God's Great Care for Kids: An Interview with Children's Program Facilitator in the Philippines

Leafa Vagatai interviews G.O.D.’s Tahanan Community Center Kids Program Coordinator Irish Dagami

Forward By Chris Cameron:

Children at G.O.D.’s Tahanan Community Center in the Philippines gather weekly for Bible lessons, activities, and crafts.

Global Outreach Developments International’s Tahanan Kids program serves children from the Palo area where our community center is located on the island of Leyte. Many of their mothers attend the Tahanan Women’s Fellowship held each Sunday morning. Tahanan Kids serves these mothers by providing care for their children, giving them the opportunity to learn God’s word and be ministered to in needed ways. The Tahanan Kids program goes beyond just childcare. As you will read in the interview below, programming is prepared by trained educators to engage kids on an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual level.

This interview was facilitated by Ms. Leafa Vagatai, a member of G.O.D. South East Asia Regional Team and a lead teacher at The Academy for G.O.D. for the past 5 years. In addition to her years of experience as a teacher here in the U.S., Leafa has spent significant time in the classroom in the Philippines.

Irish Dagami serves as the Program Coordinator for our Tahanan Kids program and is a trained educator herself with a degree in Elementary Education. Enjoy this conversation between two educators who seek to bring children closer to the Lord day in and day out through teaching his Word.

Leafa: Hey Irish, I’m excited to talk with you today about Tahanan Kids. My first question is, how did the COVID-19 Pandemic affect Tahanan Kids?

Irish: We stopped gathering in person at Tahanan because of local health protocols, but we didn’t let that stop our programming all together. We made activity packets, workbooks, and other resources for the kids, which I personally delivered, so they could continue learning at home. We also launched a Tahanan Kids YouTube channel so the kids wouldn’t be bored at home and so they could continue connecting with God through learning his Word.

Leafa: It’s really wonderful you all kept bringing the Word into the kids homes. With all the churches in the area shut down they would have been missing out on that completely otherwise. Now that you have started back in person, what does programming look like?

Tahanan kids were so happy to finally gather together again after months apart during the pandemic.

Irish: Programming starts at 10am while the mothers are attending our G.O.D.’s Tahanan Women’s Fellowship. It runs about 4 hours. We start with some interactive games, then we have a time of worship through song, followed by a Bible study. After Bible study we have a few more activities before we feed the kids lunch. Then we have craft time and work on a memory verse for the week.

Leafa: How do you choose the themes and verses each week?

Irish: We work together as a leadership team at Tahanan to establish a theme every 3 months. From there, I create the weekly lessons and choose crafts, activities, and games to align with the theme. For example, we recently did a 3 month section on the 10 commandments. Then we switched to a study on the Holy Spirit for the next 3 months. Since starting back in person after COVID-19, we are beginning a 3 month section on an overview of the Old Testament.

Leafa: Do you run all of this by yourself?!

Irish: No, I function as the Program Coordinator but I have some consistent volunteers who help facilitate various aspects of the programming. Many of the volunteers are college students studying to become teachers. They will help lead the games, activities, crafts, and songs, but I’ll lead the Bible study portion. We meet before the program each week to discuss each person’s role for the day. The volunteers are great to work with and really flexible. Their responsibilities rotate from week to week depending on which kids show up and how the various age groups break down.

Leafa: That’s awesome; it’s great to have flexible volunteers. Can you tell me a bit about the students in the program?

Irish: We have two groups of kids. The younger ones are ages 3 to 5 and the older group is ages 6 to 10. They have different activities and crafts appropriate to each age group. Some of the kids live in slum areas and travel pretty far to join us, but they love coming so they make the journey. Most come from working class families and their parents are farmers, fishermen, trike drivers, construction workers, vendors, etc.

Leafa: As a teacher myself I often have wonderful moments connecting with the Lord when I teach. Just a couple of weeks ago I was teaching on the book of Exodus and I was teaching my students about trusting in God. We were looking at the story where God provided Manna to the Isrealites and I was telling them about how God provides for us even in difficult circumstances. I’d had a bit of a crazy day, but in teaching the students about God’s provision I just felt him so near and was reminded of his care for me. Can you tell me about a favorite moment you’ve had working with Tahanan Kids where you’ve really felt the Lord’s presence?

Worship and movement is a highlight of the Tahanan Kidz program. While parents study the Bible downstairs, their kids are thoroughly entertained upstairs.

Irish: I remember a specific time of worship we had just a week or two after the program had just started out. I was playing ukulele and leading the kids in the song “God is So Good.” I really felt the Lord prompting me so I shared with the kids about the goodness of God, trying to help them understand what they were singing. I talked to them about how despite how difficult our circumstances in life become, even in the midst of a global pandemic, there is still so much that the Lord does for us. I told them that even though they are little kids, God still cares for them. He takes care of them. As we continued singing and the kids really began to think about God’s goodness I could see the sincerity in their faces and I couldn’t help but cry.

Leafa: Well now you’ve got me crying. That’s really a sweet moment with the Lord and the kids. I think it’s a really powerful example you set for the kids in letting them witness you as an adult being vulnerable before the Lord in that way. I think kids really appreciate that kind of sincerity and it can really help them understand that it’s good to be moved by the Lord.

So for a last question here, I’d really like to know what you feel has been the most rewarding part of working as the Program Coordinator for Tahanan Kids in this last year.

Irish: I think the most rewarding part is getting to talk to the kids' parents about how good their children are doing and how much they are learning about the Lord. Parents often come to me to tell me about the changes they see happening in their children as a result of what they are learning at Tahanan Kids. We recognize that it is the Lord at work in their kids’ lives and that’s something we can all rejoice about. I think that’s the most rewarding thing.

Leafa: Well, thanks so much for this time Irish. It really is a blessing to hear about how you and the team there at Tahanan have been serving the kids even during lockdown in your country. I believe this testimony about all God is doing in your midst will bless a lot of people.