One Tiny Starfish

Update on Emma

2012-01-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

Back in September I wrote a blog post about baby Emma of Sarah's Covenant Homes (see post here). It ended up being one of the most viewed posts I have written on this blog, as I know her story captured the hearts of so many readers. I wanted to provide an update.

Emma arrived at SCH in September looking like this:

No one was sure whether she would make it through the night. She had a host of disabilities including hydrocephaly, spina bifida, and club feet. She was sick with sepsis, tuberculosis, and meningitis. It was hard to hold her, as her head was so heavy and squishy with fluid. She needed shunt surgery, and many hospitals refused to work on her, saying there would be no point. She was vomiting often due to the pressure in her head. Her head circumference continued to grow.

In December, Emma was given shunt surgery to get rid of all the fluid in her head. She came out doing fairly well.

After CSF taps, being catheterized, being fed and loved on by her ayah, and being monitered closely at the hospital, Emma has started to turn around. After 5 months with SCH, Emma does not resemble the baby girl who was dying when she first arrived. Today, Emma was discharged from the hospital in Hyderabad and is going home to Ongole to live with a volunteer there who is caring for the most medically fragile kids. This is what she looked like today upon discharge:

When I asked Sarah what factors led to the transformatin she said, "It's due to so many different factors. She had klebsiella and candida sepsis, meningitis, tuberculosis...all treated, sludgy urine drained, CSF shunted, blood transfusions... I want to publicly thank Dr. CS Naidu and KIMS Hospital for taking a chance with this baby. Most of all, I want to thank the Lord Jesus and those who prayed for her. She really has a great chance now." Amazing donors have fully sponsored the costs of her care and hospital stays and surgeries.

I can't wait until I am back in India and can hold this miracle. She truly is just that. Emma was abandoned outside a hospital. Doctors refused to operate on her. So many were sure that she would die. But already in her short life she has inspired so many people. She has taught us about perserverence and the will to live. Sometimes people with special needs can be written off; they will never get better, focusing our energy on them is pointless. How can someone say this having seen Emma's transformation?

Emma is going to have a tough road ahead of her, but her life has so much value. Go to http://sarahscovenanthomes.blogspot.com and facebook.com/schindia to follow her journey.

Ayah Project:

While on the topic of SCH, please help us reach 70% of the Ayah Project!! Emma has come as far as she has with the help of her ayah, Manikyam, who is by her side, feeding her, cleaning her, kissing her, and caring for her. Right now there are so many children per ayah, that many kids are not able to get this 1:1 care that Emma has had. Many of the kids aren't able to meet their milestones without it. Help us raise the money to support two girls, April and Molly, to be supported by an ayah so they can thrive. Please spread the word and donate below! Click HERE to learn more.

Beautiful Things

2012-01-23T09:46:00.000-08:00

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

I started my day by watching this:

Paint Day from SCH INDIA on Vimeo.

What a reminder of what is really important in life. Something so simple - painting - is so beautiful. These kids, once abandoned and deemed worthless, are smiling, are walking, are leaving their vibrancy on the paper before them.

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

Sometimes it is so easy to get bogged down in the every day. I read recently that most people have 60,000 thoughts every day. 95% of those are exactly the same thoughts that you had the day before. So many of those are negative.

But what if they weren't?

What if we all lived life like the kids in that video do?

That is what I am striving to do; leaving work at work and keeping my computer closed. Making it to yoga more often, waking up thirty minutes earlier to read and meditate in the morning, writing a book, laughing more often, spending time with people I love and making sure they know how important they are to me. I consider myself a happy person. I am happy with my life, I have so many people here in Canada and around the world that I love. I shouldn't let a single negative thought enter my mind.

On Sunday I started my day with yoga. The message spoke to me, the time was just what I needed to have a fresh outlook. Afterwards I had a session with the little boy I volunteer with who has cerebral palsy. His Mom ran out to the store and the house was quiet. I brought out a box of musical instruments and he dumped them on the ground. I reached for the maraca and he found the cymbals. He struggles with fine motor skills and grasping objects, so these cymbals were perfect for him. We banged them together, making what can only be described as noise, and then Thomas began singing Kumbaya. A sweet smile spread across his face and he was so into the music. I heard noise and he found the opportunity to sing.

