The Nanny Diaries

I am sitting here covered in porridge, rice, water, and soap. While you might think I’ve had a rough morning I am singing praises to God that I don’t have pee on me too like my partner in crime Kimi. One might ask their self what does the life of a Nanny look like? Well I will do my best to describe it leaving out no nasty details (who am I kidding the nasty details are probably the only ones you’re interested in right?)

Recipe for the perfect nanny...

Step 1:

Get up as the sun is rising around 5:30AM. Put your stuff up and take a few seconds for yourself. As the charges start to bang around it is time to get them immediately. Wait two seconds too long and you may end up with a variety of surprises when you open the door. Examples being clothes exploded out of drawers, water and milk dripping from the walls and covering the floor, beds piled on top of each other, or tooth paste covering beds and who knows what else.

Step 2:

Transform to Doctor mode and give out the daily meds. Make sure that you put the right dosages for seven different children all taking different amounts and different medications. DON’T MESS UP-- LIVES ARE ON THE LINE! Console kids to take the “purple stuff,” then strongly encourage them. Finally give up and force it down their throats.

Step 3:

Prepare a meal of mushy stuff for the baby. Feed it to her as she twists turns and wiggles everywhere the spoon is not. Find a lump of it on your shirt 30 minutes later. Stick the other children’s food in the freezer until cooled down. Block out screams from hunger pains coming from 3 highchairs. Continue feeding baby. Take out bowls and run for cover as the food goes everywhere… but in their mouths.

Step 4:

For shower time try to make it seem like it will be fun. Try and convince yourself of this too. Note for a novice: watch out for pee as the diaper is removed. Dump ice cold water onto the charge to start the extravaganza. Mix in a little bit of soap and then repeat the water. Be prepared to get soaked in the process. After dress the children, brush their teeth, and wipe sweat from your brow. Beware of small clothed children trying for a second round in the shower while finishing the washing process.

Step 5:

Play, read, play, scold, play, read, scold, scold, play.

Repeat as necessary.

Step 6:

NAP TIME!!!!!! Sleep if you can.

Step 7:

Repeat step 3, 4, and 5(x2).

Step 8:

For bed time clean up the mountain of toys sprawled all across the floor. Next make three bottles of milk and 4 sippy cups of milk. Do not forget the milk, or you will be sorry. Place screaming kids into bed and watch them run away. Try again. Watch them run a second time. Third time will be the charm if you can manage to close the door fast enough. Do not sit back and relax, the night is not over yet.

Step 9:

Make a pallet for yourself on the floor outside their room. Find many fans and make them all point directly into your face. Take a few minutes for yourself to recap the day and laugh at getting peed and spit up on. Pass out asleep.

Step 10:

Thirty minutes later wake up to a screaming baby and make a mad dash to find bottles. Try and get some rest after this. You have all this to look forward to again tomorrow!


Written by: The Nannies in Manila
(serving June & July 2009)

Medical Mission

It was a special day in the community of Cuatro, Philippines on July 2, when over 150 volunteers gathered at the JCCV to offer a free medical and dental clinic, as well as the opportunity to hear God’s Word, to the members of the village. The clinic, sponsored by the First Filipino Baptist Church out of Bayonne, NJ, in the United States, is a continuation of a ministry that was started in 1997 by Pastor Ulysses Marino, known as the ‘Blessed to Bless Medical Mission’. During the day, 460 adults and children of the Cuatro community were served and 218 made a decision to follow Christ.

The FFBC ‘B2B Medical Mission’, which served several Filipino communities from June 27- July 4, started with a vision. Pastor Uly, as he is known to his congregation, and a native-born Filipino, took a suitcase full of medical supplies up into the mountains of Mindanao in 1997 and came back home with a few stories to tell and plans for future visits. The subsequent trip, which occurred two years later, included 16 members of the church he serves in New Jersey. And today, nearly half of his church membership comes to the Philippines to offer medical supplies and care every other year. “We are part of a foundation of four organization and I am so encouraged every time I come back,’ said Medino. ‘We have already far surpassed any goal we set out for ourselves this trip. Our first day we served over 1000 people and over 600 were saved.”

“It has been a real blessing to work with Jeff Long and all the volunteers at the Kids International Ministry here in Cuatro,” said Pastor Uly. “I am always so moved to see people from all walks of life come together for a greater purpose – to reflect God’s love for all. And it has been such a blessing to witness first-hand God’s own hand in so many seemingly random coincidences, but are really no coincidences at all,” he said with a smile. “One day, I was sitting in the local mall waiting to meet Steve Mirpuri, the local pastor in Cuatro, when a young girl approached me asking if I would like to buy the street magazine, Jeepney. I told her I was very interested in the magazine, bought a copy and put it aside. When Steve joined me, he told me of all the amazing work that God was doing in and through the Kids International Ministry, including sponsoring and homing the Jeepney Magazine. The minute he said it, he looked over and saw the copy that I had purchased and hollered, that’s it, that’s the magazine I’m talking about. I love those kinds of ‘coincidences’ because you realize God’s reach is far and all-encompassing!”

