More Information On Denver Gap Year’s Trip to Serve At Children’s Garden of the Philippines
From Denver Gap Year’s Founder and Director:
I would like to share my history with Children’s Garden, address the concerns about visiting an orphanage, and explain why we think a short term trip can be so beneficial for a young person.
First, I would like to share my history with Children’s Garden.
They are not some random organization chosen out of thin air or selected because we thought helping at an orphanage would “look good” on our website. Over the last 10 years, spanning 3 separate visits, I have spent close to two months at their home for boys. I have been supporting them financially as a monthly donor for that long as well. Throughout that time I have known their leadership and stayed up to date with their progress. I have kept in contact with the boys I have met there throughout the years. And I intend to support and stay in relationship with this organization for the rest of my life.
I would also like to give context on how unique Children’s Garden is in terms of orphan care and how they run their organization. I’ve spent over 3 years living internationally, including 2 years visiting 25 countries as a missionary. In that time I’ve worked with a lot of different organizations working with and taking care of children. Children’s Garden is the most well run, effective and relationally based children’s home I’ve ever worked with. They are the only one I’ve chosen to continue to support and visit. I am proud to call them a partner of Denver Gap Year and look forward to many years of partnership with them.
Secondly, I want to address the issues surrounding orphan care.
It would be impossible to go into all the issues involving orphan care and problems associated with outside visitors coming to help. Nor do I want to go into a debate about whether orphanages should actually exist. The main thing I want you to know is that we are aware of those concerns and we are actively addressing them.
First, I want you to know that the safety of the boys (ages 12 - 18) at Children’s Garden will be safeguarded. All participants and staff members that go on our trip to the Philippines will undergo an official background check. And we will follow best practices along with abiding by all the policies of Children’s Garden while we are there. Secondly, our longstanding relationship with Children’s Garden allows us create a trip that is beneficial for both parties involved. You can read in the letter below why they value visiting teams, and trust that everything we do is in line with helping their mission. Third, we wholeheartedly believe in systemic solutions to poverty and the underlying issues that create orphans in the first place. We will be studying that throughout our program and have conversations about that surrounding our trip. But until the complex problems that cause orphans in the first place can be solved, we still believe supporting organizations helping orphans now is important.
Third: Why Short Term Trips Are Important For Young People.
I also understand that the issues surrounding and opinions about short term trips are complex. My staff has 10+ combined years of missions experience. This means that we know the good and bad of these trips firsthand. But we at Denver Gap Year believe that if they are done well, the pros outweigh the cons.
When I was in college I went on 3 mission trips during my spring breaks. They were only one week long but they changed my life. I will never forget that first experience I had seeing the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It transformed my worldview and sent me on a radical journey that still affects every aspect of my life today. The career path I chose, everything I purchase and where I give my money all started on that one week trip. The same goes for the rest of the staff as well.
I want to give the participants of Denver Gap Year the chance to experience the same thing. Trips that get us out of the “bubble” of the USA and out into the realities of the rest of the world are powerful tools for transforming someone’s life. Our trip to the Philippines is intentionally put at the end our first semester because we believe it will be the catalyst for our participants second semesters. After a semester of digging into their identities this trip will push them to consider how their identity connects to the needs of the world around them.
But we don’t want these short term trips to only benefit the people coming from western countries and not for the people of developing countries around the world. That’s why our trip to the Philippines is designed the way it is. There will be extensive training before and after the trip that teaches our participants how to properly approach visiting a developing country. We will go over the mistakes that visitors from the west make and train them on how to actually help an overseas children’s home. And throughout all of this, we will work closely with our longtime partner, Children’s Garden, to make sure our actions and visits are beneficial to them.
Please keep reading below to learn about how Children’s Garden started and why they value visiting teams so highly:
This is a letter written by Sharon Gersava (leader and staff member with Children’s Garden since its inception) to help answer questions involving orphan care, the role of Children’s Garden and why they value international teams who visit and partner with them:
We are not experts on the worldwide experiences within “orphanages” so I won’t try to address that issue, however, we are happy to share our experiences and the challenges we face from the front lines. We never intended to start a home for boys. That was so far from our minds 10+ years ago when we started. Rather, every day and everywhere, we were confronted with the problem of children living on the streets. “What can I do? Should I help? I don’t even know where to start.” Thoughts like these bombarded our minds as we tried to wrestle through our own responsibility to act. We didn’t have the answers. Heck, we didn’t even know all the problems, but we knew we could not just sit and do nothing.
