There's No Place Like Home

There is indeed no place like home. 

It has been my busiest first quarter of the year ever.  Last year, I only traveled out of the country twice, but since starting this year as Extreme Response (ER) Director for Asia, I have been to 4 countries already in a matter of four months.  In the four times I went on a trip this year, I really felt so homesick.  Although, the places I've been were nice and beautiful, nothing still beats my own home.

The longest time I've been away is only for three weeks and it felt like forever already.  I remember feeling so excited as we boarded our last flight heading to Manila.  I can't wait to fasten my seat belt and hear the captain's sweet voice announcing that we are soon ready for take off.

In my mind, I imagined hugging my kids again; eating unlimited plates of rice again; lying on my bed and clutching my old pillows again; drinking ice cold coke while complaining about Manila's hot and humid weather again. 

And I was just gone for three weeks.

Then while thinking about those things I love to do when I am at home, my mind started to shift to the little kids we are helping in the streets of Manila.

I realized these kids don't go out on a trip and yet they have been away from their homes, some, almost all their lives.  Some still were abandoned as soon as they were born.  Some, on the other hand were taken away as they are better off out of their homes because of the abuse they receive from their own parents.  Some call the streets their home only because that's where they were born.

No unlimited plates of rice to eat.  No bed and pillow to enjoy.  No hugs.  No kisses. There's nothing to quench their thirst even if they complain about Manila's hot and humid weather.

Almost all their lives.

I said that again because I know things can change.  Soon, we will be launching in Manila ER's home for street children.  It is a response to an ER partner's dream and now it is becoming a reality.  Before we left for this trip, we actually started renting a house.  Our next step is to furnish it with furnitures and appliances along with the renovation needed to make it a safe place for kids to live in. 

Our plan initially is to take care of ten boys.  Aside from the house where they can live and grow properly, we will be providing formal education, physical and mental health, values and spiritual formation. If things go according to our plans, the ten boys will start to live with us this coming September.  Together with the house parents, the cook, the social worker and the other staff, the children's home (soon we will have a name for it) will be led by John and Gela Basiwa as the Home’s Director and Administrator respectively.

John and Gela have been doing street kids ministry since 2001 and it has been their dream to provide a home for these street kids.  After putting up a drop-in center five years ago, they thought that it will take them 15 more years to accomplish their dream.  Now, through the effort of ER, that dream is just a few months away.

Soon, ten kids will have plenty of rice to eat (of course, not unlimited, a nutritionist will monitor the amount and kind of food they eat).  They will have their own bed and pillows.  They will definitely experience what it means to be hugged and kissed again.  They will still be thirsty because of the weather, and they may not be allowed to drink coke (the nutritionist for sure will say soft drinks are  not good for their health) but for sure the love and care they will receive will be more than enough to quench their thirst.  Soon they too will be able to say, “There's no place like home!”