“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in”. Matthew 25:35

Ever had a feeling you want to be doing something so good for a small part of the world that you’re in and never actually take that desire anywhere? That was me, for years and years. I always wanted to travel overseas and give help and aid wherever and whenever I could. But, like you guys that say “That is me” something always came up, not a reason, more an excuse. What about work? What about the family? What about the holidays that I need for another reason. What about the cost? Sitting in church and listening to peoples lives change and how they unselfishly positively effected others around them, I wanted that to be me, a calling if you like.

If this sounds like you as it was certainly me, my advice is DO IT, while you can. It will probably be the most humbling experience you will ever experience. Who gains from such an experience? You or the people you are helping……. read on to find my conclusion to this.

Sixteen years ago, the founders, Martin and Amy Lamb, purchased a piece of land covered in overgrown scrub with the view of building a home for themselves. Designs were drawn as they chased their dream of moving to the island of Bohol, Philippines. Some two years later they were building a home not for them, but for the children in need in the area. That was the beginning of what has now been home for more than one hundred children and countless others who have come weekly to visit or be part of the activities taking place.

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The Shepherd’s Arms Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation in Bohol, Philippines that exists to care for disadvantaged children, empower communities to lift them out of poverty and help them realise God’s promises for them.

Somehow associated with our family church, Elim Franklin, we learned about the efforts in Bohol and wanted to include a trip here on our world travels, staying a month to help out where we could.

We contacted Gilda and Dexter who run the orphanage along with their house Mother and they were delighted that we wanted to come and be a part of the mission for a month.

Now Dexter has an amazing story to tell of how he came to do God’s work, I won’t tell his tale here but his life has completely changed by two or three moments that eventually showed him God was calling. His background of life is not where we would want our lives to be, two near death misses and being told God had a plan for him when he was not a Christian, finally made him look in this direction.

Now he jointly runs the mission here, writes wonderful worship songs, leads an amazing worship band every Sunday, plays guitar, drums, and keyboard and only has one vision, to make these kids’ lives the best that they could be and prepare them on a righteous path for when they become adults.

The 21 or so children of the home perform an almost faultless Sunday service with the band being something that in my opinion would give most small churches a run for their money. Even the kids dress up for Sunday service and know exactly what is required of them for the two-hour service.

Our thanks go out to Dexter for being patient with our lack of the Philippine language and almost doing the entire service in dual language.

The boys were hard to contain for so long but the moment it was over Charlie had only one thing on his mind….drums Daddy!!

Who gained the most? The kids or us?

We started with a visit to the orphanage with a suitcase of goodies for the kids. We had asked Gilda what can we bring, what do they need? The answer was simple stuff, flip flops, hair brushes for the girls, and I thought soccer balls for the boys. The children went mad with excitement but mainly we think because we were going to be a familiar face for the next month and the twins were an added bonus.

Now Kristi and I went into this with an almost unknown charter course. We had both always wanted to do this type of aid but had no idea what to expect. What could we bring to the table that would help the kids?

We went with an expectation of being here every day for a month but of course, the kids were at school during the day. This meant the interaction with the kids, aged from 6 upwards to almost 23 was going to be focused on Saturdays and Sundays.

Kristi has been teaching English on-line to Chinese kids since we left and this was a great place to start, although most of them knew a good amount of our language. They enjoyed hanging around a table and learning new words and ways to say things. Kristi was inundated with smiles and concentrated children.

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The girls adored the boys and of course, Lara, braiding her hair constantly and being introduced to school playground type games kept Lara busy.

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We were always greeted by what seemed a million smiles every time we went. I tried to teach the boys a few soccer tricks but it was so hot to run around. I was grateful to help in other ways such as going throughout the weekdays and helping Dexter with a few projects, building new dining table tops, painting and putting up fences to rehouse the goats.

We asked if the kids ever enjoyed trips out and as a beach was just a short walk away, we suggested that this may be a great idea. We were delighted it was received positively. They had a Tuesday off school due to a holiday so we set this up for a BBQ on the beach day. BOY do these guys know how to BBQ. We had fish, local delicacies including fresh fish salad and plenty of fruit. Everyone had a great time and we were thrilled to be able to put more smiles on their faces.

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The home is funded, mainly via New Zealand and Australia. But their focus on self-sustainability is remarkable. The grounds hold an almost self-reliant approach, with the exception of a few things. There are Chickens, Goats, Pigs, even a self-reliant fish farm. An area where Dexter manages fish from almost birth to full size and into the pan. Of course all of the tropical fruit and needed veg’s come from the same location. Everything we ate was superb, fresh and really healthy for them.

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So in conclusion what did we bring to the kids for a month? Honestly very little, but we received so much. We were always greeted by smiles, touches, and playful little people. What did they do for us that we didn’t expect to hit us as it did, especially Kristi? A knowledge and understanding that what we have is way too much. These kids have almost nothing, except the roof over their heads, hardly any personal items, beds that are made of plywood on a bit of 2×2 each end to give flexibility in the middle, each other and God in their lives. Yet, in reality, they are far happier with life than we are. We complain that modern day life doesn’t operate the way it should for us, we complain that things don’t work, that we need this and we need that. In reality, we don’t. Kristi has convinced me we don’t need a big house, big mortgage. We need to be happy in life with what we have and be content in life more.

We were gifted a $500 donation from a family friend to give as we saw fit. Here we could hardly spend it. It was going to go far. We spoke with Gilda and opted for new school uniforms as most didn’t have one, personal toiletry set that Kristi spent time putting together and a donation to the home.

Now here is an example, you give your kids a plastic box with a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, soap and a washcloth for a gift and watch the expression on their face. Give it to 20 odd kids from this home and they were absolutely thrilled. They shower in cold salty water every day. They start their day at 4.30am with chores, cooking, cleaning, gardening, off to school at 7.30 to return at 5 pm, more chores before lights out at 9 pm. Try adopting that in our family and see the reaction. Here again, the kids loved their life and we needed to learn a big lesson from this, and we did.

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Would we do this again, absolutely! For us it was a very humbling experience. The kids were amazing and have such a wonderful life at Shepherd’s Arms! Gilda & Dexter adore the children and make the most with what they have. It was simply amazing to see their commitment, creativity, love and faith.

We would like to thank Martin Lamb (founder) Gilda and Dexter for making us so welcome and giving us our first experience. We learned so much.

Posted with kind permission of the Shepherd’s Arms, Foundation.