You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new

What's Inspiring Me Lately:
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
Seane Corn
Katie's transformation

Guate and Belize: Poverty and Development

2012-01-13T05:32:00.000-08:00

Although the purpose of my trip, unlike others I have taken, was purely backpacking, it was impossible to ignore the poverty surrounding me. Being secluded on the island in Belize, it wasn't very striking to me there, but in Guatemala I feel like it deserves a post of its own.

In Guatemala there is a literacy rate of 69% (CIA World Fact Book). Approximately 50% of Guatemalan children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic undernutrition.

Poverty is nothing I haven't seen before, and Guatemala, compared to other countries I have worked in, was quite prosperous. That said, there are high rates of child labour and high levels of discrimination against indigenous people. The child labour and begging was higher than in many countries I have been to and was very prevalent, particularly in Antigua (begging) and in the rural areas and Mayan villages (labour).

During my trip I read the book Damned Nations by Samantha Nutt (who graduated from my University!) It was a great read- she is obviously very knowedgable about international development and has a huge amount of experience. I agreed with 95% of what she wrote (there are a few points in which I didn't totally agree with, but that's another post). Samantha spent part of the book talking about all the things that good intentioned people do wrong. People with big hearts who want to 'help', but end up causing more harm than good. Having done some of these things myself, I recognize changes that need to be made and that I am still learning. I found her words very helpful.

One thing of particular interest, which I have been feeling for a long time, was her talk about orphanages. Particuarly after the earthquake in Haiti, hundreds of people around the world wanted to swoop in and build orphanages to take care of the newly orphaned Haitian children. Good intentioned, yes, but incredible damaging to the children and to the future of Haiti. With so much money going into orphanages, families began giving their children up to orphanages hoping for them to have a better life. In no way is this sustainable, but more importantly, no orphanage is a replacement for a family and many children who grow up in orphanages become damaged adults. Certainly moving forward I have decided that I won't be supporting orphanages, however I do feel like there is an exception- children with special needs.

As anyone reading my blog knows, I have a passion for special needs and I support an orphanage in India for children with special needs. All of these children were abandoned by their families and many were left to die in hospitals or government orphanages. In the future, when countries become more developed, certainly I hope that orphanages for all children won't be needed, but having seen the conditions that these children are left to die in, I absolutely think that this is an exception to the rule and that orphanages for children with special needs must continue until no child is left dying because of their disabilities.

Getting back to Guatemala...

Two blocks from my hotel in Antigua was a huge yellow building, Hermano Pedro (named after the saint who lived in Guatemala in the 1600's and did a lot of great work to support the poor). Part of Hermano Pedro's mission included caring for over 300 people, providing services mainly to disabled adults and children who live within the compound, but also supporting others through a malnutrition ward and other ill patients who come for healing and care.

My time in Guatemala was so packed, and I wasn't really available to fully invest myself into learning more about Hermano Pedro, but I was thrilled to be able to head over early one morning for about an hour to visit and learn more about what they do. I walked in and was directed to the children's area. I passed a courtyard where adult men, all in wheelchairs, sat, and continued on to the children. I arrived to about 30 kids, again all in wheelchairs, sitting in a big courtyard. There were 3 women there. Two were folding laundry and one was cleaning wheelchairs. None were interacting with the kids at that point, as they had work to do. I quickly explained in Spanish why I was there and asked if I could help.

One staff member brought me over to the kids and pointed out the most able of the bunch, Leslie. She appeared to have autism, although was unable to stand or walk- whether from cerebral palsy or from early neglect, I am not sure. She was also blind. I quickly learned that she was a favourite of the staff, and so they asked me to take her out of her chair and play with her. I did. The women all called to her, calling her princesa. She had earrings on and pink shoes on her feet and appeared very loved. I put Leslie back in her chair, and looked over the other children, making my way to each one and kissing them, cuddling them, talking to them. The carers quickly took Leslie back out to sit with them as they folded laundry. The other kids remained in their chairs, although another staff member turned music on to stimulate them a bit. I had such a hard time choosing who to take out of their chair next. I may sound judgmental of the women for not interacting with the other kids, but that is not at all how I feel. Three women can only do so much. Caring after one special child, I have learned, is a full time job for one person. It must be really difficult for the staff to decide how to manage their time; feeding kids, cleaning, doing laundry, giving meds, sweeping, etc. leaves little time for actually interacting with the kids.

