In the past few years God has begun to lay a burden on our hearts to reach the fatherless. The forgotten children of the Philippines, those wandering the streets day and night, hungry, cold and alone. There are an astounding number of child victims to be seen everyday, whether they are victim to abuse, drug trafficking, prostitution, or even murder. They are what many people would refer to as hopeless. We are here to say that there is a hope, and there is a God and through him nothing is impossible!
Janet Taylor along with her eldest daughter Angela have been led by the Lord to open a home to those lost children. To give them a safe environment to sleep, eat, play, attend school and to learn what the love of God really is. There is a house located within walking distance of our headquarters in Cebu. It has enough room to house roughly 20 children. It is a small start, but we feel that the Lord is leading us to greater things where His children are concerned.
We have begun the legal processes needed and are hoping to open up the home in February. There is already a waiting list of children that are looking for a new beginning in life. And that is the name of this project, of the home we are building, New Beginnings Children’s Home. We are excited about what the Lord has already begun to do in the lives of the children who are coming. Two of the little boys on our list are already living with pastors, one is staying right in our headquarters.
Now I want to tell you about a little boy named E.J., his mother died when he was 6 years old, and his father soon after became an alcoholic. E.J. was left to be the provider of his two younger siblings and an alcoholic father. E.J. spent his days dancing and singing in the streets, some day’s he and his siblings would go from door to door begging for food or clean water. E.J.
When E.J. was 8 he met one of our pastors through MTA, the pastor got a burden for him, took him to church, fed him, and gave him a place to sleep. E.J and his siblings will be the some of the first to be living and cared for in the children’s home we are working toward building. Today E.J. is gaining weight always has a big smile on his face, now he sings worship songs. E.J. went from having no hope, to having a world of opportunity, he now has a desire to be a pastor and help others as he was helped. This is the kind of change we are hoping to impact in the lives of the hopeless.
We would like to request your prayers, please remember E.J. and the other children that are soon to follow his is only one story, we hope to reach more. We ask that you also keep those of us who will be working in New Beginnings in your prayers. Janet and Angela are currently itinerating to raise funds. The cost of rent for this house is $500/monthly. The cost to feed one child three meals for the whole day is $1 ….so please remember when you are going through the McDonald’s drive thru and you are getting ready to order your $1 Cheeseburger or fries, that $1 could feed a child for the whole day. It costs $5 to buy one complete set of clothing for a child.
We will also be accepting donations at our Maryland address, we will be shipping a container full of donated goods this upcoming year. If you have childrens clothes, toys, shoes, school supplies, bedding, diapers, furniture, bikes, housing and office supplies and anything else you might think useful then please mail or deliver them to:
New Beginnings Children’s Home 16817 National Pike Hagerstown, MD 21740 (301)739-1806
If you wish to send a money donation please send it to:
New Beginnings Children’s Home c/o Missionaries To Asia P.O. Box 471 Berkeley Springs, WV 25411 (304)-258-3778
For Correspondance with Janet or Angela Taylor please write to:
newbeginnings.mta@gmail.com
P.O. Box 454 C.P.O. Cebu City,Cebu Philippines 6000
Disturbing statistics concerning the atrocity’s these children face everyday.
Poverty & Malnourished Children
- There are an estimated 1.5 million street children in the Philippines today.
- 76% of the Philippine population lives below the poverty line.
- Out of 7.8 million school children, more than 60% are malnourished and underweight.
- Moreover, 720,000 infants are born with low intelligence due to iodine deficiency.
- Many of the children who are born with developmental challenges are murdered by family members at a young age, there is no care and help for those children and the parents are sometimes not able or willing to take on the challenge.
- Boys out number girls with a ratio of 7:3.
Educational Neglect
- Despite free tuition in public elementary schools, approximately 1.5 million children aged 7 to 12 are not able to go to school, mainly due to the parents inability to meet daily school expenses.
- If we don’t find a way to make sure that these children get to school we are looking at a whole generation of illiterate adults, who will not be able to find a decent job.
Beggars & Pickpockets
- 1.5 million children on the streets work as beggars, pickpockets, drug abusers and prostitutes.
- If you were to come and drive around in the city we live in, the neighborhood we live in, you wouldn’t make it 15 minutes down the road before someone would come knocking on your window. Many children beg because they are hungry and wish to feed their families. Others have someone that gives them a place to sleep and a bowl of rice, but all of their earnings go to feeding the caretaker’s drug addiction.
- Pickpockets are widely known but rarely seen, you can have your pants’ pocket razzored open and your wallet stolen and be on your way home before you would even notice. Some of these kids are desperate and will go to extreme measures to make sure that they don’t starve.
Drugs & Gangs
- There are over 120,000 children affected by gangs and militant rebels every year.
- An estimated 50 % of the population, where there are ongoing wars, are children aged between 14 – 17 who are actively participating in armed battle.
- Those aged 17 and below constituted 53% of the total number of victims of internal refugee.
Abuse & Prostitution
- For every 3 Filipino children, 1 will experiences abuse.
- Every year roughly 100,000 of the street children population are victims of commercial sexual exploitation due to poverty.
- 5.7 million children work under especially horrific circumstances, such as in the virtual slavery of bonded labor.
- There are about 77,000 workers aged 10 to 14, and 14 million between 15 and 17 years old who are forced into daily labor for a meager income to try and support their families.
- The Philippines is fourth among 9 nations with the most children in prostitution.
- In 1984, there were 7 provinces with child sex rings or brothels. Today, they are present in over 40 provinces.
- 95% of those sexually abused are females.
- Each year 3,500 more children are forced into the sex industry.
- There are reports of children even prostituting for food and water.
- The Philippines was the first Asian country to issue a no child abuse/labor/prostitution law. However, in most cases a blind eye is turned by the government and its police officials concerning such issues.
- Prostituted children remain prisoners of their damaged mental state despite rehabilitation efforts. The longer a child stays in the sex industry, the harder it is to overcome the trauma
Police Conflict
- In the Philippines, an estimated 20,000 children a year see the inside of a prisoner detention cell.
- Children can be arrested for simply living on the streets or steeling a piece of bread, they are treated as animals and kicked or shooed away from places of business.
- Those who are arrested usually are assaulted by the officers themselves before being imprisoned with adult rapists, murderers and worse.
Death squads (Davao, Mindanao)
- Street kids are considered pests by some of the business community—as vermin to be exterminated. But they have committed no crime and are the victims of the wrongdoing of uncaring and corrupt politicians and abusive, impoverished parents.
- In a city called Davao, a group called the DEATH Squad was designed to be a secret branch of militant officials and civilians they’re only job was to punish the un-lawful and keep the street clean from crime. But they have taken matters into they’re own hands and have started slaughtering street children found sleeping in a doorstep or hiding from the rain in a box in the alley, their bodies are thrown away or buried to be kept secret.
- The DEATH SQUAD were actually inspired by the vigilante killings of street children in Brazil during the 1990’s, they’re current goal is to expand to other major cities to purify the land. There is nothing pure about what they do, its murder of innocent children plain and simple.
- This is the result of human neglect, spiritual paralysis, greed and political irresponsibility that allows and exacerbates the entrenchment of poverty in an unjust social system. It is truly horrifying to know that this is very much a reality for millions of children every day. Our hope is to influence change, set a positive example, save as many lives as we can one child at a time.
