Category: Recipient Stories

It looked just like any other Christmas Party in the Philippines – women and children playing games, eating sweets and singing songs.  But for the women of Red Rope, this was a very meaningful party. This was the first Christmas Party they had ever thrown at their own expense!  And second, this month Red Rope...

Three ICM staff members, Annie Tapuz and Laila Natapol from the Bacolod office, and Heather Elliott, from ICM’s HK office, got into the spirit of celebration this Christmas by hosting several celebrations for different groups in Bacolod City.  In the Philippines, celebrations are an important part of the culture, creating unity and a sense of...

Dreams came true for the ICM Children’s Choir this past December.  The fourteen kids traveled to the USA to perform at the Washington DC ICM Banquet and at multiple other events and venues in D.C. and New Jersey.  The goal was to raise awareness of (and support for) ICM’s Philippine work.  They left a powerful...

A girl’s 18th birthday in the Philippines is a much-anticipated passage from adolescence to adulthood.  For Lotlot, this was an especially unforgettable day as she glowed in the excitement of a surprise 18th birthday party thrown by her sixteen “sisters and brothers” at ICM’s Excel House, in Bacolod.  Lotlot, who suffers from cerebral palsy, looked...

Story by Tess Lyons, ICM Development Officer //  Video courtesy of Lynn Ketch, ICM Trip Participant  “Happy Birthday to You” is the most frequently sung song in the world, but not just because of the number of birthdays celebrated each day.  This is the song the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommends singing for 20...

Union Church in Manila graciously donated individual gifts of 6,000 pesos each to 37 pastors from 5 ICM regions.  Story & Photo by Kathleen Hilado, ICM CO, Koronadal Pastor Laurel Lina Piang of T’boli, South Cotabato is one of the pastors in Koronadal who received a gift of 6,000 pesos. He has been serving as...

Story by Deanna Sutherland, ICM Program Support  //  Footage by Kathleen Hilado, ICM CO, Koronadal Imagine how frightening being pregnant at 14-years-old would be.  This is the reality for the young women in the mountain-dwelling tribal community called T’boli, in Southern Mindanao, Philippines.  The families in this tribe traditionally arrange for their daughters to be married...

Throughout the month of March, 1804 proud graduates of ICM’s 80 Learning Centers marched across the stage in their cap and gowns to receive their “diplomas”.   The students finished their year of learning with formal graduation celebrations held in each region.  Songs were sung, dances danced and poems and verses recited.   And family members and...

Story by ICM CO Team “I love her and that’s the beginning of everything,” said 88-year-old Andres about his beautiful 71-year-old bride, Rosalia, as they stood at the altar.  For Andres and Rosalia, this day was a dream come true!  They have been living as husband and wife for over 60 years but were never...

I met Cecilia back in August 2010 while visiting several ICM Transform recipients in Barangay 40.  As she emerged to greet us from behind a tattered cloth door, I couldn’t help but notice her unusual house.  I learned as I made my way through the plastic tarp walls and rotting wood, that Cecilia’s home had...