Accompanied by a team of doctors, nurses, dentists, spiritual counselors and other volunteers, the medical mission goes into some of the most desperate of communities here in the Philippines. On July 1, they went into the slum known as Payatas, in Quezon City, a place where over 300,000 people live and fight over the trash that serves as the foundation for the shanties they have erected for their families. These shanties are built in and around the trash ‘mountain’ where nearly 6000 garbage trucks dump their haul each and every day. Eva Medalla, a registered nurse with the mission saw the reality of the last trip and her life was forever changed by what she saw. “I am burdened by the desperation around me here and I can no longer live without telling everyone I know what is happening. This is awful to recount, but I saw a little boy who, when he coughed, coughed up a worm. I couldn’t believe it. It broke my heart. This reality must change,” said Medalla. Nay Santa Ana, a first-time volunteer to this mission echoes Medalla, “After seeing the conditions in Payatas, I am convinced that if we do not give to missions, we are sinning. I can never again complain about anything. Whenever there is a chance to help, I will challenge others, with all my heart,” she added.

Melody Del Rosario, the church’s music director, came with her whole family. Even her youngest of her 3 children had roles to fulfill during the mission, helping out in the pharmacy. “Our church’s heartbeat is missions,” said Del Rosario, “everyone takes part. We have a membership of 90 and yet we serve over 100 missions and seminary students. More missions are supported than we have members.”

It takes 2 years for FFBC and its other partners to raise the funds for the mission, but everyone takes part in the fundraising and they organize many fundraising events such as the ‘Sacrificial Dinner’ where a dinner, accompanied by skits, music and a special program presented by the children of the church is offered.

The next mission is scheduled to take place in 2011 when they will again visit Cuatro with their offers of medicine, care, love and God’s Word. You can find out more by visiting the First Filipino Baptist Church website at http://www.ffbcnj.com/. There you will find a link with all the information pertaining to the “Blessed to Bless Medical Mission”, including how many were served as well as the number of people who came to know Christ’s love for them and made decisions to follow Him.
by: Pamela Arzel

Nannies in Manila

I am a 20 year old from Nashville, TN and I am living here at KIM for two months this summer, along with my team of four other girls. We are working at the orphanage in the nursery on daily shifts. At times I wondered if how I spend my summer would be effective at all, but when you are here and when you are with the kids, you realize that even just spending time with them does matter. A lot of times I feel like I am working a daycare or a kids camp, but when I am giving a child a shower, or staying up with them at night because they have a fever, I am then aware of the reality that these kids who are very young and very precious really don't have any parents that are coming to pick them up. It's times like those when all I really know to do is make them laugh or hold them real tight.

Last week a little 20 month old boy fell and cut his head open. We had to take him to the hospital which was very different from any hospital I have been to back home. Understandably so, this little boy did not want to cooperate with the x-ray technician or the surgeon who put 3 stitches in his head. After a lot of screaming and a lot of nurses holding him down, he was all put back together. He slept very well that night! This once again made me realize that there was a hole in this scene and that he should have a mother or a father there to help him through this long day. It also made me realize, however, how great of a staff and how great of a ministry KIM is putting out here in Manila. Even though these kids are truly missing out on a lot of things that I consider very common, like a family, I am very thankful that the staff here is loving and providing for these kids like they are. I don't really know where the children would be if they were not here.

To Know the Truth You Must Believe

I have been so blessed to be working with KIM for the last 3 weeks. I was very nervous 2 weeks ago about helping with 2 kids camps, but the camps turned out to be a huge blessing for me and for the older children in the home. The first camp was a two day camp that took place at the JCCV(Jesus Christ Church in the Valley) which is right next door to the Yun Jin Ministry Center. During the first day, about 90% of the teaching, talking, and instructions were in Tagalog and I couldn’t understand a word of it, but I could tell that all of the 62 children there were having a blast. So I pulled up my boot straps and bunkered down for a few more days of Filipino language and culture.

In those first 2 days, the children learned a memory verse, Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Each child was provided a journal and they were encouraged to write about what the Lord has been teaching them. They played soccer, basketball, and other fun games, had times of worship, and most importantly, they studied the word of God. I ended up being paired with a few of the 13 year old girls to discuss the Bible story which I was nervous about but turned out to be great fun.

