House of Joshua Open

It's been just over a month since the first children arrived at the House of Joshua and some of them have taken a  while to adjust to such a dramatic change in their circumstances.

Previously, although they had not committed any crimes, these children had all been housed at the local youth jail simply because their was nowhere else for them to go, having been orphaned or abandoned by parents unable to care for them.

In the jail they received no education and were kept locked up in cramped and uncomfortable conditions for long periods of the day. They slept on the floor, wore tattered and ill fitting clothes, had their heads shaved to prevent lice. They were malnourished and many had skin infections such as scabies. Now they have new clothes of their own , their own beds (with a mattress, sheets and pillows), toys to play with and regular nutritious food. They have enjoyed their new freedom to run around outside and are excited to start learning to read and write.

At the present time there are 10 children in residence with more due to arrive shortly. Eventually the home will house up to 75 children but how quickly that happens will depend on enough people coming forward to sponsor children. If you are interested please click here to download a sponsorship pack.

If you can't afford a full sponsorship but would like to contribute towards the running costs of the home please click here for Bank Standing Order Form (UK bank customers only) and Gift Aid Declaration.

Overseas supporters please email us for further details. (This link will take you to the email form on our website).

note - faces have been blurred for safety of  the children.

Fundraising Means More Tough Questions For Church

Those lovely people at Horringer Court Community Church in Bury St Edmunds are at it once again - fundraising for the House of Joshua.

In 2012 they raised over £16,000 through various events and activities to help fund the completion of the building, which cost just over £90,000 in total.

A quiz night in January 2012 raised over £500 on the night with further donations following as a result.

On Saturday 23rd March 2013  they are once again  hosting a charity quiz night for us. This time the intention is to raise enough money to sponsor at least one child for a year at the House of Joshua.

Anyone can enter a team of 4-6 people at a cost of £5 per head including a ploughman's supper (bring your own drinks).

To obtain tickets phone the church office on 07594334218 or email admin@hc3church.co.uk

Note this quiz night was originally due to take place in January but was re-scheduled due to adverse weather conditions.

Change of Destination

On December 4th 2012,  couple of weeks after we shipped our last container of medical aid out to the Philippines, the island of Mindanao was hit by a category 5 tropical storm "Typhoon Bopha" (locally known as "Pablo") which caused a tremendous amount of damage and the loss of around 1900 lives, mainly in the provinces of Davao Oriental Compostella Valley.

This is the second deadliest typhoon ever to hit the Philippines and world-wide the worst natural disaster of the 2012. Over 200,000 homes were damaged and 25% of the country's banana crop was destroyed. Damage to property and infrastructure has been estimated at over US$800

At the request of the recipients, Philippine Relief And Development Services (PHILRADS) we have now managed to get the container of medical supplies and equipment  redirected to the port of Davao, close to the disaster area, for distribution to various medical centres in the affected region.

PHILRADS are a major disaster relief and development agency whom we have worked with on a previous aid project and we are delighted to have been able to help them in this way.

Over £100,000 worth of medical aid 

(bandages, dressings, needles, hygiene supplies and the like) 

now bound for Mindanao disaster region

Opening Next Week

The House of Joshua children's home is all ready to go.

Subject to one final piece of paper  (an Occupational Permit)  being released the first children will be moving in next Monday. 7th January.

It's an exciting time and represents a new start for these children, some of who were orphaned in the typhoon floods in December 2011. Others were abandoned by parents unable to cope or unable to afford to keep them. Some have been rescued from a child trafficking network uncovered in a recent police operation in Northern Mindanao.

The House of Joshua will give them a safe home and a supportive community where they can grow and learn.

Would you like to help secure a future for these children? Then download a sponsorship pack from here.

Good Tidings

Read all about it! Read all about it!  A lot has been happening in recent weeks with our aid shipments and with the House of Joshua so we have published a "Christmas Special " newsletter. You can find it by clicking here

Finishing Touches

The House of Joshua home for orphaned and abandoned children is almost complete.  Staff are now moving in the furniture and adding the finishing touches.

