To reach Eric’s far-flung town, I traveled by plane, took a 30-minute motorcycle-taxi ride, and then a grueling six-hour bus ride on a dusty, monotonous rough road.

I was warmly received by Pastor Gwen, who immediately said she remembered my last visit. She also said Eric has improved much. His father, Benny, however, has been very elusive.

Pastor Gwen has tried several times to reach Benny to discuss matters about sponsorship, but he’s never home. His children always say he’s out looking for food.

The next morning I saw Eric in his tutorial class at the student center and immediately noticed a big difference – he was smiling at me!

There was a toothless gap in his big grin, and I was very happy to see it.

I approached and asked if he remembered me from my last visit. He said no.

I observed Eric in class. He was the quietest and most well-behaved.

The other children were typically rowdy, but Eric went about his quiet way, listened to the teacher attentively, colored some drawings as told, and took his morning snack.

As in all student centers throughout the Philippines, Rio Tuba plans and conducts many activities for the children. The goal is to connect with each individual child so that each hears the Gospel and learns Bible stories and songs, is monitored for health, receives school tutorials, and is given a chance to just play, eat, enjoy, feel loved and feel safe.

Simply put, each child is given the chance to live a happy life so that all of them, like Eric, can begin to smile.

I learned that 6-year-old Eric comes to the center after his regular elementary school classes. He is in grade one. We grabbed a quick lunch, and it was time to meet Eric’s family again.

Pastor Gwen had briefed me on how the student center performed in its first year of partnership with Compassion. So naturally I wanted to know if all that she said was true for Eric’s family.

“The children receive one-on-one attention for counseling and tutorials. I challenge all our caseworkers to be second mothers to the children … The children are happy; we can see that in their eyes and smiles … Ninety percent of the children and their parents voluntarily come to church.”

According to the pastor, the student center has done so well that city officials took notice.

Several other agencies have come to Rio Tuba and most have failed the city’s expectations. Many were bogus, scams. Some even attempted to take children to the big city to work. City officials were very disappointed. Today they are happy at what they see going on with the Assemblies of God Church after it partnered with Compassion.

“They are now convinced that we are different and that we are for real,” Pastor Gwen says.

The Assemblies of God Church is the first and only Compassion church partner in Rio Tuba. Its closest neighbor is roughly 150 kilometers away, or six hours by rugged land travel.

I thought, “This new church partner is doing very well.” Then I met Eric’s father.

Last year he was not interested in his son being registered. I thought that after a year he would think differently, but I was wrong. He wasn’t excited at all about the sponsorship. In fact, he was sad and angry.

How could Rio Tuba seemingly have failed Benny? I had to know more.

Benny’s bamboo home has not improved a bit. In fact, it is now even more unkempt. There were dirtied clothes, unwashed plastic plates and leftover grains of rice everywhere.

I approached Benny as Pastor Gwen stayed close behind. I shook his hands and immediately the stern look on his face melted. He began to cry.

He cried like a young boy being scolded. He talked about how his eldest daughter eloped, how his two oldest sons moved out in exchange for work that pays them a few pesos a day, and how his favorite daughter, Jonalyn, left for the city to look for a job.

Jonalyn used to keep the house clean and take care of her younger brothers.

On my last interview, Benny’s wife just left him. Now, four children have done the same.

“What can I do? I have to work all day to feed my children. Only my three sons are left with me now.

“I told Eric to stop going to school and to the student center. What’s the point?

“Look at our house. It’s so messy. My boys should stay here and be responsible enough to keep it clean and tidy.”

For a whole year Benny never took Eric to the student center nor stepped inside the church. After Jonalyn left, Eric walked every day to the student center with other registered children who lived nearby.

Then I asked Benny how Eric’s sponsorship has helped them. He cried all the more and asked, “Why should they take away my son? Where are his sponsors? What are they for? Who is that Christ church?”

His reaction took me aback and I realized that this father had not yet understood many things about the program. He believed in the rumors that Compassion, like some of the other organizations that came before it, would take away children and make them work in the city.

Pastor Gwen was with me for a reason. She has been trying for a long time to talk to Benny and explain what Eric’s sponsorship really meant. This was her chance and so she made her move.

In her usual loving intonation, she carefully explained and enumerated the benefits Eric was receiving from his sponsor: the tutorials, the food, the fun time, prayers, Bible stories and so on; that Eric is now smiling.

Thank God, Benny was not hard to educate.

He stared out the window and began to nod as if to say, “Ah, so now I get it.” After a few more minutes, Benny made a confession.

“I intentionally eluded you for one whole year, but today, when I heard that you were coming with a visitor from Manila, I made sure I was here. I thought Eric’s sponsor was coming to take him away.”

The pastor smiled. I laughed and explained that I have no intentions of doing something like that to his son. Then Benny smiled, too. His first smile for the day.