One little boy caught my eye. Already his face is fading from my mind and I wish I could better remember what he looks like, but I would guess him to be around 9 years old. His body was twisted with cerebral palsy and he looked uncomfortable in his wheelchair. He caught my eye every time I walked by, and then he would start crying. I approached him and he grabbed hold of my fingers and wouldn't let go. I learned his name was Carlitos and I held him for the rest of the hour. He squeezed my fingers again but didn't cry when I put him back down. I wonder if he got held again that day?

Yes, I totally agree with Samantha Nutt that orphanages need to be a thing of the past. They are not a healthy environemnt for kids, which is why we don't have them in Canada or the USA anymore. But how do we get to that point? First off, don't support orphanages financially or with your time. Instead, put your efforts into more sustainable projects that promote empowerment.

That said, what about the kids with special needs? The reality is that in a developing country, if parents have work they most likely work long hours trying to scrape together enough money to feed their families. Unlike here in Canada, schools won't accept children with disabilities. There are no day programs or services like physiotherapy easily available. Reality is that these children are abandoned because otherwise, they will be at home in bed all day long. Discrimination and myths about special needs leads parents to feel guilt and shame. Many children are abandoned in hospitals and some are left to die- deemed worthless to society. What do we do about these children? Certainly, orphanages are, in many cases, the only option for their lives to be saved.

I saw a lot of things at Hermano Pedro that I really liked. First, the kids appeared well cared for in the sense that their basic needs were all met. They were, for the most part, plump and well fed. The girls all had earrings and most of the kids had shoes on their feet. Their hair was brushed and in ponytails. Every single child had his own wheelchair. Best of all, they act as an orphanage but also as a support to the children's families. Most of the kids were not there when I visited, as they were at home for the holidays. The parents are encouraged to visit and to take the kids home during holidays. They are able to be a continuing presence in their kids' lives, with the home being more of a long-term respite, which many families here in Canada with children with special needs do, if the kids' needs are too great for them to manage on their own.

Visiting Hermano Pedro was definitely a special experience for me, and one that began my reflecting on the future of kids like Carlitos. What is the best way to care for these kids? How can they be integrated into society and how can families be kept together? Many people say that orphanages need to be closed- is this true for children with special needs as well or are these orphanages more necessary because of their great needs? Lots of questions!

(Note- photos taken from blogs of other volunteers, I did not take any photos).

Guate and Belize: Caye Caulker

2012-01-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Belize City around 10am as we had left so early. The bus was actually quite comfortable, unlike the Guatemalan shuttles we had been used to. I believe we paid 160Q each. Belize City didn't really intrigue me at all- I had no desire to stay there. It was quite run down, from what I could see, and crime rates, mostly gang-related, seem to be quite high. Most websites, travel blogs, etc I had read said to avoid Belize City. We bought a round-trip water taxi ticket to Caye Caulker, 45 minutes away. A small, sleepy island, Caye Caulker is popular with backpackers and was the perfect place for us to spend the last 5 nights of our trip.

We stayed in Tropical Paradise, which was a bit pricy (compared to some of our recent hotels in Guatemala) but worth it. It was our favourite hotel of the trip. We had a big room with a comfy bed, clean bathroom, no bugs, great location. It was on the side of the island opposite "The Split" (where most people hang out) so it was nice and quiet. That said, it only takes 15 minutes to walk to The Split, so we had our privacy at the hotel but could easily walk and spend most of our day at The Split. In front of the hotel was a sandy patch of beach (there is no real beach on Caye Caulker), beach chairs, and a big dock leading out to the Caribbean Sea. This was private for the hotel guests, so most of my mornings and nights were spent sunbathing on the dock, reading in the beach chairs, and stargazing at night.

Caye Caulker's motto is "Go Slow" and that is just what we did. It was perfect after so much busy travel in Guatemala. We relaxed on the sand, went swimming in the bright blue water, ate a whole lot of ice cream, watched the sunsets, stargazed, and just took it easy. A few Caye Caulker highlights:

1) Chicken drop. This is probably the strangest event I have taken part in while travelling! A few girls from work were also on Caye Caulker at the time, so we met up with them one night and headed to the big chicken drop on the sand behind a bar. We paid $2 BBZD ($1USD) each for a ticket. Each ticket had a number on it. On the sand was a big board encircled in a fence. The big board was broken into squares and each square had a number. After a crowd had gathered and purchased tickets, the woman at the bar grabbed a chicken and put him on the board. Everyone cheered for their number as the chicken ran around the board, finally stopping to poop. The winner of the game is the person who has the ticket matching the number that the chicken pooped on. Weird, eh? Another lucky (?) traveller won $50 BZD, and then had to clean up the mess!

