hungry mouths to feed here and the kitchen is a busy place, always lots to do! We cook with rice husk (called ipa in Tagolog), the outside shell of the rice that is removed before the rice can be eaten. 

When the ipa is put into a special gasifier, it burns with a flame similar to gas. This is a great help to us on the farm as it’s a free fuel source – and the burnt rice husk then makes a great compost for the vegetables. In a country where we eat rice three times a day, it is a plentiful, renewable resource. It helps to keep everyone full and happy!

A place in the village

The new ministry centre in the Badjao village is ready for action. It is built in the native style, up above the sea on posts like the rest of the village, located at the end of the new bridge and the furthest out to sea.

Our KNA safe home kids put on a puppet show for the Badjao kids at the centre's opening... as you can see in the pictures everyone enjoyed it!

I have been busy with the chainsaw again cutting the posts that it is built on. The centre is not yet 100% complete, although the shell of the building (floor, roof and outer walls) are in place. The last finishing touches such as toilet, cooking area and windows are being added a bit at a time each week.

The centre was built by local Badjao people working with KNA team members. The locals brought the necessary experience to build a house in this style, as building a house up above the sea has its difficulties! We are very excited to now have a centre in their village. We have started a new phase of outreach and community help with a weekly education plus bible teaching for a group of the Badjao kids. 

We have many more plans for the centre and how it can help the community in the near future. Plans include family planning training, adult learning, and education for the out-of-school kids (most of the Badjao kids don’t go to school) – plus medical outreaches and livelihood training.

  

Good with his hands

Meet Devis, he is one of the foster kids here at the safe home, now all grown up. When he reached 18 he decided to stay and work on the farm and help with the work here. He also does a lot of work on the farm with vegetable growing. He is a great member of the team here and has a real heart for this work and helping the kids.

Very talented at craft, Devis makes beautiful decorations and useful items out of coconut shells. Coconuts are a widely available, renewable resource here on Palawan; even here at the farm there re several coconut trees. The kids are eager to learn his craft skills and he has times of helping and teaching them. Such items can be sold to tourists and can be an income to people here.





Devis recently graduated from a 3-month course in welding and he hopes to be a mechanic in the future. He is a Badjao and is now a Christian, and had his dedication only a few years ago. And I am his ninong (godfather)! 

School's out

Despite a very difficult start to life – which meant starting education late (so they are older and bigger than their classmates) and having learning difficulties (making it difficult for them to keep up at school) – two of our boys have just graduated from elementary school. 

Nim and Lits have done very well. Without the extra help that we have been able to give them they had little hope of any kind of education – and would have been forced to repeat a school year again and again until they dropped out, which is not uncommon here. But their many hours of extra study and help with school work have paid off. 

From here on, home school can provide the extra attention and help that's unavailable at school, and they can move at a pace that they can handle to complete their school education. Then they will be able to do very well at a practical-based college course, if they choose. 

They also learn life skills on the farm here, so they have a full and active schedule. I regularly spend time with the kids helping them with English, especially reading.

The future is here, now

It's a big time in my life at the moment with lots of plans for my future. Shiela and I have started to plan our wedding and are looking for a good location for the ceremony; we have no fixed date yet but will most likely be Feb 2017. Family and friends are welcome to come... although we cannot provide any transportation or lodgings. I will update you all when we know the date. 

We are also currently searching for a small piece of land to buy, where we can build a simple house to live in when we are married. So things are exciting and pretty busy!

XRM

I now have my own set of wheels here on Palawan – a Honda XRM 125 motorbike. It has made a big difference to my life here and it gives me freedom to move around. 

Before going in to town or anywhere was a slow and difficult journey. I used to be trapped waiting a long time for an overcrowded bus, or squash into the back of small multicabs. Now I no longer have to wait and struggle to squash inside public transport. I will soon have a tricycle side car made for it - see the picture below for what it will eventually look like!

Thank you very much to everyone that gave towards my own transport, I could not have brought the motorbike without your help. That was a part of my life here that I struggled with; that's now changed dramatically. Thank you and God bless.

The bridge is finished!

Our six-month project to build a new 120 metres long walkway through the Badjao stilt village is complete!

The new passageway has been named Tulay Ng Buhay – 'Bridge of Life' – by the grateful local community.

There's a T-section at the end of the walkway, on which will be built our new outreach centre. This will help us become even more effective with the Badjao sea gypsies.

To see lots of pictures, click here

To celebrate we had a party on the bridge and held a special dedication. The finished bridge is four feet wide and contains over 1000 planks and 120 posts. It is sturdy strong and safe. It is the main walkway though the village and will benefit the entire population of 660 people for access to their boats and homes. And there are about 220 people living directly along the new bridge. 

The celebration included dancing with performance from the Badjao people as well as KNA team. Speeches from our team, Badjao leaders and the local government official thanked all involved in the project. It was a great chance to share the gospel to the community, and food and fun followed. 

The Bridge project has been a great way to build relationships within the community, and have a positive effect on their everyday lives. At the end of the new bridge we have made a small jetty area for the boats with a ladder leading down to the sea. This is to make it easier for the coming and going boats – and it's become a favourite swimming area for the kids. 

The bridge is extended beyond the current line of houses to allow room for the Badjao outreach centre we will build there. We are planning activities such as adult and out-of-school learning, medical outreach and teaching of new skills, plus Bible study and worship times. 

Visiting the Badjao is no longer a scary, dangerous balancing act along a shaky old bridge, so patched up with whatever they can find that  it no longer looks like a bridge. It’s now an easy walk down a wide safe walkway that doesn’t move. Now this project is complete it has opened the door to be able to work within the community itself, an exciting time.