From Robbing Taxis to Loving Jesus: Kids Home International

We have an awesome ministry to tell you about.

Jason and I spent a day at Kids Home International, a boys shelter in Antipolo City, Philippines.

What a cool story behind this place.

ACTION missionary Raffy Sison used to live in Vallejo, California with his wife and kids. He is a Filipino, but studied and worked as an engineer in the States. To him, southern Cali was his home. He made a ton of money and lived a very affluent lifestyle, including a huge custom-built home in a wealthy part of Vallejo.

Over time, Raffy started feeling God's tug on his heart towards the Philippines. He paid a visit to family, but ended up spending most of his time there distributing Bibles and talking with the street youth and working poor. Eventually, he knew that God wanted to use them there full-time. After talking with his wife and home church about it, they quit their jobs, sold their house, and moved to Antipolo City, Philippines. Within a few years, he saw the need for a safe place for boys off the street to live, learn, and grow into men of God. Taking a huge step of faith, Raffy founded Kids Home International. (Click here to see a PowerPoint about Kids Home).

We say "huge step of faith" because when Raffy bargained for and bought the property on which Kids Home is run, he didn't have a penny to his name. As a missionary, he himself is funded by supporters and his home church in California... so he especially did not have the kind of money to be buying real estate or founding a shelter!

But hearing the clear call to start Kids Home, he put a ridiculously low bid on the property and got it. But that was just the first step. The second step was making the actual payments! The previous owner agreed to three payment installations throughout this last year. Like a miracle, God provided the first and second installation payments through random and sometimes anonymous donors. They only have one installation left, and Kids Home is all theirs.*

Nice piece of land, no?

Jason and I had the pleasure of visiting Kids Home Int'l and meeting the boys currently staying there. Their stories and testimonies are amazing.

Raffy first meets these boys either straight off the streets, or in the city's juvenile correctional facility. (In the Philippines, these are referred to as Children in Conflict with the Law). These kids know Raffy well and quickly gather round to talk or do a Bible study when they see him coming.

Hanging out and talking with these kids, you quickly learn that nearly all of them are in conflict with the law as a direct result of poverty or troubled home lives.

Upon release, should a boy decide to stay at Kids Home, they find a safe and nurturing place to live. They learn to do chores as a family and have daily quiet times, as well as study to get their elementary or high school degrees. Some of them even get the opportunity to obtain their driver's license... a big deal for former street kids. A driver's license means opportunities to work, either as a driver or delivery man--jobs that are only dreams for kids that can't afford a license.

The boys love playing basketball.

 

Check out these makeshift weights made of concrete!

 

It was neat to meet these boys who have new lives and new hope at Kids Home... All boys who would still be involved in gang activities or robbing taxis had God not called Raffy Sison to Antipolo City, Philippines from Vallejo, California.

Jason and Raffy

The property even has guest homes for

short-term missionaries to stay while serving.

 Meeting kids living in a vacant lot in the city,

where Raffy talks about Kids Home.

 



*If you're interested in donating to Kids Home to help keep it running (food, utility costs, clothes, etc.) or to help meet the last payment for the property, you can send a check to ACTION International's USA office with a note: Kids Home International-Philippines, or give on Raffy's ACTION webpage with the memo: Kids Home Int'l.

Smallest Active Volcano in the World

Kumusta, guys!

So Jason and I found out that the world's smallest active volcano was located in Tagaytay City, just outside our ministry site in Cavite, Philippines.

So naturally, we added Taal Volcano to our bucket list.

Check her out:

 

Serving as our tour guide was ACTION missionary Krista. (When she's not busy making a difference in the lives of street kids, she spends her weekends hiking volcanoes, evidently). :)  

Taal Volcano is unique in that it is a "volcano in a volcano." It has a lake in the mouth of it, while the volcano itself lies inside a mountain lake that was formed in the mouth of another volcano.  ...You follow me?

Lake volcano in another lake volcano... Got it?

(Photo courtesy of activenture.com)

So to get to the base, we had to venture to the island by boat.

 

Fishermen shanties.

 

We're comin' for ya, volcano.

Once ashore, there are vendors that offer donkeys rides to the top. 

Pfft, who needs donkeys in 110° tropical humidity, right?

 

 

So of course we start the hour-ish-long hike by foot.

 



Halfway up, we noticed what we thought was smoke ahead... But upon closer inspection, we realized it was steam venting from the mountain!

 

Careful not to burn our ankles, we side-stepped the steam pockets and summited the volcano.

What a view.

 

We could see and smell white sulfur on the shore.

 

 

 

At the end of the day, it was totally worth the trip.

 

Hike the world's smallest active volcano... Check!





Camp Follow-Up

A side-street in Cubao city was eerily quiet.  We followed Becky, a longtime street kid worker, into the alley way bearing day-old pastries donated from a local Starbucks.

We were doing follow-up with street kids that had attended camp the week before.  A handful of kids after camp get involved with the local church and get plugged into education and discipleship programs, with some even agreeing to stay in a kids' shelter.  Most, however, return to their familiar lives on the street, living the only life they know.
 

      This boy's sandals got stolen while he was sleeping.

Seemingly from nowhere, a familiar face runs up to us. He remembers Jason from camp, and his name registers in my brain. Christopher calls for his friends, and suddenly there is a group of eight or nine boys around us, eating our pastries.


 
      Ate Becky on the left, Christopher in the middle,

                         Pastor Lino on the right.







