Kennedy School Diaries: Pam Riordan
Pam Riordan is a teacher from HK’s Kennedy School. She recently joined a group of parents and kids on an ICM vision trip to Bacolod, where she participated in building homes for slum residents.
“I didn’t know what to expect but was extremely excited. On day one of visiting the slum, I realized exactly how little these gorgeous people have. I hoped that I would be able to help them, even if only a tiny amount. We cleared rubbish from the site, dug and laid the foundations of the houses, mixed cement, played and chatted with the children in the community, visited the preschool and taught a craft lesson. Visiting the simple family homes of the school children was totally an amazing experience – they all touched my heart and I found it very difficult to wave goodbye as we left the slum on the last day. To see the children with no shoes on, carrying buckets of water and cement, and helping to build the next house in the community was a leaky eye moment for sure. The glimmer of hope and the smiles on these children’s faces totally puts a busy Hong Kong life into perspective.
Pam with the children from the slum community where she built.
“I’ve traveled quite extensively and am not oblivious to communities like these – but to work with a group like ICM who are clearly making a difference to the lives of the poor people in the Philippines was a fulfilling experience that I hope to be a part of again and again in the future. I am already planning my next trip to help with teacher training in the summer and I hope to combine this with shoveling some more cement and helping to build the next house too. Best I crack on with keeping fit – but who would have thought mixing sand, cement, water and gravel could be so satisfying!
Thanks all at ICM who made this trip so fab! Hats off to you all and I look forward to seeing you all again soon!” - Pam Riordan
Hong Kong’s Kennedy School is a long-time supporter of ICM. Students, parents and teachers have partnered with ICM to build houses in the slums, donate school supplies and hundreds of shoes to ICM’s Jumpstart kindergarten students and to host the ICM Choir at their school in Hong Kong. Thank you for your encouragement and support.
Dreams Came True for the ICM Choir!
Dreams came true for the ICM Children’s Choir this past December. The fourteen kids traveled to the USA to perform at the Washington DC ICM Banquet and at multiple other events and venues in D.C. and New Jersey. The goal was to raise awareness of (and support for) ICM’s Philippine work. They left a powerful impression on everyone who saw them. And they had a blast! Their performance at the Kennedy Center was even streamed live to audiences around the world! To watch the Kennedy Center performance, CLICK HERE! Thanks for making this all possible.
Photos by Heather Elliott, ICM Media Officer
Youth Serving the Poor
“This is my second time going with ICM and I’ve been there four times with my family,” said ten-year-old Xavier, who was part of a recent group of parents and children from the Kellett School in Hong Kong. Xavier helped build houses at the ICM slum reconstruction site and also helped dig a sewage ditch because they lack proper toilets. When asked what part of the trip impacted him the most, Xavier said, “Visiting the slums because it really made a big impression on me as to how lucky I am. For instance, they have no shoes while I have expensive basketball shoes. They have a basketball court that is slanted and the hoop isn’t even straight. And most of all they don’t have toilets. Instead they have to go to the bathroom in the ground or if they are lucky, they go in squat pots that they have to empty out themselves.” After his time there, Xavier noticed that, “they are very unlucky but they are still happy.”
For Hugo, one of the other ten-year-old boys on the trip, visiting the slums in the Philippines was a first time experience. During the trip, the group visited their ICM Preschool called “Kellett Cares Learning Center.” Hugo said, “The houses where the Kellett Preschool children live impacted me the most; they were small and did not seem very strong.” His favorite memory from the trip was, “building the houses and visiting the Kellett Cares Learning Center. I played with the children at the school and helped to build houses at the re-homing project by moving bricks and sand bags, mixing cement, laying bricks and leveling out the floor. It was a happy community. They were playing basketball and sitting outside their houses.”
Youth like Xavier and Hugo have a lasting impact on slum communities like this one because of their willingness to come and help.
Photos courtesy of the Bansons
KIVU Diary: My Trip to the Philippines
Diary Entry by Rebecka Kaltenbach, KIVU Gap Year Participant
Camp KIVU is a Christian adventure camp in Colorado, USA where teenagers go to experience the great outdoors. One of their programs, called KIVU Gap Year, reaches out to students taking a year off in between high school and college. These students spend the year traveling to different locations around the globe, partnering with ministries in different countries. ICM was privileged to host a group of ten participating in the KIVU Gap Year at two of our bases in the Philippines. One of the participants, Rebecka Kaltenbach, shares her ICM experience below:
“To see what ICM is doing to help all those children impacted me in ways I can’t even explain. One memory that will stick with me forever was in El Nido. I had been going to the preschools regularly to get stories of the children and visit their homes to meet their families. I would see the kids every week and hangout for the day, so they got pretty comfortable with me. One day I went to Marty’s House Learning Center and I am not going to lie, I was starting to feel the heat. I was pretty exhausted. But when the kids saw me they stopped what they were doing and all 23 of them ran over to me and swarmed me with a huge hug! It is something that I will never forget; every time I think about it, it makes me miss what I was doing more than anything. But it also gives me joy to think that I as able to experience that!
