Habagat: A New Season

Roberto Atienza
Jul 16
5 min read

Updated: Jul 17

"In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious ... It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain." (Isa. 4:2a, 6)

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Thunder clouds over Cebu City. — Thunder clouds head into Cebu City as seen from our roof top.

In early June, the Philippine Weather Service (PAGASA) declared the official start of the rainy season with the habagat becoming the predominant weather system affecting the country. The habagat is the Southwest Monsoon; warm and humid air that brings rain, thunderstorms, and the occasional typhoon. For Filipinos, it also means the start of the school year and the end of the scorching dry season. During the dry season, the country celebrated fiestas (local celebrations coinciding with Feast Days for patron saints and Mary), Holy Week, local and national elections, all while enduring the blistering heat. Now, it’s the start of a new season. New weather, new schoolbooks, new clothes, pens, and pencils. It means residents and staff adjusting to a brand new building (praise be to God!) and a new era of service, opportunity, and sharing the love of Christ.

Now, it’s the start of a new season. New weather, new schoolbooks, new clothes, pens, and pencils.

A New Home. The biggest news of the last quarter—and the answer to countless prayers—was the dedication and opening of Hope House! Everyone at CSC is in awe of how the Lord has worked in, and through, so many to make this building, as well as the programs it houses, a reality. To God be the glory! And from the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all of you who are reading this; thank you for supporting us through your prayers, contributions, and hard work! The dedication ceremony was followed by a carnival called "CSC Family Day." We invited CSC staff along with their families to join all the kids at the Shelter for a day of games, crafts, and even rides on a tartanilla (a small, horse-drawn buggy which can be seen in the video above). What a way to close out the dry season!

Then, the new season began. Just last week, our first batch of residents moved-in to Hope House: 20 children who are adjusting to their rooms ahead of the start of the new school year. Under cloudy skies and intermittent claps of thunder, residents and houseparents alike carried boxes, assembled beds, dusted shelves and wardrobes, and started settling into something new on so many levels. It's a new era in the life of the ministry, and in the lives of these teens and young adults. Please continue to keep all of them in your prayers.

New Schools. Speaking of a new era, this year marks another milestone for the Children’s Shelter of Cebu. We are partnering with more schools now than we have ever partnered with in our history. We are doing this to ensure that all our children are given every opportunity for success.

This school year we have college students attending one of two different schools: the University of Cebu and the Cebu Technological University. For senior high school (grades 11 and 12) we have 7 children attending the University of Cebu’s senior high school program. For regular high school (grades 7-10) we will have 5 children at the Bob Hughes Christian Academy and 7 children at the Evangelical Theological College of the Philippines. We also have 4 special needs high-school aged children that are attending local public schools with excellent special education programs: 3 attending Zapatera National High School and 1 attending First National High School in Mambaling.

If you’re keeping track, that’s 7 different schools that our children are attending, including the younger ones who are still attending CCHS (the Cebu Children of Hope School; CSC's own school for pre-K through 6th grade students). Our Youth Educator, Jhed Enriquez, and Therapist, Jo Dyan Pinote, have done an amazing job visiting schools, working with our children, and providing recommendations on where they should attend. Our drivers do an amazing job ensuring our kids get to where they need to go if they can't commute on their own (our college and senior high kids typically take public transportation). Please pray for the children’s schooling, the logistics to get them there, and the teachers who will be working with them this year.

This is another area where CSC stands out among the rest. We could have funneled all our children through only one or two schools, and we could have tried doing everything in-house for our high school teens with special needs, but in the best interest of our children and to provide them with every opportunity to succeed post-CSC, we have made the choice to take the harder path. Thank you for being a huge part of this next chapter in our kids' lives!

New Celebrations. I'll end this latest update on a high note. To celebrate their move into the new home and to mark this new beginning, last Saturday we took the residents of Hope House on their annual island-hopping outing! Each year, to welcome the new residents to our Independent and Semi-Independent Living Programs (the programs that will now be housed at Hope House for the older teens and young adults), we take everyone on a boat to nearby island beaches and a fish wildlife sanctuary. It's a great way to mark the kids' past accomplishments—both personal and academic—and to have some fun before the stressors and busy-ness of college and high school life completely engulf them.

Then, just last night (Wednesday), we had a special evening devotional and a pizza party to commemorate their first week in Hope House. It was also to congratulate them on unpacking their things (which was mostly done 😊). As you can see from the pictures, portions of the home are still unfurnished. We are still in the process of getting chairs, tables, desks, etc. for the main public spaces (living room, dining room, etc.). Please pray with us that we can get things up, running, and comfortable before everyone's classes begin. Some of our students at the University of Cebu started this week, while the others, like those attending the Cebu Technological University, will be starting in the first week of August.

Sadly, two of our boys who were already attending classes at the University of Cebu got stuck in the heavy rains and flooding in downtown Cebu City. They ended up having to walk and came home drenched, but joyful and excited. They reached Hope House after all of the festivities, but fortunately there was still some pizza left. This is important because, let's face it, what says "start of a new school year" more than pizza!?

PRAYER REQUEST:

For this update, we have one big prayer request, and that is that our family will be heading to Minnesota from September 8th until October 20th for our Home Assignment! Please pray with us as we prepare to travel and make plans to connect with folks in the US.

Heather and Juana looking out over CSC at sunset.

This blog includes updates on CSC's Building Project. Haven't heard that the Children's Shelter of Cebu is building a new structure? No problem. Just: