Jeloxen Canalita: Sharing Parental Love

Mommy Jelox tells former street-dwelling children at
ROS that the Lord has a better plan for them. 

“I want to let the children feel a parent’s love,” Jeloxen Canalita, young houseparent at the Visions of Hope Rose of Sharon House of Friendship (ROS) tearfully explains. “Having grown up as an orphan, I never experienced that myself.”

Jeloxen, “Mommy Jelox” to the children, has served at ROS for a total of two years – the longest-staying among the ROS houseparents. Only 22 years old this year, she started her houseparent duties in 2010 but left after a year to pursue an education degree while also serving as a teaching assistant at Visions of Hope Christian School (VOHCS) in Muntinlupa City. She returned to ROS in 2013.

Jeloxen hails from Zamboanga del Sur and grew up under her aunt’s care. Her aunt, who worked for Dr. Pan Callanta, one of Center of Community Transformation’s (CCT) doctors, encouraged her to avail of a CCT scholarship for a welding and construction course. When Jeloxen finished, she attended training on the BLESS (Basic Life Empowerment and Support System) curriculum of VOHCS. Then, a work opportunity opened up for her in ROS in Puypuy, Bay, Laguna.

She confesses that her childhood dream was to become a soldier, but because she has a big heart for children, she loves being in ROS. Aside from enjoying the friendship of other ROS staff, she takes
delight in sharing her life story with the children, listening to their own stories, and leading devotion and Bible study sessions for them. She tells them that even though they are not with their parents, “the Lord has a better plan for them and that many people are looking after them, including Lola Ruth,” referring to CCT President Ruth Callanta, whom the children call their “lola” or grandmother.

Through the years, she has seen the children become more respectful of each other. She says that they used to try to avoid meeting new people because they were too shy but now they know how to confidently greet and talk to visitors. She is also seeing a growing sense of initiative and obedience among the older girls. The children are now more affectionate and loving, she adds, unlike before when they would often get into fights.

Jeloxen makes sure to teach them about honesty. She tells them that when they want something, they can always ask and when they have made a mistake, such as taking things that are not theirs, they should admit to it and say sorry. Not only do the children learn from her but she also learns from them about humbly owning up to a mistake and always treating others with respect.

She prays that the children whom she takes care of will be grateful even in the smallest things, and will love God, others, and their country. She believes that as she serves the children, God is molding her to become more obedient, humble, patient, and faithful. To be more equipped in influencing them, she plans to go back to school in the near future to finish her degree.

Kim Fajardo: Ready for First Grade

Kim Rando Fajardo attends
the moving-up ceremony of
VOHCS Irawan with his parents. 

 On March 29, 2014, five-year-old Kim Rando Fajardo took a long walk to the barangay hall in Irawan, Puerto Princesa City to attend a moving-up ceremony. But unlike his daily two-kilometer treks to school, he was walking with his parents this time, and was garbed in barong. He graduated from the CCT-Visions of Hope Christian School (VOHCS) Irawan along with 35 other children that day.

Around summer last year, Kim’s parents – a carpenter and a homemaker – signed him up for morning classes after hearing an announcement at a local Christian church that VOHCS was offering free preschool education to indigent children.

Kim was always the earliest to arrive at school when classes began. Although he determinedly came to class, he was initially shy and uncooperative. However, he started opening up when he saw that he was genuinely cared for at VOHCS. His teachers found out that he was undernourished and most of the time, his family could not afford to let him bring baon (packed snacks) to class, so they shared food with him out of their own pockets. Kim’s classmates gladly pitched in as well.

Kim (fourth from left, first row) joins his classmates in a special presentation on their moving-up day.

Also, on two separate occasions in November, Kim was hurt while walking home from school – he was bullied by an older child and attacked by a dog. His teachers were quick to pray for, comfort, and assist him with medical needs until he was well enough to come back to school.

Within months, Kim’s confidence grew. He learned to mingle with others, led prayers and joined class activities, and surprised his parents by independently working on school projects. He finished the school year as one of the class’s top five pupils!

Kim is ready to enter grade school in the coming school year. He plans to walk to the public school with his big sister, who will be in third grade.

Former Street Kid Shares Story (Tagalog Version)

Roberto Tablatin Jr., a former street kid, who now plays football and dreams of becoming a chef, shared the following story during the annual membership meeting of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries at the WackWack Golf and Country Club in March 2014.  To read this story in English, please click HERE.

Ako po si Roberto Tablatin Jr., 20 taong gulang.  Panganay po ako sa tatlong magkakapatid. Elementarya lang po ang aking natapos bago ako dumating sa Magdalena. Hindi na po ako nakapag-high school noon dahil hindi na po ako kayang pag-aralin ng magulang ko.