The other thing that really stuck with me is the relationships I made with the ICM staff. Just being able to have fun fellowship with people that love the Lord and share a lot of the same interests was amazing. The last night the staff threw us a going away party and let me just say that I have never laughed so hard in my life. It was amazing and a highlight of my trip. But over all, to see what God is doing in the lives of so many people through the ICM staff just blows my mind and I was more than blessed to be able to experience that for a few months.”
Photos courtesy of Rebecka Kaltenbach
Do you have a bed?
Tess Lyons has been a dedicated volunteer with ICM for the past three years. Tess and her husband, Charles Caldwell, are currently sponsoring their 4th ICM preschool. They have taken their four children down to the Philippines several times to visit their students and to participate in the ongoing slum reconstruction building project cosponsored by ICM and Gawad Kalinga (GK). It was through hearing about Tess’ experiences that her parents, Blake and Maureen Lyons, and their friends, Karen & Grant Pryznyk, decided they wanted to come see what it was all about. Karen and Grant are Habitat for Humanity team leaders and were very interested in the GK building project, so in March the Lyons, Pryznyks, Caldwells and Dillons made the trip to Bacolod to see the work first hand. Karen shares her experience after the trip below and leaves us all with a thoughtful challenge:
“Do you have a bed? A door to your house? A bathroom? Are you protected from rain and wind? Then you are wealthy beyond the daily experience of most of the people we met in ICM’s slum rehabilitation projects in Bacolod, Philippines. Do your kids go to school? Do they eat every day? When they get sick can you get them the medical help they need? Many parents in Bacolod watch their kids suffer and fail to grow and develop because they cannot provide the basic necessities of life. These people are our brothers and sisters in the human family. And now, to me, they have names and faces. If you don’t want to know how “the other half” lives don’t go. Because if you do you will have some tough decisions to make about how you are going to live the rest of your life back in the safety and comfort of home.”
- Written by Karen Pryznyk, ICM Trip Participant
If you would like to take Karen up on her challenge to meet those in need and see ICM’s work first hand, please email peter.fry@caremin.com and find out more about our regular trips to the Philippines.
Photo by Grant Pryznyk, ICM Trip Participant
Karen Pryznyk (right) with Hannah, age 14 (centre). Hannah wants to be a teacher someday. She lives with 10 other members of her extended family in a slum dwelling about 10 by 20 feet.
Kids Camp 2011
Story by Julie Turner, ICM Executive Director // Photos & Videos by Heather Elliott, ICM Media Officer
Over 100 kids from the slums of Dumaguete and Bacolod came together prior to Easter for four action packed days of fun, craft, sport and song. The ICM’s Children’s Shelter and a few local staff kids were added to the mix, along with nearly 20 kids from Hong Kong and Australia. All 120 children were divided into 12 family groups that were led by over 40 leaders from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia, the US, the UK and Ireland. Each family group was assigned a colour and came up with a team name and chant. Some where pretty cute (Lime Lizards, Purple Penguins, Orange Groove, Red Roosters) while some were a bit more ‘threatening’ (Black Ninjas, Pink Tigers). A special shout out goes to James and Maggie’s ‘In the Navy’ mantra, which had everyone humming to the Village People’s classic tune all week. All the chants had catchy tunes, as kids from one team were often heard singing another team’s chant. Even after being home for a week, my three kids are still randomly breaking into song in honour of an opposing team!
Kids Camp Leaders
There were a lot of highlights from the week, including crafts like team banners depicting the week’s Bible lessons that will be given to the children’s home churches, hand painted t-shirts and photo frames, and personalized water bottles and wall hangings. A special thank you goes out to our lovely craft leaders, Theresa, Lauren and Yasmin for their creativity and to our amazing sports leaders, Lachlan and Joel, for all of their energy. I’m not sure who had more fun during the obstacle courses, the chocolate relay, the sponge wars, the soccer games, and the parachute game, those two guys or the kids. But all were thoroughly exhausted and smiling from ear to ear after each activity.