At this point I was still nervous about going to the second camp in Zambales-the mango capital of the Philippines, until I found out that some of the other Filipino volunteers I had met would also be going. After a 6 hour bus ride, we arrived at the camp. The theme was X-Files “To know the Truth, You must Believe”. There were nearly 1,500 teen-age students at this camp and it was a little overwhelming but very high energy. There were 3 sessions(all in Taglish-a mixture of Tagalog and English) each with a different speaker. They addressed current issues faced by many teens in the Philippines with sermons and dramatic skits. The students enjoyed praise and worship time and the extreme games such as a giant water slide and a zip line challenge over the pond.

I had the blessing of explaining one of the skits and talking about salvation with Joi Ann, a girl from the community near the children’s home. The kids from the children’s home had a great time, but were very tired after 2 long bus rides and 2 camps filled with fun activities and Bible lessons. Praise God that I had the opportunity to share this experience with the kids and I even learned some Tagalog!

Amber

Blessing in Malaybalay

It was such a great blessing to have the Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship here for two weeks. We have also become a blessing to them. A lot of them who have already graduated committed themselves to go out as missionaries. This is where Belen and I met. Their leaders in our area have committed to help us in our Saturday fellowship with the kids. Now we can freely invite more kids because we have more laborers in the harvest field. Girlie, the mayor's niece, and her husband are still faithfully bringing in the snacks for the kids every Saturday. I am very optimistic that by God's grace this Saturday fellowship will really grow big. Right now their attendees have almost doubled. Even the church on Sunday has increased in their attendance. God is indeed blessing our ministry Jeff. Again thank you for laboring with us. As God has put the burden in your heart for the little ones He did in our hearts too especially after hearing the news that gangs have been recruiting kids age 12 or 13 and a 14 year old member of the NPA was killed in one of the encounters with the military. We just hope that through this Saturday fellowship we could reach as many kids as possible. Kids who have been actually abandoned by their parents and the society but are not qualified to get in the orphanage. I pray that even just on Saturdays they can look forward to having fellowship in God's Word, in games and to be able to eat a lot. We just hope that somehow God would allow us to plant the seed of God's Word in the hearts of these kids before it is too late.

I was so excited to see all the happenings going on in the Children’s Home and all around it. God is an awesome God, and He reigns! You see, the Longs listen to Him, and it shows. God lays it on their heart, and they honor this. This family is living proof of His feet and His hands at work!

It was nice to be with you all from April 25th to 28th (not my first trip). Very short trip but so powerful to see the work of the Holy Spirit!

It was great to see Moses again! He has grown so much. Brea is so excited that I held him! Oh, to think how I met you all. It was all through basketball...and I know how you love this game. Meeting Kirk was not a coincidence but a God incident. I have not been the same. To meet this family, to have them show us around the Home, Cuatro Village, and all—Wow!

God puts people in our lives for a reason. I was so honored to be part of Jerick and Diane's going-away night. It was a night of joy and grief colliding. With them going to be with family and leaving the Home, how wonderful for them, yet a bit sad for the Home—a time of transition.

One thing I know for sure, all the kids have a home at all times—a home at the Children's Home and in the heart of Jesus, who is where our home is! You have showered the children with the love of Jesus! This will never fail. You teach them this because you know His love and you trust in this love.

To see all the staff and the joy they have—Wow! I know I am being called to help. How does God want me to help? This is a prayer session at the moment! I know for now I am to shower the Longs with prayers, love, a home away from home in Hong Kong, and of course, coffee.

I love you all. God loves you all. My home is your home here in Hong Kong, and if there is anything I can do from here…ask.

What great work you all are doing for His kingdom.

'Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and be constant in prayer." Romans 12:12

With blessings,
Marie Talsness

I'm Back

The first time I came to Manila was back in November 2007. I was
passing through with another missions organization called Adventures
in Missions, on an 11-month trip called The World Race. I fell in love
with KIM and the children's home right away, despite the fact that I
personally only spent a week here in Manila.

A year later I returned to Manila to spend a full month working at the
children's home and help out with some logistics for short term teams
coming in. Again, I absolutely loved it and knew that it would not be
my last time in Manila!

And here I am, another 6 months later, and I'm back! This time,
though, I'm sticking around a lot longer! I've committed to working
with KIM for about 15 months, and then I will reassess and see what
the Lord has for me next.

I am extremely excited to be a part of all the amazing work that God
is doing here in Manila, and I am looking forward to investing in
these kids lives and also sharing the love of Christ with members of
the community.

God Bless,
Christie