Dear Friends, Donors and

Shareholders of Kuya Center,

Eureka... a miracle is unfolding! Sunday 31

st January 2010 marked

a NEW milestone for street kids.

At the Kuya site a prayer service

led by Bro Armin FSC (Kuya Board

Chairman/President De La Salle

Uni) and friends marked the start

of things. The builders moved on

site Tuesday 2nd

Feb 2010 and

the demolition began! The new

Kuya development is underway.

The decisions leading to this, the

property acquisition, the plan-

ning, the demolition and now the

rebuilding are explained here.

The Start: “How can they

sell my home?” queried 11 year old Kenneth three years

ago.... In a brain snap I replied to

his plea saying, “No one will

sell your home Ken-

neth – we’ll buy and

re-build it”. Thanks to him on that day, a dare and a dream

participants, unanimously voted

that Kuya should continue its

mission as a short term home

for distressed, vulnerable, va-

grant street kids awaiting rec-

onciliation/return to their fami-

lies. This was Kuya’s mission re-

endorsement.

The Property is Acquired: No

changes or development until

August 2007 when Kenneth saw

the owner fasten a ‘FOR SALE’

sign to the wall and challenged

me to act. A ‘share’ plan was

conceived whereby people

would be invited to participate

in this endeavour. Kuya’s com-

mitment was to continue, while

when the Board decided that

family skills support and a live-in

area for those taking part in

immersion experiences be in-

cluded – hence the third floor.

Brother Dindo Maralit FSC,

school principal and talented

architect, despite being busy

gave his services freely. He took

note of our recommendations

and produced a solid, low-cost

but adequate building plan. Our

sincere thanks go out to him.

Board of Trustees meetings fol-

lowed one after the other - the

Board were very generous with

their time. Feb 2009 we were

most fortunate to get a huge

KUYA CENTER....re-building a new home Mga Kaibigan ng Kuya

KUYA CENTER FOR STREET CHILDREN

Kuya Center for Street Children

Volume 10 Issue 1

February 2010

Kenneth

spoke

up on

behalf

of so

many

kids at

risk

New Kuya: Offices, teach-ing, cooking, dining, lodg-ings for kids, visitors and house parents, education, parental skills training leading to self-employment, kids play/recreation (top) and apartments

donors promised to give what

they could. Sister Kate and I

searched for a suitable, cheaper

property nearby but each time

we were ‘beaten to the punch’.

Fate? God? Who knows? lead us

back to the old, by far best site.

We asked our landlady Mrs. R.

Galsim to review her price. She

did so and replied P10,000,000 –

a daunting number of zeros!

Astonishingly this figure and

more (in fact P 10.65 million) was

raised in 16 months. This funded

not only the property but land

taxes, survey and deeds too. This

milestone was passed in January

2009.

The Planning: In 2007/08, after

clarifying the future of child and

family support, consultation with

professionals and staff, a general

plan was developed to ensure

there would be adequate space

for staff, counselling, teaching,

cooking, eating, sleeping, recrea-

tion, income creation and visi-

tors. The plan was amended

was conceived that will impact

positively on so many thousands of

street kids’ lives in the future.

While gestation qualms sometimes

turned our dream into a nightmare

no miscarriage was forthcoming as

Kuya had an astonishing team be-

hind it - for it had Team YOU -

“Friends of Kuya” who believed in

our mission to kids at risk, willing to

trust us, to share talents and part

with hard-earned cash to ensure a

joyful delivery and blest ‘live-birth’.

The Commitment: 3rd Feb 2007 - A

Meeting attended by many Broth-

ers’ Congregations, Friends of Kuya,

Business people, all in all about 60

boost from the ladies of the Aus-

tralia New Zealand Association

who raised an astounding P1.4

million at a Black Tie Ball. I felt

this boost plus the number of

generous donors both overseas

and local turned the tide. I knew

our mission had momentum and

the new building could start.

March 2009 the blessing of the

property purchase took place

and the moment in history was

marked with a time capsule!

The Children: 31st

October 2009

staff and children were recon-

ciled, relocated or remunerated.

Kuya stood empty but street

work continued with Brother

Rey. January 2010 Mr Ray Narag

volunteered his services as ‘Work

Supervisor’ – a remarkable and

generous offer. We thank Mr.

Narag for this important contri-

bution. So the baby is re-born -

congratulations but we still need

your help and ever your interest

Mga Kaibigan ng Kuya ... look

ahead and let’s... “keep walking”

31st Jan 2010 blessing of property

….. and ever shall be ….. ….. and ever shall be ….. ….. and ever shall be ….. ….. and ever shall be …..

Today, 14th

February 2010 Valentine’s Day

is the 19th

Anniversary of Kuya Center.