2) Random Yoga. This is a company run by a cute little American family living on Caye Caulker with their young babies. I saw a sign in my hotel for this yoga when I arrived and instantly sought them out. They do sunrise and sunset yoga classes on the rooftop of a nearby hotel. On my first day in Caye Caulker, I made it to the sunset class and I absolutely loved it. Not only was it a great class, but the atmosphere was just incredible. I had never done yoga outdoors before, let alone on an island as the sky is beautiful shades of orange and red with the sun setting. It was definitely a highlight of my time in Belize and I only wish I could have dragged myself out of bed for the sunrise class :)

3) The best part of the trip- snorkelling. Chris and I paid $45 BZD to take part in a full day snorkelling trip to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark and Sting Ray Alley. We went with Hicaco Tours where Carlos was our guide, and he brought his two young kids along to get some time in the water with him as they were on school break. The trip consisted first of a visit to Hol Chan Marine Reserve, then to Shark and Sting Ray Alley, then a break for lunch (which was delicious) and then some free time to snorkel on our own (the others were guided where we followed Carlos and he showed us what to look out for) at Coral Gardens. Belize is said to have the second best barrier reef in the world, after Australia's, so this trip was all that I hoped and more. Neither Chris nor I had been snorkelling before so we didn't really know what to expect. As soon as we jumped off the boat into the water and looked down we could see dozens of brightly coloured fish. I spotted an eel in Hol Chan, and moving on to Shark and Sting Ray Alley we saw nurse sharks and huge sting rays, which we were able to touch. We saw one big old turtle by himself and some people saw an octopus (I missed it). It was for sure one of the highlights of the whole trip. We took an underwater camera and it is getting developed now, so I will have pictures soon.

We were both sad to leave Belize because we had such an amazing time! Two great countries that I really loved and would be happy to return to one day.

Guate and Belize: Lanquin and Flores

2012-01-12T05:58:00.000-08:00

From Antigua we took a shuttle to Lanquin, Guatemala, in the middle of the country. Lanquin in near Coban, the next largest biggest city, but aside from that there really isn't much here. It was a nice drive, getting to see rural Guatemala, although I did sleep a lot as it had been New Years the night before. Guatemalan shuttles are very uncomfortable and crowded, worse than in other countries I have visited, so it made sleeping hard but I took a Gravol and tried my best! We arrived to a rainy Lanquin where we settled into our hotel, El Retiro. The room was cheap, although we did spot some cockroaches! It was packed full with young backpackers coming for the same reason we were- Semuc Champey. Lanquin is a small town that is closest to the beautiful Semuc. The food was great- dinners were 50Q served buffet style. It was interesting to talk to the other travellers- most were backpacking as we were. We met one couple who were teaching at an international school in Guatemala City and were on their Christmas holidays. We exchanged travel tips.

Neither of us really liked Lanquin. The people weren't overly friendly, unusual for Guatemala, and there really wasn't much to it. It rained our entire time, from the moment we arrived until we left. That said, we only had one day in Lanquin and we really wanted to get to Semuc Champey, the beautiful turquoise pools. Some people did a tour that involved the swimming as well as a trip through the caves and cliff diving, but Chris can't swim so we opted for just going on our own. We paid 20Q there and another 20Q back. We went with our hotel there along with the people on the tour. It was a 45 minute drive- probably the craziest drive I have ever been on. It was in an open back truck with no seats. Chris and 2 others were seated on the bar at the back, going flying over the bumps. I started that way but was sure I was going to fall out, so sat on the floor of the back and put a backpack underneath me to not sit in a puddle. Ours was covered by a tarp but the other truck was open in the rain. It was...interesting!!

We arrived at Semuc and the group went off to the caves. We made our way to the pools and it is even more beautiful than pictures can show. We put our feet in, but then it began pouring rain so we waited in a cave until it let up. At that point, another group had arrived so we were brave enough to ignore the rain, now just spitting, and go for a swim. Little fish circled and nibbled on our feet as we waded. After about 2 hours, we found a guy headed back to Lanquin and got a ride in the back of his car, along with a few other Guatemalans. We then walked from Lanquin to our hotel. The rain continued and the power went out again. We weren't sad to leave Lanquin behind and continue on to Flores!

