Colourful Family Life
We often joke as a staff that we have a 'COLOURFUL' life with so many children, because each day/night is different and unexpected things can catch us just when it seems like life may be routine and settled.
The unpredictable responsibilities this month have ranged from two children losing their tempers and running away for a day, a boy who didn't come home from school for a night as he decided to try and look for his grand parents, (staff searching for, finding, recovering and counseling the children who disappeared) sicknesses, an emergency hospital visit with a child's sudden allergic reaction, ultrasound scans, changes in staff, to the return of one of our youth back to HOJ from foster care.
Continual changes and adaptation are very much part of loving and learning together with such a diverse family. It can be a joy and also at times quite stressful and tiring for our staff who carry the responsibility of walking out the everyday challenges.
Rainbows are usually seen AFTER the drenching downpours so we continue to look for the signs of God's unchanging promises!
Unfortunately the results were not as we had hoped for as only 14 students in the whole of Cagayan de Oro city passed the national exam and sadly our HOJ children were not among the 14 passers listed. It is apparently the lowest pass rate in years and perhaps not suprising given the number of times that so many things were changed with short notice.
It is a huge disappointment for all of us who have worked so hard to support our kids with their dreams to meet the Dept of Education requirements to start high school and most especially for our kids who have been the innocent victims of a system that has failed them terribly.
The students who have failed are recommended to register to retake the exam in March, however our children are understandably incredibly discouraged!
Mentoring Program
This month we are starting a new mentoring program structure to help target specific areas for growth in each child and improve our support and development of their potential.
PLEASE PRAY:
Children's Outreach
House of Joshua aims to faciitate outreach opportunities for our residential children to share love and care both in the local community and around Cagayan de Oro city.
It is an important part of our rehabilitation program to help our children realise they have much to give and their previous life difficulties can be used proactively to help them identify and respond to the needs of others through compassionate care and service.
Our recent outreach took us all to the outskirts of our city, to the Mother Theresa Street Children's Shelter run by the governement city welfare department in Puerto. Our HOJ kids prepared dances, puppet dramas, songs, games, and candy bags to share with the children.
We often joke as a staff that we have a 'COLOURFUL' life with so many children, because each day/night is different and unexpected things can catch us just when it seems like life may be routine and settled.
The unpredictable responsibilities this month have ranged from two children losing their tempers and running away for a day, a boy who didn't come home from school for a night as he decided to try and look for his grand parents, (staff searching for, finding, recovering and counseling the children who disappeared) sicknesses, an emergency hospital visit with a child's sudden allergic reaction, ultrasound scans, changes in staff, to the return of one of our youth back to HOJ from foster care.
Rainbows are usually seen AFTER the drenching downpours so we continue to look for the signs of God's unchanging promises!
Alternative Learning System Results
With exam date changes, delays, postponements, changes to curriculums, changes to exam formats, changes to the exam language and many frustrations for our children (and staff) who have been studying with the Alternative Learning System for the past 2 years we have been long waiting for the result of the final exams which were taken in November 2017.Unfortunately the results were not as we had hoped for as only 14 students in the whole of Cagayan de Oro city passed the national exam and sadly our HOJ children were not among the 14 passers listed. It is apparently the lowest pass rate in years and perhaps not suprising given the number of times that so many things were changed with short notice.
It is a huge disappointment for all of us who have worked so hard to support our kids with their dreams to meet the Dept of Education requirements to start high school and most especially for our kids who have been the innocent victims of a system that has failed them terribly.
The students who have failed are recommended to register to retake the exam in March, however our children are understandably incredibly discouraged!
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| Pizza Party: Thanks to one of our supporters visiting from USA. |
This month we are starting a new mentoring program structure to help target specific areas for growth in each child and improve our support and development of their potential.
PLEASE PRAY:
- Our ALS students will regain their confidence to retake the exam next month and for our staff supporting the kids to not give up on their dreams.
- Our HOJ kids will connect well with the new mentoring program's aims and for our house care staff who are working to develop their child support care skills.
- Renewed courage, passion and joy for all our staff in the day to day challenges.
- Peace in the hearts and minds of all our HOJ children facing personal, health, academic and emotional difficulties.
Children's Outreach
House of Joshua aims to faciitate outreach opportunities for our residential children to share love and care both in the local community and around Cagayan de Oro city.
It is an important part of our rehabilitation program to help our children realise they have much to give and their previous life difficulties can be used proactively to help them identify and respond to the needs of others through compassionate care and service.
Growing Hope Update
Our Growing Hope family is a tight knit group of 25 families who are part of our community outreach and support development program, attending our activities at our House of Joshua centre every Saturday afternoon.
We are currently working to organize and facilitate livelihood skills training seminars for parents to obtain new skills that can be used for supplementary income work. It has taken more time to set up than we anticipated due to delays from the initial faciliating partners who agreed to help us. We have since found an alternative training provider and our eventual hope is to be able to establish a cooperative business to support our mothers in their entrepreneurial endeavours.
PLEASE PRAY that this branch of our ministry will be fruitful in providing a helping hand to our families to actively make supported and progressive steps towards sustained financial stability.
Sad News
We were greatly saddened that one of our Growing Hope boys who has been a sponsored child for several years passed away after a tragic accident during the Christmas holiday.
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| Jun Rafael 2009 - 2017 |
PLEASE PRAY with us for this sweet family who are facing the unimaginable loss of their beloved son and little brother.
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