General Fellowship

The so-called General Fellowship takes place once a month. On this occasion, the street children are picked up from all feeding locations by CFA employees and brought to the CFA premises. Here you can expect a program with songs, Bible stories in the form of a play and a short sermon. The event concludes with a meal and games together on the CFA grounds.

For the children (and sometimes their very young mothers) this event is something special. On average, between 400 and 600 children come to this event, sometimes there are even around 800. It is touching to see how the children get ready for it and obviously enjoy escaping from their everyday lives for an afternoon.

During the last General Fellowship it was raining cats and dogs - nothing unusual during the rainy season. Since the hall used is still under renovation, some of the seats are quickly under water. Around 30 seats are flooded and the water is 20 cm high. Typical Philippines: As if out of nowhere, some of the children's mothers come along with the employees to shovel the water out of the hall with dustpans. In the middle of the program it finally stops raining and, thanks to the many helpers, the water level slowly begins to fall.

A reference to the parable of the prodigal son (in the Bible: Luke 15:11-32) fascinates the children and they follow the events with excitement. The children learn that they are unconditionally loved by God. Meanwhile, we prepare the plates for the food and protect it from all kinds of creatures, especially flies and ants.

During breaks, the children are always happy to get any attention they can get. If an arm is free (especially with the Germans), it is immediately conquered in order to get some tenderness. After eating, they storm the play equipment in the courtyard of the children's homes; their joy is contagious.