Sowers International through Community Resource Center has been ministering among the indigenous Muslim and tribal people groups in Southern Philippines since 1997. The love of God is shared to these people groups through holistic community development programs.
The greatest struggle these village people are facing is poverty. Furthermore, vices, violence, prostitution and ongoing conflict in surrounding areas cause early deaths in the villages. Of those deaths, no one suffer more than the orphans who are left behind. Normally, when this happens, small children who cannot fend for themselves are divided among relatives, who themselves have children to feed and are struggling daily to survive.
These orphans are deprived of their rights and privileges. They grow up without proper education and they become adult illiterates. Being illiterates, they have no edge over their well-educated counterparts and end up jobless. Being jobless and destitute, they come full circle and complete the cycle of poverty.
Working among these oppressed people groups, we longed to break the cycle of poverty in the villages by giving these orphans a chance to live happy, normal and productive lives that they may grow up to become God-fearing and useful citizens of our society.
In December 2004, Engr. & Mrs. Rodulfo Niere visited their relatives in Digos City to see the ongoing community development work of Sowers International. (Engr. Rodulfo Niere had been the Chairman of the Board of Sowers International for several years). As orphans themselves who experienced the love and care of the Lord while in an orphanage in Ilo-ilo, they have long desired to establish an orphanage for orphans like them as a token of their deep gratitude to the Lord.
Two important factors converged in December 2004: the desire of the Nieres to establish an orphanage and the burden of Mrs. Josephine L. Pabalate to give orphans and abandoned children in depressed villages a brighter future. Engr. & Mrs. Rodulfo Niere expressed their intent to allow CRC to use their lot for the orphanage and finance the construction of the orphanage building out of Mrs. Violeta Niere’s retirement benefits. (Mrs. Violeta Niere was a retired nurse in the States).
Mrs. Josephine Pabalate was tasked to write a project proposal for the orphanage for Sower International’s approval and to secure a license and registration for the orphanage from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Construction of the orphanage building was started in January 2006 under the supervision of Engr. Philip N. Pabalate. The building was inaugurated and dedicated to the Lord on June 24, 2006. The first batch of 10 children was admitted to the orphanage the following day. Three more children from the Muslim village were admitted to HOH on September 2006. Since then, HOH has continued to minister to the children that have been placed under its care from the different villages in Southern Mindanao. We cared for more than 50 children since the inception of the orphanage. Four of them have already graduated from college. At present, we have 23 children under our care. Our vision is to break the cycle of poverty among the orphans in Southern Mindanao through education.