A Request From Bohol

Some of the construction at ICA

One of the places I visited during my mission trip was the Icthus Christian Academy.  I've made several references to it previous posts.  If I had to chose just one of the many "needs" in the Philippines to work with, it would be ICA.  The school is operated by the two daughters of the school's founders.  


The youngest, Netter Love, gave up the opportunity to work outside of the Philippines as a registered nurse (where she undoubtedly would have had a successful career) in order to take over the book keeping and human resources duties of the school.  However, she is the first to admit that she doesn't have the level of experience and knowledge she should have.  In order to gain the skills she needs, she has decided to pursue an MBA degree.  I'm sharing a portion of a letter she wrote explaining her need for this advanced degree.

As a ministry and institution that exists to share God’s word to the people around us, we continually aim to work for His ministry with our very best. For the past years, we have been seeking solutions and doing some changes to improve our curriculum at Icthus Christian Academy to serve the community better.

Netter Love

Our vision is to be the institution that inspires innovation and bridges the gap in education by providing competitive excellent education engrossed with timeless biblical values. We are teaching our students the character traits of Jesus Christ, demonstrate the love of Jesus by promoting active participation of all our students through our community service projects, and ministering to our students’ their need of having Jesus as their personal savior.

Ever since the school started, we are grateful for all the financial assistance that the school is receiving. It is our desire that someday Icthus Christian Academy will be one of the best schools in Bohol, a school where every parent would want their child to be in. The school shall not only provide quality education but also a school that promotes character formation. That no matter what religious background a child is coming from, the parents will enroll their children with us because they have seen that we are doing something good for their children.

Being a Financial Director and Human Resource Officer at the same time, these are some of my responsibilities:

·         Monitors the finances of the school

·         Allocates budget for some school expenses

·         advising on pay and other remuneration issues, including benefits;

·         undertaking regular salary reviews;

·         administering payroll and maintaining employee records;

·         paying the regular benefits of the employees at the different government offices

·         monitors the staff’s attendance and cash advances

·         collects and monitors student’s fees

·         preparing yearly financial report for school record

·         Prepares financial report as required by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bureau of Internal Revenue.

 I love my job and I am happy knowing that I am doing something for God’s kingdom. But coming from a medical profession with no educational background or experience working in business management, I feel very inadequate. I know I can do so much more given the right education.

                I believe getting a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) will allow us to achieve our vision of what our school will be in the future. By having an MBA education this will enable me to develop a wide spectrum of the general business knowledge and skills, enhance my skills and help me view things with a business perspective, be familiar with different business laws of the Philippines, taxation, and will provide a perspective on the role of Human Resource Management.

Studying MBA will not interfere with any of my current responsibilities since the classes will be taken every Saturdays. I am confident that with the education that I will be getting from MBA will be of good use for our ministry here.

 * * * * * *

She is need of some financial support in order to pursue this much needed degree.  I hope one of my readers may be able to help her with that need.