Nagtitinda ng balut ang nanay ko. Ang tatay ko naman po ay hindi masyadong makapagtrabaho dahil po marami po siyang nararamdaman at di matukoy ang kanyang sakit dahil po sa kakulangan namin ng pera. Naninisid po siya  ng tahong, halaan, o kaya naman po ay alimasag.

Hindi po sapat ang kinikita ng magulang ko para po sa pang araw-araw naming pangangailangan.

Simula po noon naging batang kalye na po ako. Naging  tindero rin po ako ng prutas at gulay sa palengke ng  Las Pinas tuwing umaga, at sa gabi, balut at mani naman po ang aking tinitinda. Isang beses po, inabot po ako ng bagyo at baha sa kalsada. Apat lang po na balut ang naibenta ko noon. Ala-sais na po ng umaga ng nakauwi ako pagkatapos ng bagyo. Kaya gusto ko pong magtinda ay para makatulong din po sa aking ina at para din po may pambili kami ng pagkain. Minsan po kasi sa maghapon, isang beses lang po kami kung kumain, minsan po wala.

Sa pagtitinda ko po ng prutas at gulay ay doon ko po nakilala si Lola Ruth. Lagi po siyang namimili sa amin tuwing Linggo. Kasama po niya si Kuya Angel Diel, isa sa pinaka-unang staff ng Kaibigan Ministry. Kapag napunta po sila sa amin, pinapakain po nila kami. Isang araw, tinanong po kami ni Lola Ruth kung gusto po naming mag-aral. Tanungin daw po namin ang mga magulang namin kung papayagan kami. Pumayag naman po ang mga magulang ko na mag-aral kami. Pero noong araw po na pupunta na po yung mga kasama ko sa Magdalena para mag-aral, hindi po muna ako sumama. Inisip ko po kasi na walang makakatulong ang nanay ko kapag sumama po ako, na  mas lalo po siyang mahihirapan. Kaya po nagpatuloy nalang po ako sa aking pagtitinda.

Kaya sinama po ako sa Magdalena noong April 3, 2012. Bale po mag dadalawang taon na po ako sa Magdalena.

Hindi po naging madali sa akin nung bago pa lang po ako dun sa Magdalena. Ang dami pong pinapagawa. Marami pong mga patakaran tapos kailangan mo pang gumising ng alas-kwatro ng umaga para mag devotion.  Mahirap po talaga para sa akin, pero nagbago po ang lahat sa tulong po ng Panginoon. Naunawaan ko po na ang lahat ng iyon ay para sa amin din po. Natuto na po akong  sumunod sa mga rules.

Doon ko po naunawaan at natutunan ang kahalagahan ng isang pamilya. Dahil mawala man po ang lahat, hinding-hindi po tayo iiwan ng ating pamilya. Noon ko din po natutunan ang mangarap. Salamat po sa Panginoon kasi po Siya ang nagturo sa akin kung paano mangarap. Gusto ko pong maging isang chef sa isang barko at mag-ikot din po sa iba’t ibang lugar.

Pangarap ko  rin po na maiahon ko ang aking pamilya sa kahirapan at makapag-aral po ang bunso naming kapatid. ( Ngayon ang nanay ko na lang po ang nagtitinda kasama po ng bunso kong kapatid na hindi na po nakakapag-aral  Wala na po kasi ang tatay ko. Pinatay po kasi siya noong  Enero 13, 2013. Napagbintangan sila ng tito ko na nagnanakaw ng manok at pareho silang pinagbabaril.)

Salamat po sa Panginoon dahil binigyan Niya po ako ng talento katulad po ng paglalaro ng football at pagtugtog ng gitara. Nakapaglaro na po ang football team ng Magdalena Campus na  CCT- Binhi sa Coca- cola Cup at Alaska Cup sa Alabang. Isa na rin po ako sa tumutugtog sa CCT Community Church sa Magdalena. Isa pa pong pagpapalang natanggap ko ay makakapunta po ako ng Malaysia sa June bilang kinatawan ng Boy’s Brigade sa Magdalena, Laguna. Salamat po sa Panginoon dahil ang isang batang kalye na tulad ko ay nagkaroon ng ganitong mga pagkakataon at karanasan.

Salamat po sa Panginoon dahil nakilala ko po Siya at patuloy Niya pong binabago ang buhay ko.

           

Sa Diyos po ang kapurihan!

Former Street Kid Shares Story

Roberto Tablatin Jr., a former street kid, who now plays football and dreams of becoming a chef, shared the following story during the annual membership meeting of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries at the WackWack Golf and Country Club in March 2014.  (To read Roberto's testimony in Tagalog, please click HERE.)

