In the video: Joao Troples, volunteer at “Helping People to Help Themselves” demonstrates the use of a simple blender to create a high-protein smoothie from locally grown fruits and vegetables. The children, constantly malnourished, break out in smiles all around when they get a chance to taste the now easily available wonder-drink.

Please go to the Donate page of our website and give what you can. Even if it is a one time $25 donation to help with one day of the Nutritional Feeding Program for our 70 plus orphans and widows. Thank you, The HP2HT Team

In the video: Scott, founder of Helping People to Help Themselves, discusses the upcoming changes and additions to Atlantis. Scott highlights many of the upcoming plans including a fully sustainable agricultural system. Scott goes on to request a small donation to alleviate the period between now and when the system becomes fully operational.

Please watch our video and, if you are inspired to donate, please do so now. The need is great, and the amount needed is not large, so whatever you can give will result in a “huge benefit for the amount you donate”.

In the video: Scott, Christian, and Joao visit the newly renovated “Atlantis”. They are impressed and cheered by all the work which has been done so far, but there is still much to be done. The voice of Scott Holmes, founder of Helping People to Help Themselves, highlights the upcoming needs of the orphanage.

And take a peek at what the orphanage’s main cook

is preparing for dinner:

Mm Mm. Fresh fish! Look even better close up:

Hey! Here’s one sleeping room that’s getting close to being fully renovated:

Glad all of the rooms aren’t looking like our as yet unfinished (portable?) kitchen:

With its exterior kitchen sink:

Some rooms are like this one with a couple of girls making good use of their partially completed, but clean and comfortable new quarters:

It was time to retire to our hotel for dinner and a good night’s sleep after a very fulfilling day. Joao snapped this photo of Christian and me just as we were getting ready to head out the door:

The Swiss were also visiting the orphanage in Surigao City and, along with Allan and Juliet, joined us in our hotel dining room for dinner:

Our Return to Atlantis was coming to an end. The next morning Allan and Juliet would be driving us for the 3 hour trip to the airport in Butuan City where we would catch our Philippine Airlines jet back to Manila. And, after one last night in Manila, we would fly home to Mother Maui on Japan Airlines via a 2 hour stopover in Tokyo.

We had enjoyed a wonderful adventure together. Each of us felt our trip to Atlantis had been too short. And even so, we were tired and ready to go home.

There’s more to follow, but for now……………………

Thanks for listening,

Scott and the HP2HT Team

The older male orphans began unloading the jeepney of its many food supplies:

Here come the sewing machines:

Allan and I were happy to see that everything had arrived and was being stacked into an assembly room for all the children to see:

Happily the refrigerator we had earlier purchased arrived by separate delivery just shortly after the jeepney arrived:

The refrigerator was soon unpacked:

And, as you can see, the equipment and supplies were all greeted with great enthusiasm:

Many of the children were seated waiting for speeches (with Allan translating) from Joao, Christian, and me:

One little girl in particular caught our photographer, Joao’s, attention:

Our trusted videographer, Christian was at the ready with his "slightly" sunburned shoulders:

The sewing machines were taken out of their delivery boxes:

And the speeches were begun:

When we finally get our Return to Atlantis Video edited and posted, you’ll be able to see and hear those (THANKFULLY BRIEF) speeches. For now, however, you’ll just have to use your imagination as to what each of us said.

Next post, we’ll continue on with what turned out to be our second and last day at Atlantis. As you might imagine, the refrigerator was fully stocked and a feast (well, a relative feast in comparison with before the foodstuff arrived) was prepared.

Until then,

Thanks for listening,

Scott & the HP2HT Team

I telephoned Allan and Juliet Japor who, along with Marilou, were our biggest co-workers in supporting the orphanage. I told them we would be changing our previously planned schedule for the day of arranging for a "Welcome to Atlantis" sign and interviewing children for our Orphan Sponsorship Program. Instead, we would be going shopping for nutritious food and a new refrigerator.

We split up into two teams. Allan, Christian, and I went shopping for rice and a new refrigerator. Juliet and Joao went shopping for fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, chicken, and fish. Our goal was to purchase a month’s supply of nutritious food to supplement the orphanage’s next month’s insufficient food budget.

Joao, our photographer, had the camera and took pictures with Juliet along the way. We should have taken my backup little Fuji camera to take pictures of our refrigerator and rice search, but we didn’t think of it. What follows is the adventurous day Juliet and Joao had shopping.

It begins with this shot Joao took of a bicycle transport as she and Juliet and Juliet’s daughter headed out for their day of shopping:

Here’s one of the fresh fruit stands they encountered along their way:

And here are some fresh vegetables:

What about some meat:

And, of course, we had to have fish:

And have them fileted:

And what would all of this shopping for 50+ people to supplement their food for a month be without the always desirable eggs:

Hey! Why is this girl so happy? Because Joao’s taking her picture with her big camera and lens, of course!

Now it’s approaching late afternoon. In this photo you can see Joao, Juliet, and Juliet’s daughter in the back of the orphanage’s jeepney as it is heading out for delivery to Atlantis:

And, it’s already been loaded with the 15 sacks of rice Allan, Christian, and I had earlier purchased:

At the last minute, all six of the sewing machines we had brought with us from Hawaii arrived and were loaded onto the jeepney as well:

And now the jeepney with its passengers including some of the older orphanage children recruited to help load and unload the new equipment and supplies headed out for Atlantis:

Coming up in the next post is the arrival of all of these "goodies" at Atlantis, and how the children and staff reacted to it.