Flores is a cute little town with not much to do, but good for relaxing and for visiting Tikal, the famous Mayan Ruins. El Remate is a smaller town a bit closer, but seemed to be similar to Lanquin so we opted for the larger and more comfortable Flores. It is practically an island, with just one road leading to mainland. We stayed in Hotel Mirador Del Lago and we liked it. It was clean, with a lakeside view and a comfortable bed and private bathroom. We spent a day hanging around Flores (there really isn't much to do here) and the next day left bright and early (4:30am!!) on a shuttle to Tikal. The tour guide offered later tours, but really pushed the earliest one, and we were glad we took it. Not many other tourists had arrived yet, so the park was empty and we were able to really enjoy the ruins and the animals as the sun rose.

I have never visited Mayan ruins before and found it really interesting. Tikal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and reached its peak during the Classic Period- 200 to 900 AD. We spent about 3 hours on a guided tour seeing the temples, the monuments, and learning about the way of life of the Maya people. We had watched the movie Apocalypto (about the Mayan people in Mexico) the night before, and although the movie is very Hollywood, it definitely peaked my interest in what I would learn at Tikal.

Flores felt very different than Antigua. We had many days of long hour travelling at this point (7 hours from Antigua to Lanquin, 8 hours from Lanquin to Flores) and had a 5 hour trip from Flores to Belize City ahead of us. While I was sad to leave Guatemala (and Spanish!) behind me, I was definitely ready to relax and stay in one place for a bit. The day after Tikal, we left at 5am for a 5-hour shuttle to Belize City.

Guate and Belize: Antigua

2012-01-11T17:48:00.000-08:00

We spent 3 nights in Panajachel and I was sad to leave the beauty of Lake Atitlan behind, but excited for what was next- Antigua! Antigua turned out to be my favourite part of the trip. In fact (I am hesitant in saying this) it might be my favourite city I have ever travelled to. It was a lot more touristy than Panajachel which was really its only draw back in my eyes. I prefer to be one of the few tourists. In Pana, there were lots of expats, but a good (small) number of backpackers/travellers. In Antigua there were a LOT of tourists. But aside from that, it was amazing.

The city itself is just gorgeous. All cobble stone streets, old buildings, bright colours. I can't describe its beauty properly. In fact, the city itself has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We spent a lot of time walking the streets and exploring. We taste chile chocolate at the Choco Museo. It was yummy if you like spice (which I do) and my only regret is that we didn't do the full chocolate making class. There are tons of cacao trees in Guatemala, which make chocolate. We explored the churches, the restaurants and the markets. I loved San Francisco church which holds the tomb of Hermano Pedro. We ate at Pollo Campero (pretty much a Guatemalan McDonald's) and looked up at El Arco de Santa Catalina, the famous arch of Antigua. Every street holds such rich history. We ate ice cream every day as we walked the streets. Little kids would follow us, asking for ice cream or for us to buy gum off them or have our shoes shined. A little girl and her cutie pie baby sister sat with us in the ice cream parlour one day, and for about twenty minutes we sat and talked. Chris noted how much more easily I talk to kids in Spanish; it comes more naturally to me as I learned Spanish from interacting with kids in the Dominican. It was fun to converse so easily and not have to really think about what I was saying or translate in my head. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to continue my Spanish learning. I really love the language and I think it is a big part of why I loved Guatemala so much.

One afternoon we went to El Frijol Feliz for a Guatemalan cooking class. I could not rave enough about this class. At $45US/person at first we were hesitant. Everything else in Guate is so cheap- we didn't know whether it would be worth it. It was SO worth it and I wish we had time to do many classes. It was easily the best meal I had on our trip, and a fun experience. We were in a class with three other people; a couple from San Francisco and another woman (also from San Francisco although travelling separately). We had emailed with the company prior and picked out a few recipes we wanted to make. We were given bottles of water and pop throughout the class, and wine/beer during the dinner. We made tamales, tortitas de papa, chiles rellenos, and mole de platanos for dessert. The class itself took about three hours, and then we sat outside around 6 and ate it all up. The class was awesome. There was Lavi, a Guatemalan woman who spoke only Spanish, who did the cooking/teacher and Luis, who acted as translator and also helped with the teaching. We went dish by dish, starting with the tamales which were the most fun to make as we learned how to tie them up in the leaves. Luis gave us tips on how to make the meals at home, and the recipes were later emailed to us. Tortitas de papa were my favourite; they were delicious. Everything was so good! Throughout the rest of the trip whenever we were going out for dinner we would comment how we wished we were back at the cooking class.