My name is Roberto Tablatin Jr. I am 20 years old and the eldest of three children. My parents could not afford to send me to high school, so when I started studying [at the Visions of Hope Boarding School] in Magdalena, Laguna  two years ago I had only finished grade school.

My mother is a balut* vendor.  My father dove for mussels, clams, or crabs. He couldn’t do much work, though.  He was frequently in pain but we lacked the money to find out what his illness was. They never earned enough for our daily needs.

So I became a street kid. I helped my mother by selling fruit and vegetables at the Las Pinas market during the day and balut and nuts at night so we would have food to eat. Once, when a typhoon flooded the whole place, I sold just four balut all night.  It was six in the morning before the rain and wind stopped and the floodwater subsided. 

Grandma Ruth [the founder and president of CCT] often bought from me on Sundays. She and Brother Angel Diel, one of the pioneer staff of the Kaibigan Ministry, would bring us food every time they came. 

One day Grandma Ruth asked me [and other street children with me] if we would like to go back to school. She suggested that we ask our parents if they would allow us to go to Magdalena.  My parents agreed to let me and my brother, Rolly, go, but on the day we were supposed to leave I decided to stay with my mother knowing she would find it even more difficult without me. I went on helping her with the selling.

About a year later my mother suggested, “Why don’t you join your brother in Laguna?”  She was worried that I might fall into vice or  become wayward if I stayed at home. 

I started studying in Magdalena on April 3, 2012. Adjusting to life in Magdalena wasn’t easy. There was so much to do and many rules to obey. Rising time was four in the morning for devotions. It was difficult, but everything changed with the Lord’s help. I came to understand that everything was for my own good. I learned to follow the rules .

I grew to understand and learn the importance of a family. You may lose everything but your family will never leave you.  I thank the Lord that He taught me to dream. I want to be a chef on a ship and travel to a lot of places someday.

I also hope to lift my family out of poverty and help send my youngest brother to school. (My brother has had to drop out of school. My father was killed in January 13, 2013. Someone accused him and my uncle of stealing a chicken and shot them both.)

I thank the Lord for giving me talents for football and guitar playing. The  CCT Magdalena Campus Team has played in the Coca-Cola Cup and in the Alaska [Milk Corporation] Football Cup. I play the guitar at the CCT Community Church in Magdalena. Another blessing is the chance to go to Malaysia in June representing the Magdalena Boy's Brigade.  I thank the Lord that a street kid like me has this opportunity.

Thank God that I met Him and He continues to transform my life.  To Him be the glory!

*Balut is a Filipino delicacy and street food.  It is a boiled duck egg with a small embryo inside. 

The Gayo Brothers' Story Chapter 2

The Gayo brothers and one of their teachers at the Judith Lazaraga Tiongco Memorial School.  

Back in 2012, four brothers – Ryan, Jeran, Rene, Roy – captured the hearts and interest of Visions of Hope teachers in Jaro, Iloilo.  The boys were nine, seven, six, and five years old then,  all eager to learn to read and write. But even if a public school was just several meters from their house, none of them were in school.  “We don’t have slippers to wear to school,” Rene explained when the teachers asked why.

So the teachers asked the boys’ parents if the brothers could come to the VOH Christian School instead, and bought each of the boys some shoes and slippers.  Because they seldom had footwear the brothers would carefully carry the slippers from home, put them on only in the classroom, carry them back home, and hang them up on nails. 

All four boys learned how to read and write and learned about Jesus too during that school year. They graduated along with the rest of the class in March 2013. (http://cct-visionsofhope.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html)

So where are they now?

The brothers now go to the Judith Lazaraga Tiongco Memorial School near their home.  The three older boys are in first grade but Roy is in pre-school again because he still does not have a birth certificate, a requirement for enrolling in grade school  

And how are they doing? 

Roy is doing very well because he's had a head start in reading and writing.   Rene’s teacher says he is helpful and can keep up with the rest of the class.  The teachers of Ryan and Jeran also praise the brothers for being hardworking.  

On Sundays the boys walk to the Evangel Tabernacle, which has a strong ministry among poor members of the Tabuc Suba community, to attend Sunday School.

The boys have just started out on their journey through life.  For sure, it is not going to be easy.  May they always be filled with hope. And may the Lord send caring persons to walk alongside them.

VOH Child Learns Acceptance, Leadership in BB

Alvin Ramos (center) leads the BB Magdalena squad in opening an event
at Rose of Sharon House of Friendship.

Visions of Hope child Alan Vincent Ramos, or Alvin, found acceptance in Jesus Christ and learned leadership when he became active in Boys’ Brigade (BB), VOH’s character and leadership development program for children and youth.

