Articles

As part of daily program in Bahay Aurora, kids run for 30 minutes every day because we believe that this will keep them healthy and fit. Last November 8, 2015 selected kids of Bahay Aurora (Rizza, Lovely, Wilson, JD en Macmac) joined a big event of marathon in Manila, CDO Run for Odyssey 2015 held in Bonifacio Global City.  In celebration of CDO’s 40th Anniversary, one of the giant companies in the food industry organised a run for the benefit of the children of the Odyssey Foundation. This run will aid in the ongoing project of CDO group to help nourish the lives of thousands of needy children and families in the country.  Event distances were 5 km, 10 km and 21 km.
The Bahay Aurora kids joined the 10 kilometers run. In preparation for this our kids practiced in group running outside every morning. Since the run of 10 km was announced to start at 5.00 o’clock in the morning, early at 2:30am they departed from Bahay Aurora accompanied by Safhe Sitan one of our Social worker and Stephanie, a volunteer from Holland.The program started with a Zumba dance which the kids enjoyed (especially the girls). Our runners really enjoyed the Marathon. JD should have won the 10 km but instead he ran 21 km because he missed the 10k sign… They really enjoyed running in Manila where they have seen lots of people running for a cause while having the benefit of running. Maybe next time when they join another run our kids will bag home the prize.  

Go Go Run Bahay Aurora kids!

Every Friday around 3:30 – 4:30 in the afternoon, all kids ranging from 9 – 11 years of age are gathered to join one of the activities that are prepared by one of our social workers here in Bahay Aurora. She is Ms. Safhe Sitan. One of the recent activities was called ‘Something special about me’. On this activity, the children had to write something about ‘unique characteristics’ on their notebooks about themselves, and on the other hand, the children were instructed to write on the other child’s notebook the uniqueness of their companion.
And then afterwards, each one of them had to read the characteristics that were written on their notebook in front of Ms. Safhe and the other kids from Bahay Aurora. This activity lasted for an hour and the purpose of this recreational activity was to enhance the child’s skills in social communication and awareness.

Rodel is one of the oldest children in bahay aurora. He was 1 year old when he came with his brother and now. He is turning 18 on September, He is now working in a bakery (Bread store) while studying as a HRM student (Hotel and restaurant management). Even now he’s working, he is still showing good grades. He is really responsible for his study. He is working from 5 in the afternoon till 10 in the evening, then he sleeps till 4.30. Then he sells the bread in the store comes back home at bahay aurora at 6 AM to do his chores and goes back to school at 9 AM.
We can see that he is really determined to finish his studies while supporting himself. He never fails to attend school even he is tired. He told me that he is also saving money to buy a bike so he can use the bike as a service for work and school. When he is on his day off, he is teaching football to the kids in his former elementeray school and attends the church every Sunday. According to his colleagues at the bread store, Rodel is really humble, fast learner, trustworthy and polite. That’s why we are really proud of him because we know that he is working and studying with Love. In his heart, he is still doing what he learned from many years of stay here in bahay aurora the ‘ Let all things be done in Love’ means.

Every month of July, primary and secondary schools in the Philippines are preparing to celebrate “Nutrition Month”. On that celebration there are different kinds of activities that includes nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables and many more. They conducted parades for students and they were also assigned to draw and paint vegetables and fruits, they cut it out, pasted it into a yarn and placed it on a stick for them to present it in to that said parade.
Kids from Bahay Aurora participated in the celebration on their school and while doing their art works after school for the Nutrition Month, staffs from Bahay Aurora had their time to teach children with regards to the importance of eating nutritious foods and what are the benefits of it, for them to have a healthy lifestyle and also prevent sickness.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon in Bahay Aurora. When it is too too rainy to play outside, the kids can fall victim to the “I’m Bored Blues”. With a little creativity and imagination we let our kids play with paper. They fold it into airplanes and also cut it into whatever they like by using their imagination and creativity. So they are also learning while enjoying. Some kids played board game a ‘snake and ladder’ which is 4 or more people can play to this game with a mechanics, some kids like to play dominos and etc. Rainy days got you down no more in Bahay Aurora. All in all a rainy day is a day that fills you with joy and calm and soothes your soul even if it might sometimes be inconvenient.

Every year we try to go on summercamp during the long summer holidays. Thanks to generous gifts we could also go on camp this summer.
Early in the morning (after litlle sleep of excitement) we went to resort “Philips Santuary” by jeepney and minibus.
We swam en played games and did a kind of bootcamp (like soldiers do). It was really a lot of fun and at the end of the day everyone was very very tired.
The next day we played for several ours on playground equipment and after that we went back to Bahay Aurora.
It was a success en we hope we can organise a summercamp next year as well!

Last April 21, our children went out for boating. For most of them it was the first time and they were really amazed en excited. Days before they were asking all the time what will happen.
Early in the morning all the kids couldn’t wait to hear and see what will happen and when the jeepney came, all of them were excited as if somebody were tikling them. On our way to the port everybody was quiet but with their eyes wide open…. They were curious to see which boat they were going to ride. Kids really enjoyed and were a little bit nervous upon hopping on the boat. When the engine of the boat started some of the kids shouted out of excitement.
The driver of the boat toured us around the lake before we stopped on an island were we had our lunch. Here the kids jumped off the water for swimming when we announced that they could enjoy the water. They were also happy because they could see and catch some fish by their hand. Later we went to the basketball court on that island where our kids socialized with the kids from the island to play basketball and volleyball.
Other kids also enjoyed flying the kite which was also a new experience to others.
This experience was new to most of the kids and I can say that they really had a great day!

April 15-16,Papaya visited our children here in Bahay Aurora.From their arrival it started with a short program. Zumba, games and the kids from Papaya and kids from Bahay Aurora had a tune up in basketball. The Papaya kids won over the Bahay Aurora kids.

At night, everybody ate dinner at the court. After dinner we prepared another short program, a mini fashion show that the 1st unit (girls ) participated. One group prepared two dance presentation and also the kids from Papaya had a one dance presentation too..They were all alive and still awake till the last part of the show.

After ten months of sitting in the classrooms, doing their homework in the evening, finishing their school projects and walking back and forth to school at last it all paid off. Another school year has ended and six from our children received recognition from their school.
Angelo was recognized top one in their class, Lovely who is in grade three got the second rank, Mary Ann, Rizza and Sharon also receives special awards, Merlie was given a special recognition and was also awarded as “athlete of the year” for representing their school in the Track and Field division up to the Regional level.
It was our pride that even our children from this institution were able to show off their ability and talents and become competitive. Now that another year is waiting ahead of them and will face another challenge in their life and we hope that this will become their inspiration to excel more for their bright future.