Agape Art

(A blog from Christiane)

We have just 3 1/2 days left with the girls.... :( I'll be sad when we have to leave them...

Today was a hard day for me personally. Last night as we were leaving the orphanage - we found a puppy laying next to the road. Someone had dumped her off, hoping the orphanage would care for her. She was severely dehydrated and had an open wound on her back. Maggots were eating away at her flesh.. I know GROSS! One of the women from the orphanage had medicine that would treat the wound and cause the maggots to leave..... so she applied it and then they put the puppy in a nearby field - hoping the farmers there would care for it.

I cried and cried last night. I wanted soo much to take this little soul home and care for it, although I felt as though my hands were tied and that there was nothing I could do - but pray... I felt soo much compassion for that little puppy - knowing that she was all alone, abandoned, and hurting....How could anyone not do something, not reach out to help her, to just sit and watch her suffer?

Then I realized - I am not home.

It was the first time, throughout this whole trip, I felt that the people who live here are different from the people in the US. Sure there are people in the US that would sit and do nothing also, but as a whole - people here do not place the same value on animals as we do. Cats and dogs are not cared for. They are left to fend for themselves and run freely throughout the island. They are not pets or companions...

As we were walking back to the missionary center tonight, I witnessed three small children dumping a litter of newborn kittens off on the side of the road. We asked them if they had found them and they giggled and just walked off leaving them lay in a plastic bag next to the road. It was all I could do to keep walking, to put them out of my mind, to not weep uncontrollably for the harsh brutalities of this world. This was the first time on this journey I wished I was home - snuggling up next to my cat, Sugar - far away from this place.

On a lighter note - the good news is the puppy is still alive! She made it through the night. When I arrived at the orphanage this morning I went looking for her. I was soo happy to see that God answered my prayer - SHE WAS ALIVE! I fed her my leftovers from breakfast and gave her some water. She seemed pleased and grateful for my kindness. As I rubbed her little head and looked at her precious little face, I could see the longing in her eyes.... the longing to be wanted and loved.

Please continue to pray for her with me. She is nowhere in the "safe zone" yet. Each night is another challenge for her to keep fighting to survive. My hope is that someone will show compassion and care for her -also that she will be a blessing to them.

Here is a link to some photos of our trip so far. Aren't the girls lovely?

http://www.slide.com/r/upHY8EiD7T9Q-PWREuQay2WGBAQ2upGH?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Quick Randomness

I'm in love with Dumaguete City...I want to live here. I want these people to be my neighbors. And I want to leave every drop of love that I have at Rainbow Village with these beautiful girls!

That's all.

-Alisa

Art Camp In Full Swing!

Hello all!

Communication with the other side of the world has been a little more complicated than expected, but then again it is the other side of the world, so it is expected:)  Our available time for personal reflection, communication with the U.S., and rest has been a bit limited.  We find ourselves quite exhausted by early evening.  We rise with the sun around 6am, and by 6pm after a full day of art with the Agape Girls and the intense heat (keep in mind, we are 10 degrees north of the equator) we are rather spent.  Some of us have taken to a bedtime of 8 or 9pm. 

The art camp is going great.  It took us a few days to get supplies, understand the girls preferences, and get organized.  But we are now in full swing!  Today, Alisa set up an amazing still life of tropical flowers, palm branches, coconuts, papayas, etc. . . .all things found around the compound at the orphanage.  It really is a beautiful place!  The girls were then encouraged to draw what they "see" using paints, markers, crayons, pencils, oil pastels, gel pens or whatever they chose.  Of course they were all pretty hard on themselves, but they actually came up with some great stuff. 

Meanwhile, Natalie and Christiane helped most of the girls move ahead on their sewing projects.  The sewing project is pretty involed, but the girls have really taken to it.  It's been exhausting for Natalie to be the main sewing leader (especially when the machine begins to act up around mid afternoon), but she's been doing great teaching each of the girls how to move through the whole process.  So far they have been making little pouches (cell phone purses, we originally called them) for them to each keep.  Next we will make little backpacks with cord drawstring for us to bring home and share.  We also thought about little pillows with unique beaded designs done by each girl.  We have lots of ideas and seem to need to narrow it down a bit to fit it all in. 

