Kids Camp 2012
“I traveled from an earthquake affected area in Ayungon,” said Christy. “It took 4 hours to arrive here.” Christy was one of 134 kids who attended Kids Camp 2012 which was offered to kids from the communities that were severely affected by the two major natural disasters that hit Dumaguete this year. A few children traveled as far as 60 miles to get there!
The kids were divided into “families” led by parents from HK, Australia and the UK, who gave up their holidays to participate. For four action packed days the teams enjoyed sports, games, crafts and Bible lessons while competing for first place by singing their team chants. Christy was on the Purple Pandas Team and told us, “My favorite thing to do at camp was sports games!” It was a fun filled week for all!
Please enjoy our Kids Camp Recap Video below!
Congratulations, Kindergarten Graduates!
Nearly 1800 excited students proudly received their diplomas during graduation week after completing their year of learning at one of ICM’s 80 Kindergartens. These formal graduation celebrations were held in each region so family members and friends could come and cheer their student as they walked across the stage. There was much to celebrate as songs were sung, verses recited and awards given. Thank you to all the generous Kindergarten Sponsors who made this possible!
Little Kids with Big Hearts
Ava (5) and Isabella (7) raised HK1,000 for poor children in the Philippines by running their own booths in the playground at their apartment building. Isabella ran a nail salon for ladies and a tattoo parlor for boys while Ava baked cookies and made lemonade. Thank you Ava and Isabella for this awesome effort, you are making the world a better place!
Photos courtesy of Maxine Gross
Students Stepping Up: Pope John XXIII Regional High School Pledges US$5,000
The ICM Choir’s last performance of the 2011 USA Tour was held at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, New Jersey. The Choir’s multimedia performance shared how the children’s individual stories of abandonment, hunger, disease, and displacement have been transformed by the hope of a better future. As they sang their stories, they represented all children throughout the world living in adversity. Their music testified to the power that hope can bring. The students and staff at Pope John XXIII Regional High School responded with extreme generosity, pledging US$5,000 to help change more lives in the Philippines. Their warm welcome to the USA was a very powerful experience for the Choir Kids.
Thank you, Pope John XXIII Regional High School, for walking beside us in the flight against poverty.
The event even received local press coverage! To read the published article CLICK HERE.
Photo by Heather Elliott, ICM Media Officer
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
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:
University Students Making a Difference
Last year, a group of college students from the University of Virginia in the United States heard about the need for preschool sponsors and decided to take action. They worked together and raised USD$5,000 to sponsor an ICM Preschool. This donation enabled one preschool to open its doors to 25 children in a slum community in Bacolod City. That is 25 changed lives. And the best part is, they got to meet…
Two girls from the group, Corrie & Laura, traveled to the Philippines to visit their preschool. They received a warm welcome and hand made thank you cards, which they brought back to the other UVA students. Today, in Bacolod City, the 25 students from their preschool graduated! And tomorrow, UVA is donating funds from a campus wide fundraiser to ICM. To all the students at the University of Virginia, thank you!
