Institutions and Centres
Orphanages
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There is an orphanage called Hopes Haven in General Trias, Cavite.
It consists of three departments: one for both boys and girls between
1-6 years, one for boys between 6-18 years and one for girls between 6-18 years old.
The Children that are there are either found abandoned on the street, or their parents
have given their responsibility for the children away.
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Pre-Schools
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MMCCN runs six pre-schools. All the schools have bout 50 kids, and the teachers are
educated pre-school teachers.
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Prison work
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The conditions in Manilas prisons are really bad. Up to 40 prisoners are packed together in
a small cell on only 215 square feet. They don't even have enough room to lie down to sleep.
The sanitary conditions are not the best either. When someone gets sick, they have to lie in
the hallways in order to get some sleep. In Manila it's illegal to be outside after 11.00 pm.
The police are patrolling the streets and picks up all the children that ere out and brings
them to prison. Because of millions of children are living on the streets, homeless, the prisons
are overfilled with children from as young as 5-6 years old. The children section of the prison
is right beside the adult one. In earlier years, the kids and adults used to be in the same cells,
but Rakel made them separate them to protect the children. The crimes they are convicted for range
all from stealing bread to keep their family alive, to rape, robbery and murder. They are all mixed
together in the same cell no matter how serious their crime was.
It can take many years before they get their case in court, and they don't always get a fair trial.
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Rakel has managed to get access to some of Manilas prisons, and she does everything she can to help.
Twice a year her organization gives out toilet requisites to 500 prisoners in 6 different prisons.
They also provide free dental treatment, vitamins and medicines. Over 6.586 have gotten help in some
kind of way, either directly to themselves, or to their families outside of prison. Every Tuesday she
and her friend Tone visit both the children and adult prison in Das Marinas to give them sanitary requisites,
such as soap and toothpaste, and some candy for the children. They have activities for the children, and they
help the prisoners to contact their families to find all the official forms they need for their trial.
In some prisons, they have provided ceiling fans to make the cells more livable.
Every time Rakel comes to visit them, they greet her and they get really happy. It is defiantly
the highlight of their week.
Everyone gets their own bible to keep, and everyday, new people come to faith in Jesus. Rakel and
her people share Gods love with them, and teach them about forgiveness and Gods grace, and that they
are loved by God no matter what they have done. They also help the prisoner to keep in contact with
their family outside and encourage them to change their lifestyle when they out of prison. The prison
social work is a blessing for the prisoner, and it makes their situation much better.
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Church and Community Centre
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The church is well organized with Sunday school for children from the orphanage and
surrounding neighbourhoods. The church often organizes mass weddings for couples because
they can't afford to rent a church by themselves.
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Home For The Elderly
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Currently there live 20 persons in the home for the elderly in Hopes Haven.
In addition to participating in different activities, they help to check
the producst from the sewing school that they are of good quality.
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Centre for battered/sexually abused girls and single mothers
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The building is called Toclong, and is a centre for battered/sexually abused girls
and single mothers. There is also a delivery room. Toclong can hold up to 25 patients.
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Sewing School
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The sewing school has a capacity for 20 students all together. To get an approved certificate,
the students have to attend the class for 8 weeks. 10 of the students are working all the time,
while the other 10 are under training. They also have a workshop where single women can get a well paid job.
Among other tasks, they sew uniforms to a Norwegian shipping company which have a subsidiary company on the Philippines.
The woman at the workshop has also made coveralls and other working clothes to the staff and students at Osebakken High
in Porsgrunn, Norway.
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Street Mission
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food, clothes and to give them hope.
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Drop-in Centre
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Once a week the drop-in centre are open for mothers to learn them how to make nutrient-rich food,
and they also get to eat a full meal that day. " It's very depressing to not being able
to do more for the children in the slum areas. We give them clothes and some food, and then
we have to leave again" Rachel says.
The drop-in centre gives work opportunities for women that don't usually get jobs. One of the
employees at the kitchen at the drop-in centre has a husband that is in prison for incest of
two of his daughters. The mom is dependent on her pay check she gets from Rachel to provide for
her 6 daughters.
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This girl came to the drop-in centre in 2002, when she was 9 months old and underfed.
She got treatment from the people at the centre, but then she disappeared with her parents.
They were probably walking around in different slum areas. 7 years later we found her again,
just as underfed as she was the first time she appeared at the centre. They took her in
to one of their pre-schools were she also got food to eat, and they are working to find her birth
certificate so that she can start in first grade in 2010.
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