Kids Sing of God’s Faithfulness in Puypuy VOHCS Inauguration

Fifty-two former street-dwelling children and youth attended the dedication and inauguration of several new buildings at the Rose of Sharon House of Friendship, a boarding school facility built for them, in Puypuy, Bay, Laguna on December 8, 2012. The children were composed of 26 preschoolers, 21 grade schoolers and five high schoolers who are under the education program of the Visions of Hope Christian School (VOHCS), VOHCS Chairperson Stephanie De Los Santos reported. 

Some of the children who are members of the Magdalena Drum and Bugle Corps greeted the arriving guests with music. Dressed in Filipiniana, the smaller ones entered the program hall in lines led by their teachers. Brigada Bata members in official uniforms carried the Philippine flag and the CCT colors. They quietly sat down and listened to the inauguration and dedication service that followed.

Testimonies of God’s faithfulness from VOHCS staff, board members, students, and parents were the highlight of the service. When it was their turn to perform, the children danced to a medley of Christmas songs, much to the delight of the guests. The hall echoed with their voices when they sang with everyone, Dakilang Katapatan (Great Faithfulness), a fitting song about God’s faithfulness, toward the end of the program. 

Each new facility was then prayed for and dedicated to the Lord. The facilities are: 

• A three-story dormitory, which can house up to 140 children; 
• A two-story academic building with four classrooms, a reading room, a play room, a computer room, and a library given the name Kinabookasan (a play on the words  "book" and "kinabukasan," the Filipino term for future); 
• A six-lane swimming pool which will help train the children in swimming so that they may apply for athletic scholarships in college; and, 
• The two-room faculty building. 

VOHCS board members, children, parents, staff, and guests shared food and fellowship afterward in the wide and well-lit canteen, and a donor gave gifts to the children at the new dorm.

A couple of Christmas cards written by  VOH children hang
on the wall of the new canteen.

With smiles on their faces, VOHCS children wait for the program to start.

The CCT Choir serenades guests, VOHCS staff, and children with Christmas carols
in the new VOHCS canteen where the inauguration service was held. 

A group of young boys dance to a Christmas medley number.

Everyone prayed to dedicate the facility to the Lord and receive His blessing
during the benediction.  

VOH Board Member Maria Gemma Donna Simpao and
Kaibigan Ministry Peer Servant Arlene Diel cut the ribbon
in one of the VOHCS buildings being dedicated. 
(Photos by Jean Francis Barcena)

Javines Siblings Find Hope through VOHCS

Siblings Carmela, Mahal, Allan, and Marie Javines wander the streets no more --
 they are cared for at a boarding school in Laguna run by Visions of Hope Foundation. 
(Photo by Arthur M. Trinidad)

Allan, 18 years old, Carmela,11, Marie, 7, and Mahal Javines, 6, who used to wander the streets of Metro Manila with their mother to look for food and shelter, find hope as they go to back to school through the help of the Center of Community Transformation (CCT) Visions of Hope Foundation.

Allan says he was seven when his parents parted ways because of financial struggles. Homeless, his mother Esmeralda worked as a cashier in a public market while Allan collected and sold junk to help feed Carmela. Then, for a time, the children found an adoptive father and a new home when Esmeralda had a relationship with another man named Rodel. Rodel, who is Marie and Mahal’s father, later became abusive. Esmeralda had to leave him and, with her children, dwell in the streets again for the next five years.

A pastor from the CCT Group of Ministries met them around 2010 and brought them to the Kaibigan Community Center, CCT's drop-in center for street dwellers. There, their basic needs were provided and they learned about God through Bible studies and discipleship sessions. The Javines siblings joined the Visions of Hope Christian School (VOHCS) in Laguna a few months later. A boarding school, VOCHS  is a place where their character is molded, according to Allan. He said he personally grew in humility and in loving others.

In July 2012, Esmeralda died of cancer. "It was a trying time, but I drew strength and comfort from the Lord," Allan says. Now serving as a sole parent to his sisters, he says he prays  they will have a good future and a dedication to serve God.

Shortly after he passed the high school equivalency examination administered by Department of Education earlier this year, Allan was accepted as a scholar of the Angelita V. del Mundo Foundation, Inc. where he is currently enrolled in a two-year hotel and restaurant services course. Mahal and Marie are in kindergarten, and Carmela is in first grade.

Allan dreams of becoming a teacher to children someday. He said he hopes other children in need will also experience how he and his sisters were given a chance and  new hope (“Sana maranasan ng ibang bata kung paano kami binigyan ng pagkakataon at bagong pag-asa”).

The Javines siblings are just a few of the children who receive physical, emotional, and spiritual care through the Visions of Hope Foundation and the Visions of Hope Christian School. To learn more about VOH, go to www.visionsofhopefoundation.org and like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/visionsofhopefoundation).