I want to share the story of one of the boys we care for named Ray. His story is a good representation of many challenges these kids face. When we met Ray 7 years ago, he was only 11 years old. His whole family was living on the streets. His Mom and Dad are both illiterate and their 6 kids were not attending school. Ray was already addicted to sniffing glue and had begun to steal, fight and drink alcohol. We were in no position to help the whole family but we thought maybe we could help one. Ray has been at Children’s Garden for years now and is 18 years old. He was unable to read and write when he first came but today he’s working to complete high school. He’s come a very long way. Sadly, however, his family has not. Although we’ve attempted many ways to help his family throughout the years their situation is basically unchanged. Unfortunately, these types of issues are not easily solved, and often take many years to change but only if the family actually is wanting and willing to do what they need to do to change.
Although the details change, we have experienced the overall issues of poverty and brokenness to be the same. Here are some real life examples we have experienced:
A single mother with 7 kids. She works but only makes $5 a day which is only enough to cover food. The kids are left alone all day because she has to work. There is no food at home so the kids began begging on the streets.
An abusive home where the father is an alcoholic and beats them when he is drunk. They leave the house.
A child who ran away from home at 6 years old because he was upset but got lost. He was found by the local government but they could not reunite him with his family.
A mom with mental issues living on the street with her son. The kid is involved in street gangs and addictions.
There is a reason these boys left home. Some because of lack of food and others because of abuse. Some are true orphans and have no home, no family, and nowhere to go. We have sought diligently to find any family but have been unable. And some families just need some help and we work with them for a short time to develop a plan for reconciliation.
The stories and issues go on and on. I hope you can begin to see through our eyes. These are complicated problems these families face and wrestling through the solutions is difficult work. Our goal is to ultimately reunite them with their families. We encourage family to come visit and we try to visit families as often as possible. As we move into the future we want to focus more attention on how we can better improve upon our efforts to help families and even prevent the problem of kids on the street in the first place.
Whatever help we provide is not done alone. Throughout the years many different people have helped Children’s Garden in various ways:
Labor
Fixing the roof of our facility so we no longer have water dripping in bedrooms and living areas.
Financial
Helping build a more suitable, although basic, home for the family of one of the boys.
Provided practical help by buying groceries to the families we are connected to.
Medical and Dental
Providing dental care to the boys who often have rotten teeth from years of living on the streets
Relational Aspects Of Volunteer Trips
Volunteers spend time with the boys and share experiences with them. They are able to learn from each other and about one another's culture. It also helps our boys to learn and have a wider perspective in life
Volunteers help our boys improve their English. This translates to a higher quality life and career options in the Philippines.
Friendship is an important part of volunteers coming as well. Over the years we have established a friendship with most of the teams who have come and spent time with us. These friendships continue to produce fruit and mean a lot to us.
Volunteers also help us in: Encouragement. Advocacy. Empowerment /Training. And Evangelism
Each of us plays a small role in a BIG mission. We must choose how we are going to use what we’ve been entrusted with to accomplish this mission. One might choose one way and someone else might choose another. Both will have mistakes, failures, and challenges. The important thing is that we use what we have to fulfill the call of God.
As of today, Children's Garden has directly impacted the lives of around 126 boys and their families. Most of the boys that have come through our organization are now working full time and living independently. Some have gone to be ordained as pastors. Some are loving husbands and proud fathers of growing families.
In addition, we reach out to hundreds of other families (through community outreach and partnership to the local churches) each year. Although imperfect and still learning, we are working daily to impact the lives of children and families. We invite you to join the mission, wherever that might be, and to work together to help bring hope to homes and the gospel to the nations.
Sharon Gersava
Staff Member
Children’s Garden of the Philippines