A visit to Antigua wouldn't be complete without a volcano climb! Antigua is surrounded by three volcanoes; Acatenango, Fuego, and Agua. Fuego is almost constantly active. Pacaya is a volcano closer to Guatemala City that is known for its big eruption in 2010. Since then, it is hard to see lava, but it is the easiest volcano to trek up so is where more tourists go. It takes about 2.5 hours to reach the top of the volcano and we were in a group of about 12 people. We paid $10 to do so, and then I paid extra to ride a horse the first half. The first half was a fairly easy hike so I took that time to ride the horse and enjoy the view. As we got halfway, the horse went back down and the rest of us continued to hike up. It was fine at first, but then the sun began to set and it was getting dark. The last 30 minutes were practically vertical, all over volcanic ash that was really tough to walk on, as we would slip going up. Some of our group couldn't do it, and the guide stayed down with them so we made it up on our own. For the last 10 minutes, Chris was practically dragging me up! Finally we reached the top and the view was well worth the effort and sweat. The sun was just setting over the peak. It was smoky from the heat and lava and we could look out over all of Guatemala City. It was windy as we were so high up, but the ash underfoot was warm. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. We made our way back down in pitch dark aside from the flashlights a few people, including Chris, had been smart enough to bring. It was steep and slippery and the guide compared it to skiing. I admit I was scared of falling and was holding on to Chris probably way too tight! We were exhausted and covered in black ash when we got back, but it was an experience I will never forget.

We stayed 3 nights in Antigua, one of which was New Years. We stayed at Hotel Casa Rustica. It was pricy as it was high season with it being New Years. The room wasn't amazing but it was clean and had a Guatemalan feel in terms of decoration, which I liked, and there was an incredible rooftop patio overlooking the volcanos which I used every single morning and night. New Years was interesting. We bought some wine and watched the sunset, and then headed out into the streets. It seemed like everyone was out on the streets surrounding Parque Central; Guatemalan families, tourists- everyone. By the end of the night there must have been 3000 people surrounding the park. There were mimes, giant puppets, paper balloons being lit up and set off, and fireworks- tons and tons of fireworks. As midnight approached, fireworks continued to go off and strangely there was no countdown. We somehow missed the clock striking midnight as nothing changed (for 10 minutes leading up to it there was the same amount of screaming and fireworks) but it was definitely a memorable way to bring in 2012!

Unfortunately (bad planning on our parts!) we were up bright and early the next morning to catch a shuttle to Lanquin, the gateway to Semuc Champey.

Guate and Belize: Panajachel

2012-01-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I am home! The trip to Guatemala and Belize was amazing. I usually blog during the trip, but didn't bring my computer along this time. I wasn't going to blog at all, but found other travel blogs so helpful when researching where to go, where to stay, what to do, etc. so wanted to record some experiences. I will update through 5 separate blog posts: 1) Panajachel, 2) Antigua, 3) Lanquin and Flores, 4) Belize, and 5) Poverty and Development. This post will focus on my time in Panajachel.

Chris and I arrived in Guatemala City in the late afternoon of Boxing Day. Unfortunately, my bags did not! (They ended up coming a day and a half later, so it wasn't a huge deal). We had already arranged for a shuttle to pick us up at the airport and drive us directly to our Pana hotel (3 hours from the airport in Guatemala City, we paid $25 for this); Atitlan Nature Reserve. I immediately had to begin using my Spanish as our driver and the hotel night guard didn't speak any English, which I loved! The room was big and beautiful, very secluded, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We began to unpack and I went to get under the covers. I pulled one of the pillows off the bed and jumped- a baby mouse!! I ran to the door and as Chris and I were both standing there trying to figure out what to do, the mama mouse scurried down the wall, making us both jump! We ran and got the night guard, who brought a flashlight and nodded slowly, asking us if we wanted another room. It was too late at this point to go find a different hotel, so we switched rooms and slept a bit nervously!

While our time at the Nature Reserve was off to a rough start, we were laughing about it and ended up staying there and having a great time. The Nature Reserve is beautiful, and mice are just that- a part of nature. Not one I really wanted in my bed with me, but we didn't have any problems with any bugs or rodents in our new room throughout the remainder of our trip. We spent the first morning looking through what seemed to be every single clothing store in Panajachel looking for something for me to wear until my luggage came. With Pana being a Mayan village, many of the options were traditional Mayan clothes. Finally I found a hot pink Hollister shirt that I might have worn when I was 13 and settled on that. I was very happy when my luggage arrived the next morning!

