Originally posted May 25, 2006

Bethany Christian Home for Children
by Bob @ 12:12 pm. Filed under Schools, People

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I just returned from a trip to Northern and Western Mindanao, and along the way, I took a sidetrip to Talakag, Bukidnon. You may be wondering, why would I go to Talakag? It wouldn’t be surprising for anybody to wonder that! After all, up until about 2 months ago, I had never even heard of the place! But, as it turns out, it is a special place indeed.
A couple months ago, I got an e-mail from a reader of this blog, asking if I could feature the Bethany Christian Home for Children. Let me first apologize to the reader, because I somehow lost his e-mail, and I do not have his name or e-mail address - please contact me if you read this! Anyway, this reader told me a little bit about the home, and I found it interesting. I started doing a little more research, including follow up e-mails with the person who made the suggestion, and learned more. It was quite an interesting story, so I made it a goal of mine to visit the place. This week, I needed to go to Iligan, and Talakag is sort of on the way, so I decided to include it in the trip.
To get to Talakag, it required first going to Cagayan de Oro, then up past SM and the Airport in Cagayan. I had been told that Talakag was just 3 to 5 Kilometers from the Airport… it turned out to be maybe 30 Km or so. But, that was OK, it was a nice drive, and quite beautiful. Once you get to Talakag, the Children’s Home is very easy to find, right on the highway.
Now, what makes Bethany Christian Home for Children so interesting that I would make a 7 hour trip to see the place? Without a doubt, it is a lady named Louise Lynip. Louise, a 94 year old native of Rochester, New York, is the founder of Bethany Christian Home for Children. She originally came to the Philippines in 1940, some 66 years ago. During the past 66 years, Louise has certainly led a very colorful life filled with both danger and joy, as she told me when I visited. One of the highlights of Louise’s time in the Philippines came during World War II.
Louise hid out from the Japanese Occupying Forces for over 2 years!
During WWII, when the Japanese invaded the country and held it, Louise escaped into the jungles of Bukidnon and hid out for over 2 years. During this time, Louise’s plight came to the attention of the United States military. Finally, the US Navy sent a submarine to the Northern Mindanao Coast, and sent a team ashore to find Louise and her 12 companions. Luckily, they were able to locate the group and rescue them. Louise proudly explained to me how she boarded a US Navy submarine and took a 6 day voyage to safety in Australia. After arriving in Australia, Louise stayed there for 2 months, then returned to the United States for 2 years, until it was safe to return to the Philippines.
Louise told me that at the present time, they are caring for 47 orphaned children at the home, although their orphan population reaches more than 100 at times. The Children’s Home also operates a farm at the site where they grow vegetables which are used to feed the kids, and also sold at market to provide money to run the operation.
In addition to a wonderful visit with Louise, my wife, son and I also visited the nursery where there were many babies. We held and played with the babies, and they were obviously overjoyed just to get a little extra attention. I must say, though that the two young ladies working in the nursery were doing a wonderful job in caring for the babies, it was so obvious. During the time that we were visiting, a Filipino couple who live in the United States were there to adopt one of the children. I certainly plan to go back for more visits to Bethany in the future, and to bring my other kids there so that they can learn of the plight of children without parents, and be able to share their affection with the kids. It’s a wonderful feeling to share a little of what we have with kids that need it so badly.
During our vist, I promised Louise that I would be working on helping her gain a presence on the Internet where she would be able to attract a few donors to help the Home survive, even beyond her time. She was very grateful for that, so watch this blog in the coming months as I work out a way that you can help to support Louise and the kids! You can be sure that when you help people like this, you will get more in return than you can ever believe!
Bob also wrote an obituary on Miss Lynip on hearing of her sudden passing recently:
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July 5, 2006
Louise Lynip, RIP
by Bob @ 3:32 am. Filed under News, People

There is sad news to report at this hour. At around 9:40pm on July 4, 2006 (Philippine Time), Louise Lynip passed away. I received word just a couple hours ago of Louise’s death, which was due to complications with Pneumonia. Louise passed at the age of 94.You may remember Louise from an earlier post here on the Mindanao Blog. She was the founder of the Bethany Christian Home for Children in Talakag, Bukidnon. In her work with orphaned children at Bethany, Louise was responsible for placing hundreds, probably thousands of orphans into new homes around the world.
I got to meet Louise just once, and felt really priviliged to have met her and shared even just 15 minutes or so talking with her. Louise was really a unique individual, having experienced so many unique things in her life. During World War Two, Louise hid out in the jungles of Bukidnon for over two years before being rescued by US Forces who took her to safety in Australia aboard a Navy Submarine.
At this time, it is really important for Bethany Christian Home for Children to receive financial assistance so that it can continue the work that Louise started, and continued with for over 60 years. If you would like to make a donation to Bethany Christian Home, you may click on the button below, which will allow you to send money through Xoom.com. We will gather all of the donations and deliver 100% of the funds to Bethany Christian Home. All of the funds will be used for ongoing operations of Bethany, and to assist the children there.


Click this button to donate to Bethany Christian Home for Children. You can choose the amount you wish to donate.
For anybody who may wish to attend Louise’s funeral, services will be held at 10am on Saturday, July 8, at Bethany Home Cemetary in Talakag, Bukidnon.
I wish to thank Janci at Bethany, and Jim Cunningham for contacting me with the sad news.