We had fun hanging out with these boys, still young enough to get excited over pastries and pose for the camera. I shared my testimony with them while they were eating, with Becky translating. I was aware that there was little of my story that they probably related to, but I prayed that my adolescent decision to follow Christ was one that resonated with them.

Becky told us that she has been following up with Christopher since camp. He has agreed to attend ALS (Alternative Learning System, equivalent to the States' GED), and to be discipled by Pastor Lino. He used to be a regular glue sniffer*, but hasn't sniffed since learning from Pastor Lino about what it means to be a leader and a role model for Christ.

 

Christopher has just begun his journey on the road to change, breaking the cycle of street-living in his family. As a natural leader, the other kids look to him and listen to what he has to say when he talks about what he learned at camp. With a high school degree and mentorship from Pastor Lino, he is on his way towards making a difference in the lives of other street children for Christ.

 

 

*Many street children sniff chemicals such as roofing glue or paint thinner to achieve a high that lessens hunger pains and other realities of the streets.

Steet Children

There are an estimated 44, 435 visible street children in the Philippines-- 11, 346 of which are in Metro Manila alone.* 

A street child--as defined by UNICEF--is a child who works and lives in the streets and markets of cities, selling or begging, and either living with, or lacking contact with, their families.  Many are subjected to gang violence, sexual abuse, drugs, alcohol, and prostitution.


Today, Jason and I hit the streets.


Walking through Metro Manila at night is like an urban maze of loud streets and neon lights.  There are hundreds of people occupying the streets, sizzling up food, bargaining for trinkets, selling cigarettes by the stick.  We weaved in and out of the traffic of people, overstimulated by the activity and trying to keep pace with ACTION missionary Raffy Sison.

Raffy informed us that street kids only come out at night. Begging is illegal in the Philippines, so they work the streets as jeepney cleaners or cigarette sellers, hoping to make a few pesos in tips. The street is a hard life, he explains, and your best chance of survival is to be nocturnal.

My heart speeds up as we walk the streets, my eyes darting around looking for what could be a "street kid." This is our first encounter with children on the streets, meeting them where they're at, on their turf, their reality, and I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I've heard stories about the kids we worked with at camp from other missionaries, about what life was like for them on the streets, before intervention. And now we're here, meeting kids who haven't been to camp yet. This is what we came here to do.

Raffy stopped and pointed out a couple boys across the street directing a jeep driver. They were helping him back out of a parking spot and onto the street, a difficult feat in downtown Manila. I held my breath as one of the boys stepped directly into oncoming traffic, maneuvering between lanes, motioning the jeep into a break in the line of cars. I wondered how many pesos of tip was worth facing Manila traffic.

"Those are street boys," Raffy said. "One of them used to be in my Kids Home (a boys shelter), but he decided to go back to the streets."

I examined them as they continued to direct the jeep.  They hadn't struck me as street kids right away. I had seen kids working traffic before, but it hadn't occurred to me that they may not have parents or homes.

We walked a bit further and spotted a group of girls sitting in front of a drug store wall.  When we approached them, I noticed one was holding a baby.

We offered them some crackers and sat down with them. Chatting was difficult with the language barrier, but Raffy explained that the baby was the sixth child of one of the girls. We passed him around, and I found a tick on him. One of the other girls quickly flicked it away.

I sat next to Mary Jane. She was putting make-up on when we first arrived. She silently looped her arm through mine as I sat watching the baby eat the crumbs from the cracker packaging. I talked of our experience in the Philippines so far, that she reminded me of one of my cousins. She mostly listened, nodding occasionally.

I found out later that she was prostituting that night.  She is 16 years-old.

Feeding Hungry Kids

Saturday morning, Jason and I scrambled into a jeepney to meet up with two other ACTION missionaries. We were headed to Quezon City to do a feeding.

 

ACTION Ministries partners with local churches in reaching the community for Jesus' namesake.  This particular church reaches out to the squatter communities located along the river.

 "Squatter" is a term used to describe a residence that is built on someone else's

land, such as government property, vacant lots, or in this case, along a river.

 

Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines



 

 

We arrived at the city plaza, where some fifty children were already gathered. The church does feedings twice a week, along with follow up and Sunday morning activities.

 

 

A typical feeding starts out in prayer.  We play games, dance around, and sing songs of praise and worship.  All the kids knew the moves; we had to follow them!

 

 

 

Usually the meal consists of rice and vegetables, but on the menu today was a special treat...

 

Hamburgers!!

 

 



Hamburgers--for squatter kids-- is a very special treat.  McDonald's or Jollibee (a Filipino fast-food chain) is rare for most of these children, and to patronize one inside the restaurant area... whoa.  A huge deal.

So when these kids saw Jason unload some 60 cheeseburgers, their eyes got wide.

 

 

We noticed a handful of children get suddenly serious when handed their burgers. Instead of eating them, they closed the lids of the boxes, or quietly nibbled at the bun or around the edges.  When I asked Kuya Jeff about this behavior, he explained that a lot of kids will bring food back to their family.  Sometimes they want to share the meal with siblings; other times their parents instruct them to bring the food home.

The boy in this picture has his burger tucked safely under his leg.

 

And guess what?  This whole feeding, which was sponsored by an Englishman, cost less than 700 pesos, (equivalent to $16.27).

 

 



 

 

"If you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness."

 

Isaiah 58:10