113 VOHCS Children Receive New Footwear

 VOHCS children are excited about the new 
footwear that they received from CCT friend 
Valerie Malabonga (center).

A child clutched his new pair of clogs tightly to his chest. Asked why he was still walking barefoot, he replied, “Isusuot ko lang po ito ‘pag magsisimba ‘pag Linggo” (I will wear these only to church on Sundays). He was one of 113 children from the Visions of Hope Christian School (VOHCS) who each happily received a pair of footwear through The Thongs Project. 

The Thongs Project was initiated by Valerie Agbayani-Malabonga, former Mission: East Asian National Support (MEANS) board member and a friend of the Center for Community Transformation (CCT). Ms. Malabonga visited the VOHCS boarding schools in Magdalena and Bay, Laguna on November 20, 2012 to personally hand over the footwear to the children. In Magdalena, 52 preschool and 23 high school students shared talent offerings of songs and memory verses, then patiently lined up to receive their gifts. Thirty-eight children from the VOHCS boarding school in Malungon, Saranggani also benefited from the project. 

According to VOH Administrator Noeh Vios, the footwear are perfect for the VOHCS children because these will cushion their young feet against protruding pebbles as they walk from one school building to another. These will also serve as formal footwear fit for use in the classroom and for special occasions. 

Vios also observed that The Thongs Project did not only mean a great deal to the VOHCS children but to Malabonga as well, who said her visit fulfilled a long-cherished dream to meet and minister to the children.

After Long Wait, Isla Puting Bato Preschool Starts 2nd Run

It was like a waiting game. It was already November of 2012, way past the opening of classes in June, but the Visions of Hope Christian School (VOHCS) preschool in Isla Puting Bato, Tondo, Manila remained closed due to the unavailability of a new venue. The building that the school previously used had been turned into a tutorial center.

The parents of the school's first set of pupils anxiously and eagerly awaited its reopening. Some of them, growing tired of waiting, registered their children in the nearest public school. Meanwhile, the VOHCS staff and teachers kept looking for a place that would best meet the needs of the children.

An opening came when Samahang Maralita ng Isla Puting Bato, a grassroots organization, planned to move its operations to another barangay. VOHCS Director for Administrative Affairs Cristina Gellor and VOH Administrator Noeh R. Vios met up with its president and discussed the possibility of renting the place it would vacate.

In due time, the wait was over. A contract was signed. A general clean-up drive was carried out. Chairs, tables, boards, and other school equipment were transported to the area. A date was decided upon.

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, the VOHCS preschool in Isla Puting Bato officially started its second year of operation. In an opening ceremony, Pastor Nhoy Vista gave an apt teaching on the importance of spiritual values taught to children. Ms. Gellor also reminded the parents of their part in running the school and ensuring that the children are able to comply with its requirements. The parents responded by pledging to give their utmost support to VOHCS while the teachers committed themselves to training the children with excellence and tender care.

VOHCS Assistant Teacher Elsa de Leon welcomes Isla Puting Bato children
to the school's second run.

Together with their parents, VOHCS children sing the national anthem
on their first school day in 2012. 

VOHCS Teachers Explore the Night Sky

Nearly two dozen Visions of Hope Christian School teachers learned night sky observing techniques during a seminar on  Astronomical Observing with a Biblical View (AOBV)  led by Roland and Linda Beard.

Roland Beard, co-author of the AOBV curriculum, checks to see
if a telescope set up by teachers is focused right. 

The seminar covered night observing periods, sketching of deep sky objects such as star clusters, lessons on assembling and disassembling a telescope and on  focusing a pair of binoculars, and review of Scriptures  about the heavens that God created.

During the  night observing periods the teachers viewed Vega, the fifth brightest star in the night sky; the constellation Cygnus (Northern Cross) and  the star Deneb at the head of the cross;  the M22 globular cluster of about 70,000 stars; the bright red star Antares; and  the beautiful blue and gold double stars Albireo.  "God is simply amazing," was the hushed comment of many,
looking through a telescope or from behind pair of binoculars.

The teachers' new found knowledge gives them ways to use the night sky to point their students toward God, the Creator of the heavens.

Teacher Esther Mendoza said, " I never knew one can actually see the Milky Way with the unaided eye! I'm glad I know that now!"

Roland and Linda Beard are founders of Christworks Ministries, a home-based, all-volunteer Christian non-profit organization based in Crozet, Virginia. The couple has also done ministry work in Uganda and Haiti.

 The seminar was held at the Tagaytay Retreat and Training Center on September 6 - 8, 2012.

Roland Beard watches as VOHCS teachers put a telescope together. 

