Do You E-Bay?

Now you can support us when you sell things on E-Bay.

When you are listing an item for sale on E-Bay you have the option of donating all or part of the proceeds to a charity of your choice. Now that we have registered with E-Bay's charity partner, Missionfish, you can choose to support the Conroy Rendon Charitable Trust.

Click here to find out more.

P.S. A big thank you to "Tita Dolly" who put us on to this and has already chosen to support us in this way with her E-Bay listings.

Another Shipment On Its Way

Just some of the tools shipped today

It's been several months in the preparing, the collecting, the boxing and labelling but at last we've done it. We have emptied our garage and dispatched another shipment of tools (mechanics, plumbers, electricians and carpenters tools) gardening implements, sewing machines and computers, plus a few sets of children's clothing for good measure (as well as padding around the computers).

The bulk of these (22 boxes weighing in at over half a ton) are bound for the 'Open Eyes Mission' in Cagayan De Oro City where they will be used to set up a workers co-operative in a poor community. Two other boxes are bound for other organisations that we partner with in the same area.

Once again a huge vote of thanks to Tools With A Mission and Aid to Hospitals Worldwide, plus several individual contributors, for supplying the goods and to Gary and Evelyn at Tagalog Balikbayan Services for arranging the shipping on our behalf. We simply couldn't do this without your help.

All being well the consignment should arrive at its destination in early December. In the meantime we have more orders to process so, in a week or two, we will start all over again. Oh well, it was nice having a bit of space in the garage for a day or two!

Manila Typhoon Aid

Over the past week I've had one or two people asking if they can route donations to help the victims of Typhoon Ketsana in Manila through our charity.

Our focus is on long term sustainable projects, primarily around the city of Cagayan De Oro in Mindanao (which is in the south of the country) and we only work through local mission partners to ensure that all the aid we provide makes it through to the intended beneficiaries.

We don't have any suitable contacts in the Manila area however one of our friends, who is a church pastor in Cagayan De Oro, has recommended Operation Blessing Philippines a Philippines based charity distributing aid to disaster victims. You can make a donation by credit card on their website http://www.obphil.com/

Alternatively, if you prefer to make a donation through a UK based charity, you can do so via the Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella organisation for 13 major UK disaster relief charities,who have launched a special appeal for the victims of the typhoons in the Philippines and Vietnam as well as the earthquake in Sumatra and the Tsunami in Samoa. However any donations you make through this route will go to all these regions rather than just the Philippines.

Update Sunday 11th october :- since writing the above there have been more tropical storms causing floods and landslides in numerous places including Dagupan City in Pangasinan (Northern Luzon) and Bagguio.

In The News Again

The House of Joshua project continues to get valuable press coverage in the Philippines.

We got a mention too in this front page article in the Gold Star Daily News - the largest newspaper in Mindanao.

Local Press Coverage

It seems that word is getting around about the House of Joshua project.

Here's a link to an article published on a local website, Kagay-an.com by Mike Banos, a journalist working in Cagayan De Oro City, Mindanao. This article is also to be published in a couple of the main local newspapers.

Those Who Sow In Tears

I think it was the late Scottish Minister, Oswald Chambers, who said "Life is often more tragic than orderly" and sometimes it seems to me that some peoples lives are just filled with tragedies - like a friend of mine who, down the years that I have known him, has been made redundant several times, both he and his wife have had several serious illnesses, difficulties with their children, problems with the grandchildren, financial concerns and so on. I don't know how I would have coped in such difficulties.

However one of the most tragic stories to have touched my life in recent years has been that of a young autistic boy in the Philippines. Unable to talk or to walk properly, and with other medical problems, he was found abandoned in a city market place. It seems this child was unloved and unwanted

With nowhere else suitable to house him the city authorities placed him in a local jail for youth offenders where he sat alone in a corner, often in his own urine and excrement, largely unable to care for himself or communicate with those around him. Nobody knew his name or where he had come from. the staff referred to him as "Mr X".

Nobody took much notice of him until he was discovered by a group of young people from a church in England visiting the jail during a "mission trip" working alongside local Christian missionary organisations.

This little boy, and his terrible circumstances, was the inspiration for the House of Joshua Children's Home, a project that our charity is actively supporting in partnership with Lifenet Children's Foundation Inc.

Sadly this little boy, nicknamed "Dong" by my daughter Mary - founding principal of Lifenet, has recently died of a chest infection.

Read Mary's moving "letter to Dong" here on the Lifenet blog.

The Bible says, "Those who sow in tears shall reap with songs of joy" (Psalm 126, verse 5).

Dong's life may have been tragic but we must not allow it to have been a tragic waste. We must act. We must do whatever it takes to make sure that other children like him have a better life than he did.

Puntod Fire Update - Pictures

With the initial amount of money that we sent 80 plywood sheets have been bought to build small shanty huts for 10 of the families made homeless by last weeks fire in Puntod Barangay.

