BK Saturday - The Story of Jessie Godes and the BK Daycare Ministry

(From top to bottom: Jet-Jet with his mom and brother, Adrian eating their food during the Day Care Christmas Party.  Jet-Jet with Justin, A Canadian Intern serving with the Youth Mobilization team.)

It is indeed a big privilege to share one example of how our Day Care Ministry is really impacting the lives of the street children and their families. Jessie Godes or “Jet-Jet”, although he is only four years old, spend most of his time on the street. Their father is a jeepney driver while their mother is a plain housewife. Where they live looks more like a large box than a house and when it rains, they get wet because of poor roofing and lack of proper water drainage system.  They also do not have electricity because they cannot afford to pay the electricity bill.

When we started to reach out to their community through our street children ministry Batang Krayola (BK), Jet-jet was the most shy child.  He didn’t want to associate and play with us and with the other kids. Although every week we visited him and his family and he also went to our feeding programs, somehow we felt that Jet-Jet still has a very important need. Jet-Jet, just like the many kids in the community needs a safe environment were he can learn how to read, write, play, and at a very young age, learn about right conduct and good character. The Lord used Jet-Jet to open our eyes to the idea of having a Day Care ministry in the Church, The Day Care Center will be a safe environment for them to learn and play.  In doing so, we can keep them off the street and at the same time provide them basic education. It is a place where they can learn not just how to read and write, but most of all, know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Since the start of the Day Care ministry, we were able to build relationships with Jet-Jet’s mother and with the other parents in the community. Right now, Jet-Jet’s mom attends the church regularly and an active member of the Women’s ministry.  She goes to the Bible Studies an prayer meetings of the church. Everyday she brings Jet-Jet  and his older brother Adrian to the Day Care center. Also, Jet-Jet is not shy anymore.  Aside from reading and writing, he has also learned to interact with other kids.  He has made a lot of friends already as he continues to learn how to write his own name.