Over the past 19 years Kuya has seen thou-

sands of kids call Kuya home for at least a

portion of their young lives. It is inspiring to

have ex-Kuya children, now adults, return to

see ‘their old home’. Now they bring their

wives, children and their newly acquired

motor bikes.... Several have acquired Col-

lege/University degrees, others TESDA ac-

creditation (a formal recognition which al-

lows them to be modestly employed as

qualified mechanics, chefs, bakers etc). This

very week sees Aldreen graduate brilliantly

from Mapua with a BSc in Electronics and

Communication Engineering – an awesome

degree. But the real success is found in the

daily lives of hundreds of kids living simple

and happy lives which would have been so

difficult had they grown up as street va-

grants and likely become more jail fodder.

The new Kuya will allow us to expand, build

on the current services and provide opportu-

nities for the parents and older siblings to be

skill trained in self-employment skills. The

new building will also provide basic accom-

modation for those on immersions.

BRIEF SUMMARY PROPERTY FUNDING

PHILIPPINES:

SIDHAY DLS ALUMNI P 3,000,000

THREE SPECIFIC FAMILIES P 1,390,000

DE LA SALLE COLLEGES P 600,000

OTHER RELIGIOUS P 200,000

KUYA GENERATION P 250,000

AUSTRALIA:

MARIST SCHOOLS P 704,000

MARIST BROTHERS P 1,290,000

MARIST FAMILY, LAITY P 1,551,000

FRIENDS OF KUYA P 578,000

GEELONG PARISH/SCHOOLS P 1,059,000

NON MARIST SCHOOLS P 30,000

TOTAL P 10,652,000

EQUIVALENT (APPROX) AUD 275,000

HOUSE CONSTRUCTION FUNDING

PHILIPPINES:

DE LA SALLE UNI P 200,000

ANZA * P 1,400,000

AIUTARE I BAMBINI # P 1,620,000

MARCIAL SORIANO ASSET P 480,000

AUSTRALIA:

MARIST SCHOOLS P 175,000

MARIST LAITY FRIENDS P 131,500

GEELONG COLLEGE SCHOOLSP 107,500

MARIST FRIENDS P 50,000

KUYA GENERATION P 6,000

TOTAL (INCOMPLETE) P 4,170,000

EQUIVALENT (APPROX) AUD 105,600

* Australia New Zealand Association.

# Aiutare I Bambini Foundation Milan - long

and generous supporter involved in Kuya’s

ongoing education plan .

..…. is now is now is now is now …….

F I R S T W E E K O F D E M O L I T I O N

D E M O L I T I O N O F B O Y S O L D D O R M I T O R Y

Page 2

“ Unless the Lord builds the house in vain do the builders labor ………”

THE OLD KUYA FRONT YARD …

….. As it was in the beginning ……As it was in the beginning ……As it was in the beginning ……As it was in the beginning ……

The cost of the building is about P 14 million we still need P 10 million we are hopeful that a third of that may receive support soon. I am

hopeful that two groups may support Kuya’s refurnishing but it still means we need another P 6 million pesos to be able to open it debt

free. I am encouraging you once again to seek among your friends anyone who can help but I am not seeking extra funding from generous

donors who have done such a sterling job to acquire the property and get us where we are. Thank you for your interest, support and gener-

osity. I will send out a further update once the building starts to sprout above the ground. GOD BLESS you all “you are the salt of the

earth…” for Kuya. Salamat .

AUSTRALIAN DONATIONS (for Tax receipts) PHILIPPINE DONATIONS

Maps Mission, DLSU SCIENCE FOUNDATION Inc (KUYA CENTER) Checks written to this.

C/- Brother Chris Wills, UNITED COCONUT PLANTERS BANK (UCPB) Upper G/F Torre Lorenzo Bldg

PO Box 536, ACCOUNT # PESO 1201164943 Corner Taft and Vito Cruz

PADDINGTON. Qld. 4064 # DOLLAR 011203003256 Malate. Manila. Philippines

Cheques made out to MAPS Mission SWIFT CODE: UCPB-PHMM

EMAIL: mapsmission@gmail.com CONTACT: Marivic Concepcion EMAIL: marivic.concepcion@dlsu.edu.ph

Thank you for all your support

Bro Paul Murphy fms (Kuya Project Officer)

D E M O L I T I O N O L D O F F I CE S , R O O F T R U S S E S

. . .AMEN…. . . .AMEN…. . . .AMEN…. . . .AMEN…. F E B R U A R Y 9 T H 2 0 1 0

EMAIL: paulmurf40@hotmail.com

TEL/SMS: (+61) (0)404774 736