The Pink Tigers
After a week of songs and lessons, I think the kids realized that they are valued individuals who are made for a purpose and worthy of love. This will give them the hope they need to achieve anything they set their hearts to and to make a difference. As I move to the UK in a few months, the timing of this camp was perfect. It reminded me of why we do what we do. These kids are just as important as my own, just as worthy of my time and just as in need of our support. ICM is impacting not only these children, but their families and communities as well. Although the camp only lasted 4 days, the time invested will last a lifetime. Thank you so much to all of the leaders who traveled long distances to help and a huge thank you to Pastor Sam, Rochelle and the ICM Dumaguete staff who did a marvelous job hosting us. As for Kids Camp 2012? Can it be organized from an island on the other side of the world? Absolutely – see you there!
We hope you enjoy our recap videos:
Northridge Vineyard Christian Fellowship: A Helping Hand
I met Cecilia back in August 2010 while visiting several ICM Transform recipients in Barangay 40. As she emerged to greet us from behind a tattered cloth door, I couldn’t help but notice her unusual house. I learned as I made my way through the plastic tarp walls and rotting wood, that Cecilia’s home had burned down in December 2008. Since she didn’t have any money to rebuild and they didn’t receive help from government, her family collected material to construct a makeshift shanty. I asked her what happened when it rained. She told me that her entire family of five had to huddle under the tin roof to stay dry and that the floor turned into mud.
Photos by Erin Manfredi, ICM Media Officer
Six months later, in January 2011, a group of volunteers from Sydney’s Northridge Vineyard Christian Fellowship, joined ICM in Bacolod for a week long building trip. Two members of the team, Mike & Georgina, met Cecilia at her church on Sunday. When they later visited Cecilia in her home and saw its dilapidated condition, they knew they had to do something. With funding from the Northridge team and ICM’s help, they decided to give Cecilia and her family a new roof over their heads and a place to sleep out of the mud. They immediately got to work, tearing down the crudely built lean-to they had been living in for the past year+, laying an elevated floor, wall posts and crowning it all with a beautiful hole-free tin roof! For Cecilia and her family, this was a wonderful jump start on a home they never could have afforded themselves.
Photos by Georgina Davis, Northridge Vineyard Christian Fellowship
The original corrugated metal and plastic were then used to construct temporary walls, until Cecilia and her family can save the money needed for nipa walls. But for now they are have a new clean home, up off the ground, out of the mud. And best of all, they stay dry when it rains (which it does a lot in the Philippines). Cecilia and her family are very thankful for their new home and are extremely touched by the kindness shown to them by a group of strangers from Australia. Below are recent photos of Cecilia and her family outside their much improved, but still in progress home.
Photos by Peter Fry, ICM Travel Officer
ICM101: Programs in Action
Over 100 people from 10 different countries joined us in the Philippines for ICM101; a week long introduction course into the heart and soul of International Care Ministries. Participants sat in on classroom lectures where ICM Chairman, David Sutherland, shared ICM’s vision and strategies for changing the face of poverty in the Philippines in the areas we serve. Each ICM101er was trained by local ICM staff on how to teach a lesson from the Health & Livelihood Curriculum. The following day, ICM101ers experienced a day-in-the-life of an ICM staff member, traveling into the slums and rural communities where ICM works, and actually teaching their lesson to recipients.
ICM101 gave participants a chance to see our programs in action, as they interacted with local staff and recipients in the field. By the end of the week, the group had visited several slum communities, the ICM Children’s Shelter, several preschool graduation ceremonies, special medical cases, malnourished childrens’ outreaches and microfinance communities. It was a week to remember.
Photos by Erin Manfredi, ICM Media Officer
Box of Hope: Children Helping Children
In January, a Hong Kong based charity called Box of Hope joined us in Bacolod on a special mission: to deliver toys, school supplies and hygiene items to ICM preschool children. All of these items were donated by schools, children’s organizations and private enterprises around Hong Kong and handed out in the Philippines by the Box of Hope Team. The aim was to give poverty stricken children inspiration for their future. With a name appropriate to their cause, Box of Hope has delivered over 3,000 boxes to ICM preschoolers since the start of our partnership in 2009. The Director, Nicole Woolhouse, shares her personal experience handing out the gifts:
“Every school that we visited amazed us. Excited children greeted us at the door and strived to impress us with what they had learned in class. Our boxes were clutched to their chests like treasure, all the items inside lovingly cared for. Imagine the pride they will have on their first day at Primary School when they arrive with a new pack of their very own pens. Box of Hope will continue to support the wonderful work of ICM and hopefully reach out and touch the lives of many more children in need.”
Photos by Nicole Woolhouse, Box of Hope Director