Stay tuned for the next episode of "The Return to Atlantis."

Thanks again for listening,

Scott and the HP2HT Team

After being greeted by the children and staff and viewing the new renovations of the home at Atlantis, we asked for a tour of the land. We wanted to see how it might be best utilized to implement our newly acquired information regarding Sustainable Tropical Agriculture.

We started out with a nice walk and view of our beautiful, rich, and fertile farmland:

This is a view of one of our contiguous neighbor’s rice fields:

And here are a few young ones enjoying following us along the perimeter of their home:

This is a nice view of the orphanage home from the farmland behind and slightly above it:

Ah………………we have come to our gardener’s cottage and this is his father-in-law:

And our current Atlantis garden:

But later in this same day, as darkness fell, I was beginning to worry about the contents of this (see the freezer on the lower left):

And the nearly non functional and near empty refrigerator locked away in the children’s supervisor’s quarters.

The larder was empty at Atlantis. And, I previously had no idea that was the case. The Filipinos, for whatever reason, had not told me of their food shortage.

I would sleep on this and tomorrow’s activities were to be far different than I had earlier imagined.

We were exhausted and needed to get some much needed rest. But tomorrow was to be a day of changed priorities and activities.

I will enjoy sharing it with you soon.

Meanwhile, thanks for listening.

Scott & Team

Behind the beautiful girl with the black hat, you can see a cinder block building. In it are three toilet stalls like the one shown below. These are the bathroom facilities for the 50 plus people living at Atlantis. Unfortunately, they’re not adequate so there is a smell of urine around the home. I mentioned this situation to my friend, Allan, and he said he’d call a meeting and tell the children to go further from the home when they have to go to the bathroom and the toilets are fully occupied. This is something we are hoping to correct sometime in the near future. First things first with our limited resources, though, as you will see as this post progresses.

The staff and children at Atlantis have planted some plants and started a garden. Of course, it is nothing like what we’ll be creating as we install Sustainable Tropical Agriculture there over the next 4 to 5 years, but it is a great start and provides some fresh vegetables to augment the food they purchase:

Here are the children playing around the outside of what will eventually be the health and counseling rooms in the orphanage. A health room for children who are ill to go and be treated until they are non-contagious and feeling better again. And, a counseling room where they can receive discipline or guidance in private on any number of issues from how to better socially interact to hygiene to career guidance:

The area in front of Atlantis is quite beautiful:

Here’s the driveway going up to the home from the road (The sun is going down and it is starting to get dark):

Looking up at the home from the street:

Here’s a picture of Juliet and Allan with their daughter (More later about Allan and Juliet. Suffice it to say for now that they are the backbone of Helping People to Help Themselves Inc. of the Philippines.) and of course your team, Chrstian, Joao, and me, about ready to head home for the night:

As I mentioned in my last post, although I was happy with all of the improvements I had seen, by this time I was beginning to be troubled by the lack of some basics the children needed for healthy living. These included adequate cooking, bathing, and toilet facilities.

And, there was one more HUGE thing missing I hadn’t anticipated: A LACK OF ADEQUATE FOOD SUPPLIES.

We had arisen at 4:00 a.m. in Manila to begin our trip to Mindinao and Atlantis on this day, so by sunset we were all pretty well exhausted. And, although I hadn’t fully cognized the implication of the lack of adequate food supplies, I was beginning to realize our activities would need to be re-prioritized for the next day.

More to follow in the upcoming post, "Return to Atlantis - Part 3," which will include more photos of the magnificent 4 1/3 acres of land at Atlantis which are, as you read these words, already beginning to be readied for Sustainable Tropical Agriculture and a long term solution to the orphanage’s food problem.

Until then, thanks for listening.

Scott & Team

Joao, Christian, and I were pretty exhausted by the time we arrived at Atlantis late Monday afternoon, but we were uplifted with our warm greeting and seeing all the improvements. Christian and I had not been there for almost two years and were pleasantly surprised with all of its renovations.

The first areas we toured were very rough, but at least all of the children were able to live here now and were safely out of harms way.

Gradually we began to enter into more "finished" rooms like this combination pre-school room and orphanage office. Notice the beautiful floor. So much better than the cement that had been there before.

The dining area:

And their very simple kitchen. It really could use some improvements. They cook for 50 plus people here:

Then it was on to the even more finished areas like this boy’s sleeping room:

And the girl’s sleeping room:

The Founder and President of the orphanage’s Philippines non-profit corporation, Charisma Bethel Children’s Home, is Marilou Navarro. Here you can see her talking to me about the beds that have been being made as their budget permits so the children don’t have to sleep on the floor. "Only about 16 more to go" she told me:

The children all share these clothes together and they are kept in one central place. Eventually we’re hoping to have separate shelves for each child to have his/her "own clothes" to wear:

We went outside to view their washing and shower area. Basically it’s a water faucet and some buckets:

And here’s a sheltered place to dry their clothes where they won’t get rained on:

By this time in my tour, I was beginning to sense something I didn’t expect to find. Although I was impressed with how much had been done in terms of the renovation work at the new location of Atlantis, the children and staff seemed "poorer" and "more in need" than when I had last visited almost two years previously.

I’ll comment further on this in my next message and we’ll continue on with our first day’s tour.

Until then, thanks for listening,

Scott & Team

In the video: Images and audio are combined to show us our goal for Atlantis. Within a short time, we hope to emulate “Aloha House”, as mentioned in the video, to create a sustainable tropical agriculture system which feeds the orphans, and provides more funds for future development.