Tomorrow we will work on stationary.  We bought some great handmade papers here and spent last Friday picking beautiful flowers and leaves with the girls.  We dried them and they should be ready to put on our stationary.  We have also planned to do some native weavings with the girls (this they get to teach us!)  Today, I got to take a little break from the drawing to help a couple of the girls make "Ice Candy" with the ripe avocados they had.  Interesting, huh?  I was taking notes on the recipe:)  They are all working on fundraising to pay for their youth camp which begins next week.  It's about $22 US dollars per person.  We bought some goodies from their bake sale after church on Sunday.  We will pay our dues to taste the Avacado Ice Candy tomorrow, and we may even sign up for manicures and pedicures from the Agape girl who is currently in beauty school.  It's fun to be able to support them in their fundraising efforts and be reminded of all our efforts to get here and all of your support to make that happen! 

Thanks to all of you!  I know that our presence here is important to the girls.  Each day, they are sad about us leaving for the evening.  Leaving on Sunday is not going to be easy!

Becky

I've always  loved pictures of paths...any kind of path...steps, stones, sand, streets...anything. Being here in Dumaguete, I'm overwelmed by it's beauty. Every chance there is, the camera is out. Yesterday we took a little excursion to Casaroro Falls. It's this incredible path in the mountains, down into the valley. I've never seen such remarkable scenery. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was quite a tiring hike, but when we reached the end, I laid my eyes on the most beautiful piece of creation my eyes have never deserved to behold. I cried. There was one moment I seperated myself from the crew and soaked in the glory of God I felt at that moment. It lasted a little longer than I originally anticipated, but I couldn't break away from it. I would go into a detailed description of what I saw, but I seriously would do it an injustice if I did. Pictures would even be an understatment. Leaving the falls and finally making it back to our transportation, we began our trek back down the mountain. I sat looking out the windows most of the time and every now and then my eye would catch another beautiful path. So, I asked myself, "What is it about paths that I love so much?"  Tonight, I had a brief time of personal meditation before we left the orphanage. With that came a realization...an answer to that question. Paths lead somewhere. When you make the decision to walk them, you'll eventually end up somewhere. Sometimes the final destination deems worthy of the walk, sometimes it's a disappointment. Regardless of the outcome, you will never wonder what could've been because you took the risk on the walk. What's great about even that is you never come away without learning something valuable. That's the beauty of it all. Triumph or disappointment, there's always a positive result if you chose to see it. 

For me, the timing of this trip and all its entailed has been nothing less than divine. I hopped on board because I was certain it was an answer to prayer and it was something my heart would love to do. I was right. But I never anticipated the effect it would have on my life. I've done the missions trip thing a time or two. I know the opportunity for impact they seem to have and yes, I've felt that impact. But I never thought I'd come to this place and feel what I'm feeling or do what I'm ready to do. When I get back home and people ask me how the trip was, I could say, "It changed my life." but that would be an understatment. To be correct, I'd have to say, "It changed my world." I'm at a place where I've got my motives, my beliefs, my convictions, my character, my everything in check. And you know what, I might be changing a few things. For the first time in a long time, my sense of purpose and passion has found an outlet in a setting that has never been more perfect. Yes, I came here locked into someone elses dream (Agape Art)...but I might leave here having found one of my own (Missions).

-Alisa

click on the image

It just makes sense

There's this part of me that hesitates for a moment each time someone asks me why I am going to the Philippines.  Whether it's a new dear friend, the person cutting my hair, or the guy sitting next to me on a plane. . . my heart stutters to explain all the passion and purpose that lies within it.

But as I am here, riding through Manila on the way to the hotel, walking through town absorbing the sites and smells, it all just makes sense to be here.  I don't know that I can describe it any more than that. . .it's just an odd foreign familiarity that makes sense to me. 