Alvin ran away from home when he was 13 to escape his stepfather’s frequent beatings, especially when the latter was drunk. In the street, he got into drugs and brawls. He thought he would hurt others to get back at his stepfather.

He later moved to a street in Manila, informally called Sarimanok, where he met Frankie Libre, another street dweller. Frankie served as a father figure to Alvin during the many years that he lived on the street. Alvin remembers that Frankie disappeared for a time and when he returned, there was something different about him. He started leading feeding programs, talked frequently about God, and often asked Alvin if he wanted to leave the street. (Frankie had become a Christian and a worker of the Kaibigan Ministry. Read his story here: http://peopleblessingpeople.tumblr.com/post/2479622041/a-fresh-start.)

Alvin was 15 when he finally decided to embrace change. This started with an short yet enlightening jeepney ride to the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) Kaibigan Center, a drop-in center ministering to street dwellers. For some reason, none of the jeepney passengers moved to offer him a seat and he ended up sitting on the step board. He realized that he stank and was grubby all over.

Frankie told him that if he would clean himself up and appear presentable, people would respect him and willingly give way. Alvin followed Frankie’s advice and soon saw a change in how others treated him.

Alvin says that although what others think about you matters, that is nothing compared to how the Lord views you. “Even when I was dirty, in the eyes of the Lord, I was worthy of love and acceptance,” he says. Because he received the Lord’s forgiveness, Alvin has been able to do the difficult task of releasing forgiveness to his stepfather.

Now 18, Alvin stays at the CCT Magdalena Campus and is finishing his high school education by way of the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. He is a squad leader of the Boys’ Brigade First Magdalena Company. “In the BB leadership training activities,” he said, “I learned to show respect to those who are above and below me, just as Christ showed respect to the Father as well as to every person around Him.” He says he desires to live a life of patience, obedience, and respect – characteristics that are all in Christ and are required of leaders like him.

VOHCS Child Survives Kidney Disease

Benchil Villorejo, seven, had been looking forward to joining his class’s nutrition month parade on July 29, 2013, but when the big day came around, he was just too weak to come to school. Dr. John Tabije and nurse Lynn Chan of the Visions of Hope (VOH) health team who were in Isla Puting Bato for their weekly community visit went to his home. Seeing that Benchil's face and abdomen were swollen and that he had difficulty breathing, they brought him immediately to the Ospital ng Maynila.

Dr. Tabije examines Benchil's health, especially as his
swelling becomes apparent. 

Laboratory tests revealed that Benchil was suffering from nephrotic syndrome, a kidney disease that causes the body to lose protein through the urine. His parents – a DVD vendor and a housewife – knew about his condition but did not earn enough to sustain his medication. He also had a few sores.

Benchil is one of 25 pupils of the VOH Christian School at Isla Puting Bato. The school provides free preschool education to children from families that have informally settled living near Manila’s North Harbor.

At the hospital, Benchil’s parents tapped into charity funds for some of his bills. VOH covered other expenses, and staff even braved floods to bring payment for laboratory tests. 

On his second week in the hospital, Benchil’s doctor announced that his condition was critical. The news rattled his family, but the health team’s faith remained strong and they mobilized more people to pray for his recovery. Benchil’s blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels  went down significantly the following week, showing a big improvement in his kidneys. A CT scan also produced normal results, the swelling of his face and abdomen subsided, and he was taken off the ventilator. Early during his fifth week in the hospital, his mother sent a message that Benchil had started walking again!

Benchil was discharged from the hospital on August 29 and is excited to get back to school again. “He is a bright student, he will be able to easily catch up with school work,” Teacher Elsa de Leon, who tutors him at home for the meantime, said. 

Benchil, whose face and body are no longer swollen,
stays at home to recuperate. 

__________________________

According to Dr. Tabije, Benchil’s malnourished condition became evident when the swelling left his face and body. His sores were also caused by poor nutrition. He is being given a nutritional drink and multivitamins daily to help him gain weight and be properly nourished. Please keep praying for Benchil’s health and for provision for his family.

Update as of September 24: 
Benchil has resumed joining classes at VOHCS Isla Puting Bato since September 16. Able to catch up with required modules, he got an average grade of 92% in the first periodical examinations. He ranked fifth in his class. 

Update as of December 17:
It is with heavy hearts that we momentarily say goodbye to Benchil. Last Saturday, he was rushed to the hospital for pneumonia and he passed away the following day. We thank God for his life and his story of hope. His teachers say that he was determined to learn new things and every time he smiled at them, their tiredness went away. Benchil will be missed but we know that he is in a much better place with our Heavenly Father.