We'll soon be on our way

Great news… Shiela now has her passport and visa, so we’re on our way to the UK for a holiday – and for Shiela to meet the British side of our family!

We will arrive on May 18 and have over six weeks to meet all our friends and family before leaving on July 1. If you’d like to get together, just send me an email at samdowding@googlemail.com and we’ll arrange it nearer the time.

One of the best bits

These wild monkeys are usually hanging around on our way to the City Refuge centre for our weekly visit to the kids there. And seeing as photography is now prohibited in the centre, you can have this one of the monkeys instead!

When we arrive, we are immediately greeted by smiling faces and shouts of “Kuya Sam, Ate Shiela” as the kids run towards us. All of them are there, taken by social services from their families or living on the streets for their own protection. They have very little to do and visitors are rare, so they love it when we go and spend time specifically with them.

They know their favourite worship songs and sing at the top of their voices. I then tell them a bible story, sometimes with a drama that the kids enjoy acting out. Then games or some basic education; many of them are grateful for the opportunity to learn.

I can see the difference it makes and the happiness it gives them as we visit them weekly – having a fun time and trying to show them God’s love that they so desperately need in their otherwise unloved lives. It is one of my favourite things to do; I love going there.

Our goats

Shiela and I have two friendly little goats at our house. They are fun to care for, we love watching them – and they help control the fast-growing grass and undergrowth.

Much of our time is spent at the safe home or the other KNA ministries we’re involved in, so it’s handy that we have enough space for the goats to roam around freely grazing in their large pens. When we are at home we let them out to graze the rest of our land around the house.

Video summary of our work on Palawan

If you’d like a good overview and update of the work we do here in Palawan, here’s an 8-minute video Shiela and I made for the Lighthouse Family Church in the UK – my old church which generously helps support me here.

Please ignore the words that appear over the first seconds of the video, they soon disappear!