Photo:Myra Gaculais del Rosario

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Photo:Myra Gaculais del Rosario

Teacher Tina sketches an improvised moon crater (made of mud and 
placed on the lectern). Roland Beard recommends sketching  as
a method of keeping a record of night sky objects one observes.  Photo: Myra Gaculais del Rosario

The Night Sky Planisphere is made up of two sections -- an inner rotating dial (white) marked with the days and months of the year, and a fixed outer section (blue) marked with the hours of the day. The dial contains a sky map printed with dark stars on a light background for easy nighttime readability. To use the planisphere simply turn the dial to match the date with the time. The planisphere will then show the stars, constellations, and prominent deep-sky objects that are currently above the horizon as well as the location of the Milky Way. It works for any hour, of any day, of any year -  http://www.skymaps.com/store/cat04.html 

Roland Beard demonstrates how a planisphere is used to locate 'objects' (such as
constellations and star clusters) in the night sky. 

Image credit: Jason Smith, http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/albireo-finest-double-star

Linda Beard talks about how a telescope can help school children learn more about God's created heavens.

Part of the training involved assembling a telescope individually...

...and in groups. 

Despite heavy rains during the day, the skies were clear for deep-sky object viewing in the evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE0yUobk6TM  - Indescribable by Cris Tomlin

Photos: Courtesy of Anir Adovas  (unless otherwise stated)

VOHCS Gives Needy Children a Head Start in Reading, Math

The Visions of Hope Christian School gives children from poor communities in the Philippines a strong foundation of reading and math skills that will help them succeed in grade school and beyond. More than 600 children from some of the poorest, most populated, or unreached communities in the country are currently enrolled in the VOHCS preschool program which began classes right on schedule with the rest of the education system in the Philippines in June 2012.

Tina Gellor, principal, said, "Our goal is for all of the children who are 4.5 or 4.6 to five years old to be readers by December."

Aside from giving underprivileged children a head start in reading and math, the curriculum used by VOHCS instills godly values and helps the teachers lead the children toward a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The preschools are in Bagong Silangan and Payatas in Quezon City; Malibay and Cabrera in Pasay; Signal Village, Taguig City; Intramuros, Manila; Caloocan City; Muntinlupa City; Angeles, Pampanga; San Pedro, Laguna; General Trias, Cavite; Aduas, Cabanatuan; Puerto Princesa, Palawan; Bacolod City; Mandaue City; Jaro and Oton in Iloilo; Capiz; Tagum and Ulas in Davao; Butuan; General Santos City; Surigao; Cagayan de Oro; Cotabato City; and Malungon, Saranggani.

The Intramuros school added a first grade level this school year.

Billy of Intramuros, Manila solves a subtraction problem...

...E.J.  sounds out two-letter syllables....

....Mon writes whether a number is even or odd.....

...and Julyfah colors a picture. 

Parents and grandparents of children enrolled at the Intramuros preschool
attend a meeting to plan activities for July, nutrition month. 

Photos by Angel Lazaro

VOHCS: Off to Great Start in School Year 2012 - 2013

The Visions of Hope Christian School (VOHCS) got off to a wonderful start in the new academic year with a total of 718 students in 29 schools  --  14 schools in Luzon, five in the Visayas, and 10 in Mindanao.

In the pre-schools (composed of more than 600 children from the poorest families in the communities) morning and afternoon sessions are held from Monday to Thursday, with the more advanced students attending the morning sessions. "One of the school goals for the year is for all children who are five years and younger to be readers by December," said Tina Gellor, principal. 

Children at the Visions of Hope Christian School in Intramuros, Manila recite 
Psalm 112:5, "A good man will guide with discretion," led by Teacher Angel Lazaro.

On Fridays, the children attend joint classes consisting of Children’s Brigade marching drills and lessons in music, arts, and physical education. While the children attend these sessions,  their parents learn how to do follow-up work on lessons taught during the week, pick up homework for the weekend,  and attend discipleship meetings. "Doors are opened for ministry to parents as well," said Principal Tina.  "We still have parents from last school year coming back for Bible study this year!" 

Aside from the pre-schools, VOHCS has started first grade in Intramuros, Manila, and in Malungon, Saranggani on the southern island of Mindanao.

Children sing, "Jesus is best and all to me, He is the One  who died for me so from sin I could be free."

In the  boarding school program for former street dwelling children, VOHCS has 52 children in grade school and 21 boys in high school.  The grade schoolers are temporarily housed at the Training and Development Institute campus in Magdalena, four towns from Bay, Laguna, where construction of a chapel, dormitory, academic building, and pool are nearing completion.  VOHCS hopes to move the children back to Bay in October.

Some 150 students in the towns of Midsayap, Aleosan, and Libungan, also on the island of Mindanao, have signed up to attend Alternative Learning System classes. The program has modules on all subjects in formal grade schools and high schools.  The classes prepare out--of-school youth to take grade school and high school equivalency tests.  "This is one way of bringing hope to  underprivileged youth, and even to adults," said ALS teacher Zuraida Alih.  "One of our students is a woman who is over 50 years of age. It is also an easy way to share the Gospel.  Our classes include Bible readings and devotions," Zuraida added.

Photos by Vivian Ataylar and Angel Lazaro