Following receipt of a number of generous donations God has enabled us to send in excess of £1500 to bless those in need, which means that many more homes, and lives, can be rebuilt.

Here are a few lines from an e-mail we received from our partner in this endeavour.

You never know how great is the impact you had made to the lives of our brethren here.
Such a great legacy that will never ever forgotten. One of the fire victims, an elderly widow of 72 years old who had lost her shanty, is now grateful for the help she received through us. Without any pension, government benefits or assistance to her needs, she is comforted by our love that we had shown to her.

How I wish to personally thank you for your kindness towards the poor brethren over
here. The overwhelming joy is evident over their faces and hearts as they keep thanking God for such a wonderful expression of your help to them. We had extended them some help towards their basic needs as they had to start their lives all over again after this tragic fire.

Slum Community Devastated By Fire

Smoke still hangs over the devastated Puntod Community - these used to be houses

A few days ago we received an e-mail from a Pastor who is one of our Mission Partners in the Philippines. He told us about a devastating fire in a slum community in the Puntod district of Cagayan De Oro City where around 100 shanty houses had been completely destroyed.

In such communities houses are often built very close together using simple materials like wood, and even sometimes cardboard, under a corrugated metal roof. Consequently any fire spreads quickly from one building to the next.

salvaging metal roof sheets

This is the rainy season and with torrential downpours every day these people urgently need somewhere to shelter. Some have found temporary lodging with family nearby while others are struggling to survive under makeshift tents and tarpaulins.

We are only a small charity and our resources are insufficient to meet such a large need but we have been able to send enough money to buy materials to rebuild about 10 houses using metal sheets that have been salvaged from the fire for roofing.

We would like to be able to do more to help but we simply don't have enough money unless some more comes in. Just £30 will rebuild a house - would you like to make a donation? If so please click on the Paypal button on this site.

A Puntod resident looks on in shock

Tarpaulin shelter

The Face of Poverty - Does Anybody Care?

I don't know the lady in this picture but she is one of the ones referred to in an e-mail I received this week from one of our mission partners, a pastor of a church in Cagayan De Oro City, Mindanao.

Here is part of what he wrote: -

Greetings from the Philippines!

When we went to the the tribal village of Iba, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom,
our team visited a house we found three elderly women there living in a day to day survival.
In the course of the conversation, they confided how hard their lives are when no one cares for them. One of them wept bitterly as we had shown concern for them even just by being a person who has listening ears to listen to the cries of their hearts.

Here in the Philippines, there are no government programs to sustain them with their basic needs of food and medicines. We have about 40 elderly women in our bible fellowship attending
our prayer, bible study and worship. Every week we are giving them fares for transportation so that they can attend the fellowship gathering. Every week we are giving free food and rice......

We are in the process of putting together a package of tools and medical equipment for this church to enable them to provide some medical care and also set up some community programs in tribal areas so that people like this can be given ways to earn a living, perhaps by making some simple craft goods or by growing a few crops to provide food for themselves and to sell in the market place.

We can easily obtain the tools and medical supplies but shipping is quite costly and the amount of equipment that we are able to give is constrained by our limited budget. We know that no matter how much aid we send there will always be a need for more but that shouldn't stop us doing what we can.

As I look into the eyes of this lady I find myself moved by her serenity and dignity but in truth this is the face of poverty in 2009. This is not countless hordes of people on the brink of starvation in some African food crisis. This is one elderly lady, amongst a group of others just like her, struggling to survive from one day to the next. This lady has a name, she has a story to tell.

If this were in England, or another affluent country, she would be entitled to welfare support, state benefits, to provide for her needs. But this is the Philippines - a country where almost half of the 80+ million population live in serious poverty (surviving on less than £0.50 / US$1 per day) and where there are not the resources for the government to be able to change the situation, even if there were the political will to do so.

We can't help them all but we could make a difference for this lady and her two friends who live with her. Does anybody care?

In The Meantime - Please Be A Friend

Will you be a friend?

Work is now under way to build the House of Joshua Childen's Home. However the construction project is likely to take around 8 to 9 months to complete (partly depending on how quickly the money comes in and partly on how long the rainy season lasts).

In the meantime our partners in this project, the Lifenet Children's Foundation Inc. want to move forward as soon as possible with providing a home for needy children at risk. To do this they are looking for a house to rent that will be large enough to accomodate about 10 to 12 children plus house parents.

The cost of getting this temporary home up and running is estimated at about £800 (60,000 Philippine pesos) per month, including food, utilities and rent; as well as employing a professional social worker, which is a legal requirement.

We are looking for 80 people to sponsor this at a minimum of £10 per month - to become a 'Friend of the Lifenet Foundation'.

We have set up a separate bank account to receive regular payments. If you have a UK Bank account you can do this by monthly Standing Order. Please visit the House of Joshua page on our website to download the standing order mandate form.