I find myself giddy at moments, walking along the bay with my the girls (Natalie, Christiane, and Alisa), riding shotgun with the girls dancing in the backseat to American top 40 as our driver dodges in and out of each lane of traffic. . .I just get giddy and smiley. . .Amazed that I am in fact returning, remembering how the girls at Rainbow always asked if we would come back, amazed that I am with 3 wonderful women who seem to have seen the passion that lies within my stuttering heart.  God, you are good! I just can't wait to arrive and see those beautiful familiar Agape girls! (Becky's journal entry, prior to Dumaguete City arrival)

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We just got settled at our place (CCTC) and were served dinner (take out from my favorite place, Chicken Joes).  That was all after visiting the girls at Rainbow.  It was surreal and slow starting to see them again after three years, but it's gonna be great!  They are just as beautiful and sweet as I remember them:)  Many of you would be quite proud of me; I slept about 88% of the journey here (just catching up).  Yet right now it's nearly 8 pm and we are all exhausted. Off to bed a little early tonight to prepare for our first big day tomorrow. 

Lots of love!

Becky

We made it to the Philippines!!

Hello!

Just wanted to let you know we arrived in the Philippines!!!  Hooray! It's Wednesday here (1:50 am) - yes, we flew into the FUTURE! We're spending the night in Manilla, then we'll head back to the airport and take yet another flight to Dumaguete City at 2:00 pm tomorrow. (2:00 am - Ohio time) We're soo looking forward to arriving at the orphanage and meeting the Filipino girls.

Also I would love to have a calculator right now - trying to figure out the conversion rates, the time change, etc.... has been ruff especially after only having 3 hours sleep in the past 30 hours... my brain is barely functioning, so if I don't make sense or spell a word incorrectly - don't hold it against me :)

Our team will have access to the internet so we'll be updating our blog about our experiences every few days while we're gone, so check back every so often :)

Thanks everyone for all of your supportive kind words, prayers, and donations.  This could not be happening without your help along the way.  We're so thankful for friends and family like you.

I'll write to you soon,
Christiane

PS- one hour of internet service is < 0.50 cents.... wow everything is soo inexpensive here.

Hello!!!  We made it safe and sound!  God is good!  I am so happy to be here and see what He has in store for us.  Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. 
We were well fed on the planes.  We are now in Manila for the night and head to Dumaguete  tomorrow.  We were mistaken already for being Australian, Swedish, and Italian. :)  Good times.   Natalie needs sleepy.

Nighty-Night,

Natalie

It's Travel Time!

The time has finally come!  Our team will be heading out from the Cincinnati airport at 12pm on Monday, May 7th to begin the LONG journey to the other side of the world, Dumaguete City in The Philippines. 

Thanks to all of you who came out to the Art Show Benefit Bash last week on Friday, April 27th!  We had a great turnout with approximately 100-150 people throughout the evening.  With your help, we were able to raise an estimated $2,500 through donation, door charge, drink sales, raffle sales, and artwork sales.  Several local artists were represented here, and we appreciated your interest in all of our artwork.  What a great opportunity to share artwork with your community all while supporting a great cause that is bigger than all of us and our community!

I know I speak for the team when I say that we cannot thank you all enough for your support in every way.  Donations of artwork, services, raffle prizes; time spent setting up and tearing down into the wee hours of the morning; running errands; checking on our emotional well-being throughout the week; and of course, coming out to enjoy the party and participating in all the activities.  Couldn't have done it without you!  Lookin' forward for the next annual bash ;)

Please keep our team in your prayers as we set out on this journey.  May we be strong and healthy humble servants, ready to take all obstacles as they come.  We will arrive in Dumaguete City as of Wednesday afternoon (Filipino time--it will be 2am on Wednesday in Cincinnati, 12 hours ahead there).  We will be able to access internet every couple of days, so leave us some love:)!  We will each update this blog with personal reflections of what we are experiencing along the way.  Leave some comments too!