An application for the operating licence and various permits has been lodged with the Department for Welfare & Social Development.

Staff training starts in earnest next week so the first children could be moving in very shortly. Now all we need is some money to keep it running. Our main way of doing this will be through a child sponsorship scheme - please click here to find out more  Download Child Sponsorship Pack.

When the home is at full capacity (70-75 children) we estimate the running costs to be around £1,500 a month so we are going to need plenty of help!

Breakfast and Thanksgiving

I'm looking forward to Bacon Butties at Horringer Court Community Church this morning, before a special service when we give thanks to God for a year of fundraising for the House of Joshua.
Through social events, car boot sales, strawberry teas, barbecues, concerts, collecting tins, knitting scarves and just digging deep in their pockets members of the church have raised over £16,000 (as well as put on a few pounds round their waists!).
We are so grateful to everyone of you, especially Barry Eastwood who laid down the challenge to the church and got everyone fired up about it.

Habagat Relief Container Departs

Just over 72 cubic metres (7.8 tonnes)  comprising 40 pallets, plus a further 864 individual boxes, of medical supplies and equipment were crammed into a 40 foot high cube container at Aid to Hospitals Worldwide in Bury St Edmunds.
And when I say crammed I mean CRAMMED. At times a sledge hammer was used to budge pallets over by a few millimetres so the next one could be squeezed in. It took over 5 hours to complete the load because there was so much to get in and because tessellating the boxes correctly was so critical to making it fit.

 Cramming in the last few boxes

 Another pallet load is pushed up the ramp by the volunteer loading crew

A very big box to fill

All this equipment is going to Phillipine Relief and Development Services (Philrads) in Manila who will distribute it to other aid agencies and Barangay (district) Health Centres to provide medical support to the millions of people affected by the Habagat flooding in August when vast areas of Luzon were inundated by flood-waters after eight days of torrential rains.

Another Container of Flood Relief Aid

In August this year a typhoon, informally known as "Habagat", deluged the Philippines capital Manila, and much of the surrounding area with eight days of torrential rain.
90% of Metro Manila was inundated with flood waters affecting more than 1 million families with more than 6500 homes destroyed and many more damaged (according to Wikipedia).

In partnership with our friends at Aid to Hospitals Worldwide and Philippine Relief And Development Services (PHILRADS) we are working on shipping another 40 foot container of medical equipment to provide additional resources for hard-pressed Barrangay Health Centres and hospitals in the flood affected areas.

We hope to have the shipment on it's way within the next month.

flooding in Metro Manila August 2012

Aid Gone Down Well

There is no doubt about it, our recent shipment of medical equipment, school resources and tools has gone down well with the recipients and is already making a big impact on the lives of many people in Cagayan De Oro City.

A pastor of a church that runs medical missions in remote mountain areas, as well as working in some of the poorest flood affected areas of the city, wrote to express his gratitude,
"Words could not truly express our gratitude for such great wonderful help after
many years of waiting and praying for the loads of blessings for the brethren over
here. We are so blessed to have so many tools that will empower the brethren for their
trade or job such as carpentry, mechanics and plumbing. 

We are planning to have some job empowerment seminars and give those
graduate the tools needed to empower them. The sewing machines could be a great help
to those flood victims to get to their feet again especially those who lost
their husbands. They live on their own and they need help with sewing skills as a second part time job when there will be no employment available for them. 

About the computers; what a great help it will help to our  satellite kinder schools who don't have any access
 to computers. We also  gave some units to our school over here in the city.
Thank you for taking great efforts of gathering these tools which we know
can restore the dignity of poor families by being self sufficient to make
a living and help them break the cycle of poverty. Once again thanks a
million for such wonderful blessings. We don't have enough words to say it
but a BIG THANK YOU  for making possible what seems impossible! 

You help us change communities for Christ !