After a few moments, the pastor explained that the church needed some carpentry work and that Benny should come on Sunday to see how he can help.

“Yes, pastor,” Benny said, now composed. “I will go on Sunday.”

The pastor and I visited more homes to make the most of my coming to Rio Tuba. Then at sundown we called it a day.

I made my way to my rented room on a dark, unpaved road. There were not many streetlights in Rio Tuba. One of the approaching shadows turned out to be Benny. He was the first to greet.

Benny said he was going to the church to check the carpentry work. It seemed he could not wait until Sunday. Just as he waved goodbye, he turned to me and said, “I’m going to church on Sunday.”

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Based on its studies on poverty, Compassion in the Philippines identified Rio Tuba as one of the neediest towns in the country, and Eric’s family is the neediest of them all.

In this isolated town where only one bus line is willing to travel from the main city, Eric’s family is even cut off from the rest of the residents. They live in an unfinished, tiny bamboo hut in the middle of an open field. Although from time to time their closest neighbor gives food and offers help, he often mocks them for their predicament.

Eric’s father, Benny, is a carpenter. He used to earn a daily income of US$5.60 when there was available work. This was not enough to feed his seven children. Since his wife left them in March 2008, Benny stopped working completely to take care of his children full time.

In April 2008, Compassion partnered with the Full Gospel Assemblies of God Church in Rio Tuba, thereby establishing the Rio Tuba Learning and Development Center. The center was ready to register children in a month’s time.

The first step was to conduct house-to-house interviews in order to identify the neediest of all. Church partner staff scoured nearby slum neighborhoods to interview heads of families.

“We are determined to register the neediest children in Rio Tuba, particularly those who are not members of our church,” says Pastor Gwen, explaining that one of the primary goals of the partnership is evangelism. As pastor for 20 years, she is excited to begin the partnership believing that they “could now truly reach out to the people.”

Average church attendance is 120, but on May 18th the church auditorium was packed with 74 mothers with their children for initial orientation. They were the one’s chosen from the household survey and were scheduled for registration three days after. Eric came with his sister, Jonalyn.

On this orientation prior to registration Isabelita, the director of the child development center, says,

“We explained that Compassion staff from Manila will arrive on Wednesday to register the children. We are excited because we know that the registration process was the first step to giving these children hope and opportunities in life.”

Wednesday came, and Benny was not really excited about his son’s registration at the center. He sat on their bamboo floor, staring blankly at the open field. He had only one focus — to feed and protect his children.

He could not envision the long-term help that sponsorship could provide his son. He just hoped that today, as Eric and Jonalyn go to church, they would be fed. Jonalyn and Eric left early. Baby Erwin cried and wanted to go with them, but big sister shooed him away. The other children were playing outside.

Mothers and children filled up the church as early as 7:30 a.m., an hour and a half earlier than scheduled. Children dressed well. They sensed it was for a special reason that they were at church on a Wednesday morning, and so they were careful not to get themselves dirty as they played inside the church while waiting.

After a 30-minute walk, Eric and Jonalyn arrived, and immediately the caseworker handed Eric a yellow paper with the number “1.” She explained that he was the first child to be registered. Eric wore a white T-shirt, black short pants and leather shoes.

Staff from Compassion’s country office in Manila arrived and explained how the child registration would be done. They gave instructions on how to stand in front of the camera: “Don’t be afraid of the camera. Relax. Place your hands on your sides and give us a big smile.”

They explained that after pictures were taken child case studies would be done. Eric was sitting in front during the orientation. He was motionless. It was his first picture ever taken.

After a few more instructions from the staff, children were made to line up for pictures outside the church where there was enough light from the sun. Eric was first to stand in front of the camera, and by his feet a number was placed to identify him: The number 1, the first registered child in the program.

He did not smile. He stared blankly at the camera.

Back home, Eric slowly climbed the bamboo stairs to take off his leather shoes. He did not have a pair of socks and so his feet hurt from all the walking. His father arrived with a handful of root crops and asked about the registration.

“I had my picture taken,” Eric said as he handed the yellow paper with the number “1” to his father and jumped out to play with Erwin.

Benny and Eric don’t know it yet, but on that day Eric took the first step towards receiving many opportunities in life. For his sake and for the other 74 newly registered children, Compassion in the Philippines will now train and equip the Full Gospel Assemblies of God Church so that the center can provide tutorials, health care, health monitoring, discipleship, life-skills training and fun activities for the children.

They will also be trained on how to build a meaningful relationship between the children and their would-be sponsors, in which the sponsors are able to encourage and support their long-term development.

Eric will be immersed in a safe and loving environment where he will receive opportunities to know Jesus, gain many friends, play, eat balanced meals, be regularly monitored of his health condition, and more importantly begin school next year. He is now a registered child.

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