MARY JOY GOES TO COLLEGE.

                                                        Mary Joy in her college uniform.

As a result of the kindness of Mr Michael & Mrs Mary Beth Soignet from Charlotte, North Carolina USA, Mary Joy Radam one of our Bethany children or should I say young ladies has now enrolled at Bukidnon State College Talakag Campus. Incidentally Mr & Mrs Soignet have already a son adopted from Bethany called Darvy.

Mary Joy has elected to take a course leading to obtaining a BSc in Elementary Education. Mary Joy’s ambition is to teach at Elementary School on completion of her studies. The degree course is of 5 years duration and runs Monday to Friday from 4pm to 9pm and Saturday from 8am till 12 Noon and 1pm till 4pm. Due to the course being part time in structure it’s very demanding as Mary Joy also works as a carer at Bethany. I spoke with Mary Joy today Friday 19th November and asked her how she was finding going back to school so to speak. She told me although the college schedule is demanding she is enjoying the challenge and is determined to do well and not let her sponsors down.

I will keep you all updated on Mary Joy’s progress as she travels along the road of academic enlightenment.

Once again a big personal thank you to the Soignet’s for your kindness from myself and Marilou on behalf of Bethany.

REQUESTING ASSISTANCE

Since I started this blog, but particularly over the last two years, I have had many requests from former Bethany children regarding tracing their biological parents and/or relatives. It is always a pleasure to try and assist in this endeavour but I would like to inform those requesting this help from Bethany that it does take time and sometimes cost money. I’m not talking about a fortune but please allow for telephone calls and visits to be made to the Dept of Social Welfare to follow up information along with fuel or transport cost and, depending on how long it takes, maybe a snack or lunch etc. For an organisation like Bethany which relies on donations, every peso is a prisoner. I don’t wish to discourage anyone from asking for assistance but please kindly make a little donation to Bethany to help with your enquiry.

Australia's Best in Talakag Native Costume

Rachel 1

Rachel 2

Amy 1

Amy 2

Last month I wrote about two former Bethany Children who returned to Bethany from their home in Australia. Sisters Amy and Rachel, whilst visiting Bethany, were persuaded on their last day in Talakag to wear traditional native costumes for a photograph as a souvenir of their visit.

I shall let my readers decide if the photographs were worthwhile.

VISITORS FROM FLORIDA

Welcoming Banner For our Guests

L to R Mike Gowens, Jim C, Pastor Todd Jones and Dr Alan Floyd

Some of our children welcome our visitors from Florida

Following a chance contact via my blog Mike Gowens wrote to me asking if it was possible for him and some people from his church First Baptist of Middleburg in Florida http://www.fbcmiddleburg.com/ to visit Bethany.

I immediately put him in direct contact with our Chairperson, Atty Chemene Nacua to arrange a possible visit. To cut a long story short a visit was soon set up and Mike along with the church pastor Dr Alan Floyd and senior associate pastor Todd Jones arrived in Talakag on the 23rd September.

A special welcome was arranged for our guests in the form of a cultural history of the Philippines depicting the origin of the Filipino people and there association with the Spanish as well as the Americans over the years. Our guests were a bit taken a back by the show and I might add pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm of the children. Mrs Heidi Cansancio, School Principal, provided the welcome address explaining the work of the school within the complex that is Bethany.

Since the visit for pastors Floyd and Jones was brief they immediately went on a fact finding tour of the Bethany facilities culminating with a meeting the following morning with the members of the Board of Trustees as they were returning to Manila that afternoon. Mike Gowens however remained until the 5th October to carry out an indepth study of the Bethany Organisation in order to determine where his church maybe able to assist most.

At this stage I don’t want to go into too much detail as talks are at a preliminary stage but I’m confident that both the First Baptist of Middleburg and Bethany will go on to work together in the not too distant future. What I can say is Mike Gowens had an instant rapport with children as well as the Bethany staff and his enthusiasm just radiated from him.

I will keep my readers updated on future activities between the two organisations.

RETURNING TO THEIR ROOTS.

Rachel(L) and Amy(R) meet their birth Father in Talakag

Last week I had the opportunity to meet two wonderful young women Amy and Rachel Yarnold who returned to Bukidnon to visit Bethany where they were adopted from with the blessing of their adoptive family.
The other and most important reason for them returning to Bukidnon from their home in Brisbane Australia was to meet up with their birth father and their siblings as well as their birth mothers sister.
As one can imagine it was a very busy week for the sisters and also very emotional one.
Their story begun in 1986 when the sisters along with their brother David were adopted by an Australian missionary couple who at that time were stationed in Papua New Guinea. The eldest of the siblings was after sometime sent to Australia to continue her education followed eventually by her brother then finally both adoptive parents and the youngest sibling returned to settle in Australia.
I got an e-mail from the youngest sibling Rachel last month to say they would be coming to Mindanao and was it possible for them to stay at Bethany during their visit.
I passed their request to Bethany’s Chairperson Atty Nacua and Rose Longcob who made all the arrangements for the visitors during their stay in Talakag. A message was sent to their birth father to inform him of the visit and as they say the rest is history.
During their stay they discovered that they were three of 13 children with 4 sisters and 2 brothers still surviving. The also met their birth mothers sister their aunt during their visit. Now that they have made contact with their Bukidnon relatives the sisters vowed to return more frequently in the future and bring their brother along with them.

Bethany Christian School’s 54th Foundation Week Celebration - Commemoration Program Photos

Preparations Underway for Bethany’s Foundation Celebration

All hands on deck as Bethany prepares for its Foundation Celebration next week. Everyone is busy. Elementary pupils, high school students, teachers, home and school staff, and even volunteers are all working hard to ensure that everything will be alright on the day.

Dancers Practising their Moves

Sound Check

Making the Props

Making the Costumes

Landscaping Efforts by the Gym