We spent a lot of time in Pana on Lake Atitlan, a volcanic lake that is famous around the world for its beauty. We watched the sunset over the lake every night, and went on a boat trip to visit neighbouring Mayan villages Santa Catarina Palopo and San Antonio Palopo. Both were sleepy little towns with little tourists and a great deal of Mayan beauty and handicrafts. We went hiking down to the water, walked through the shops in the city, and tried our first tastes of Guatemalan food. My favourite part of Panajachel was easily Lake Atitlan. We watched the sunset every single day, and just sat and enjoyed nature, enjoyed the views, and hiked through mountain paths to reach the shore.

Second to the beauty of Lake Atitlan was our time at the Nature Reserve. Most people don't stay in the hotel there, but instead come for a day trip. The Nature Reserve has monkeys, a butterfly pavillion, rickety hanging bridges, and ziplining. We ziplined over coffee fields with beautiful views of the lake, and hiked up the paths to watch the monkeys playing in the trees. What began as a weird experience with the mouse turned out to be a really memorable place to stay.

What Can You Do?

2011-12-31T06:56:00.000-08:00

Thank you for reading along during this month of posting on special needs. I hope you got something out of it or enjoyed it in some way!

I want to end leaving you with thoughts on what you can do. There are so many people around the world living with special needs, and there is so much that we can do to support them. Below are a few ideas.

1) Go to End The R Word and pledge to stop using the word retarded. Educate yourself on the issue, spread awareness, and read ideas on how to approach people when they use the word.

2) Sponsor a child with special needs. There are so many great organizations working for children and adults with special needs that rely on our donations to continue. This little girl, Molly, lives in India, has cerebral palsy, and was abandoned by her parents. You can sponsor her at any amount a month, even just $10, to help cover the cost of her care; including food, physical therapy, clothes, and caretakers. Go to Sarah's Covenant Homes to learn more.

3) Volunteer! One of the BEST things you can do is volunteer your time with the special needs population. End The R-Word suggests the Special Olympics and Best Buddies. If you are in Toronto, a few great organizations are Geneva Centre, Holland Bloorview, and MukiBaum. And then there are schools like Sunnyview Public School and Beverley Public School that love volunteers. Parenting a child with special needs can be exhausting. Consider partnering up with a family in your area who has a special needs child. Provide them with support, whether that be bringing over meals once a month, helping with groceries or housework, providing free babysitting, or even just providing friendship and companionship.

I often hear "I want to volunteer, I just don't have time." The three ways above range in time commitments. Set aside jut an hour a month and bring a cooked meal over to a family who has a child with special needs. This will only be an hour out of every month, but it will make a huge difference to this family. We are all capabale of helping in some way, and if we each make an effort than we will see huge strides in quality of life for people living with special needs.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

NaBloPoMo's End

2011-12-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

The month of December is coming to an end, meaning that my posts on special needs are also coming to an end. I will finish up with one post tomorrow, on the final day of December, on what you can do to make a difference in the lives of people with special needs.

I have to say, I personally got a lot out of National Blog Posting Month. It forced me to spend time researching things I want to learn more about, and interviewing people from whom I have a lot to learn. I also enjoyed spreading the word about something I am so passionate about. Writing is therapeutic for me, so to sit down and write every day was something I really enjoyed.

Pictured is three year old Immaculate, who I met in Uganda and who has Down Syndrome. This little girl lit up my life during my time in Kampala. She has the funniest sense of humour and her smile can brighten a room! She has so much potential, if only those in her community would see it.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Library

2011-12-29T06:16:00.000-08:00

Below are a selection of books I have read lately, and would recommend, on or surrounding the topic of special needs.

Now I See the Moon by Elaine Hall: The author is the director of The Miracle Project, whose kids inspired the documentary Autism: The Music. Elaine’s son Neal is adopted from Russia and is autistic. He is non-verbal and prone to behavioural problems, but this book was full of inspiration for me. She talks about the break up of her marriage and the countless dollars and hours spent in therapies (some that worked, some that didn’t). I especially enjoyed when she wrote about his break throughs with communication. Although he cannot verbalize his thoughts, they found other ways for Neal to communicate which just astounded me. A really honest story.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon: This fictional book is written in the first person by a 15-year old character named Christopher, who has Asperger’s Syndrome (on the autism spectrum, although he never comes out and says this in the book). It is a story about him trying to solve a mystery, but the beauty in the book is the way in which he describes the way he sees life. It helps readers to understand what is going on in the minds of people with autism; the thoughts behind the sensory difficulties, outbursts, stimming, and behavioural issues. This book is hilarious, charming, sad, and fascinating. I read it in one sitting and even though it is fictional, I came away feeling more understanding.

