posted by Kristen
This post was made by one of our most dedicated repeat donors at Aura’s House. He recently visited our completed classroom at the Santo Nino Elementary School in the Philippines. Thanks to Aura’s House donations the school now enjoys this much needed addition to their cramped building. Please read Evergreen’s account and my response below.
“This past Monday, December 17th, I had the opportunity to visit Christian Capin at Santo Nino Elementary School in Manila. Upon my arrival I was treated like royalty by the school majorettes with a dance routine. The classroom built by Aura’s house is a significant improvement to a very crowded school compound which contains thousands of students. Christian is a tiny little boy, who proudly presented me with a certificate, a handmade drawing of his new classroom, and a Christmas card. I was greeted warmly by his fellow classmates who just beamed while an older 3rd grade student sang “Hero” to me. It was a very moving experience for me and I think all of the donors to this project should be justifiably proud of their accomplishment.”
Kristen said,
December 21, 2007 at 2:21 pm
First of all, THANK YOU so much for visiting the school. I hope I can make the trip one of these days. Christian always had such personality to me just through photos. I can just imagine how sparkling he must be in person.
I’ve been thinking about you and your trip. Did the storms affect you? Did you run across any problems?
I’m glad to hear that you are safe and sound.
I and the Aura’s House crew wish you the happiest of holidays and all the best for 2008. Thanks for all you do on behalf of needy children.
Kristen
ps. Hope you don’t mind if I include your words in our next newsletter and make a new post here.
evergreen3 said,
December 26, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I would be pleased if you give widespread coverage in the next Auras House newsletter. I just completed my thoughts for the Children International blog about my visit to the Philippines, and the warm welcome I received at Santo Nino elementary school. Christian, like many of the children in his classroom were very enthusiastic about my visit, and the touching song “Hero” that the 3rd grader sang for me, just about made it impossible for me to speak afterwards. Auras House contributors are the real heroes in this visit, I was just the representative….you gave them the strength to carry on when they felt like all hope was gone. I think the small gifts they presented to me should be sent to you Kristen, Anastasia and Mike. Christian in person is exactly how he appears in the photos, a gentle soul with a big heart. He wrote in a letter to me: “Welcome to the Philippines. Welcome to Sto Nino Elementary School.Thank you very much for building our classroom. Thank you for coming, thank you very much. This is a big help for us.” signed Christian M. Capin. I will see if I can scan the drawings they gave me, but I think you should have the originals because they are really special from a special child.Christian and two tiny girls posed for photographs and I think all of the photographs of the visit will be sent to Children International headquarters, so hopefully Jennifer Spaw will send them directly to you.
evergreen3 said,
December 26, 2007 at 8:01 pm
I would just like to add that visiting Christian, and several of my sponsored children was a life changing experience, hopefully for all of us. Sponsorship provides hope to children and families, it helps their dreams come true. If you want to know what it feels like to be treated like royalty, go visit a sponsored child. I was able to visit my sponsored children 9 year old Cindy in Legazpi City, and 11 year old Eduardo in Manila. I also visited Lovely Sophia, age 7 and Richelle Joy, age 9, who I don’t sponsor, but I’ve been helping the family with some basic needs since reading about their situation in the Children International blog last March 30th. I also took on sponsorship of my 7th child, Marjorie, age 8, when I met her at the CI Community Center. She and her sister Rachel live in Bagbag Cemetery in Quezon City. I’m hoping I can find a home outside of the cemetery for them in 2008.
Mike said,
December 27, 2007 at 7:19 am
The Sto Nino Elementary School Project is our largest Main Project to date. We all felt it would have a great impact on so many children it allowed us to overcome our uncertainty of presenting such a large project to our donors, many donors come through, our tried and true old timers, new donors, and many multiple donors.
It is so nice to have our donors make visits to our projects to experience the joy of the recipients of everyone’s hard work!
Happy holidays,
Mike
Anastasia said,
December 31, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Steven, I am so glad and thankful you were able to visit Christian and the other children at the Sto. Nino school who are benefiting from the new classroom built from the donations from Aura’s House donors. I know the main focus of your trip was to meet with your sponsored children so please know that we REALLY appreciate you stopping by this project as well. You are a model of how a “regular” person can have such an amazing impact on the lives of children in far-away countries by living simply and using extra income for helping the less fortunte rather than buying more material goods you don’t really need. The “Hero” song the children sang describes you to a T!