-There is so much I will miss here, especially the staff and all the kids. And every morning waking up to go and have a chat with the elders. The only thing I won’t miss is the heat, says Rachel Trovi smiling.
She has come from Norway back to Mama’s Hope Haven, the children’s home she founded in Cavite in 1990, after having seen the conditions some poor children in the Philippines live under. Today, the center houses 60 children and 20 elderly people, who previously had no one to take care of them.
Creating a better future
The center is situated in the countryside with lush surroundings, and the property is well kept with flowers and a playground for the children. This is important according to Rachel.
-The children come to Mama’s Hope Haven after having lived on the street. I wanted them to grow up in a place very unlike that of the big city, she says.
Mama’s Hope also aims to educate the children, and the center is now running four preschools in various locations in Cavite. When the children grow old enough they go on to the public schools, and Rachel also encourages them to take higher education.
-Many of the children that have grown up at Mama’s have gone to college, and found good jobs in the Philippines or abroad. And some of them have become employed here at the center afterwards, Rachel says.
A decisive moment in life
One of them is 22 year old Rachel Lumbog, who works as an accountant for Mama’s Hope. Her family's story was the beginning of it all.
- In 1987 my children were all grown up and I had just become a widow. I therefore decided to go with the Christian organization Youth with a Mission to work a couple of months in the Philippines, the older Rachel explains.
During a visit to Smokey Mountain, a garbage dump in the middle of Manila which is home to thousands of people, Rachel met a young couple with three small children. While talking to the mother and holding her hands, Rachel experienced something she describes as an instruction from God to help the family.
Using her small widow's pension, she therefore moved them from the dump to a new home in Cavite, sent the kids to school and eventually college. The parents named their next child after her…
Building a hospital
Rachel’s wish to help the Lumbog’s turned into an urge to do more, and so the idea of Mama’s Hope Haven was born. She wanted to give people a home and care for them from the beginning to the end of life. But realizing the project has been anything but easy.
-There have been challenges the whole way, and sometimes I was afraid I couldn’t go on. But to continue believing in this and to see that I succeeded with it in the end, has been fantastic, Rachel says.
Right now her highest priority is to finish an impressive three story high hospital for the poor people in Cavite. The hospital will contain an emergency section with operation rooms as well as dialysis section and a maternity ward. The first floor of the hospital is already operational, while Rachel hopes that the rest will be finished by early 2012.
Goodbye to Mama's Hope
At the age of 84, Rachel still has plenty of energy and ousts most of the staff in the way she runs around at the center. But the time has come to let others continue the work.
- I am ready to leave the work in Cavite to others now, as my back can no longer take the long flights from Norway. But I will continue to speak of the project to people in Norway and try to raise more money for it.
Over the years, Mama’s Hope Haven has become known to many people in Norway, and the center gets all its funding from private donors. Among them are schools where the children have organized fundraisings for the project in the Philippines.
In Cavite, the staff and the children at Mama’s Hope will miss the old lady who has done many things for the community.
-Rachel has been a big blessing for our family. We are so sad that she is leaving, but we still pray that she will come back here, says the younger Rachel.
Gå til http://mama-children.org/, dersom du ønsker du å vite mer om Mama’s Hope Haven.