The Boy From Baby House 10 by Alan Philps: Vanya was a little boy with cerebral palsy in an orphanage in Russia. Very bright, he was deemed uneducable, neglected, and sent to a mental asylum as age 6. This is the story of how he overcame this abuse and how he later strived in life. This book touched me deeply, and is one that I couldn’t get out of my mind for weeks to come. I kept thinking about Vanya, and how easily kids with special needs, especially in developing countries, can be cast aside. This is a must read; it is captivating and a beautiful story. Also a good reminder of how one’s physical limitations do not always equal mental limitations.

All I Can Handle (I’m No Mother Teresa) by Kim Stagliano: Kim is the mother of three daughters, all of whom have autism. Kim talks honestly and openly about what life is like in her house and how she pushes through when it may seem hopeless. More importantly is Kim's positive attitude and her ability to use humour to lighten every situation. This book is hilarious!

The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson: Rupert's young son is autistic, and this memoir takes us through the journey he and his wife went on to try to heal Rowan. Their family went to Mongolia to ride horses and reach shamans in hopes that someone, somewhere, would be able to find a healing.

Out Of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper: Written for a young teenage audience, I still found this book interesting. I am not sure how realistic or fact-based it is, but I did enjoy it. It is fictional, written in the perspective of 11-year old Melody who is severely disabled and has cerebral palsy, but uses a communication device to show everyone around her how bright she really is.

I have already written about The Boy In The Moon by Ian Brown and Messenger by Jeni Stepanek, which should also be included in this list.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

SCH Sponsorship

2011-12-28T07:36:00.000-08:00

These kids need sponsors! You can sponsor them at any amount per month through Sarah's Covenant Homes. It costs $150/month to fully care for them, however you can sponsor at any amount that you are able to, for example I sponsor April at $10/month which is all I can afford right now. Every little bit helps, and these kids need and deserve our support! Email Sarah at sarahscovenanthomes@ymail.com to inquire and set up a sponsorship.

Molly is 6 years old and her smile lights up a room. She has cerebral palsy and is unable to sit up on her own. She can't yet walk or talk, but we have a lot of hope for her. Molly is a very pleasant girl; she is quiet and sweet and loves to be hugged and kissed! She enjoys swimming and her body moves much more freely when she is in the pool.

Jasmine was born May 20, 2007 and arrived at SCH in 2009. She does not have any cognitive special needs, although is a bit 'orphanage delayed' due to lack of stimulation and attention in her earliest years. Jasmine is fully blind and will soon be having surgery to get prosthetic eyes. Jasmine will be capable of going to school when she is old enough. She is sweet, but cries often and can be fussy. She has a precious little smile!

Naomi is brand new to SCH and just arrived recently from a government orphanage. Unlike the other kids, I haven't gotten to meet her personally (yet) but just look at her picture- Naomi looks like a heap of fun! Naomi has Down Syndrome.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Dick Rutgers

2011-12-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I flew to Guatemala City, arrived around 2, and took a shuttle to Panajachel, the city of the beautiful Lake Atitlan. I am writing this post in advance, and scheduling it to publish, so hopefully by now Chris and I are exploring the beauty of Guatemala. Seeing as I am in this country for my first full day, I thought it would be fitting to share the story of a man who has dedicated his life to the special needs community in this country, Dick Rutgers.

Dick works with Hope Haven international and Bethel Ministries in Antigua, Guatemala, partnering with Hermano Pedro and doing outreach to families in rural areas who need support for a family member with special needs, often in the form of providing wheelchairs.

The below video, The Culture That Crawls Part II, shows Dick in action, and also highlights some of the beautiful kids he works with.

The first picture is of Jessica when she first arrived at Hermano Pedro. The second, in September, is when she is healthy again and back at home. Hermano Pedro is an orphanage, as many of the kids have been abandoned due to their special needs, but some kids, like Jessica, have a family to return home to. You can read Jessica's full story, on Dick's blog, HERE.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Apps for Autism

2011-12-26T05:53:00.000-08:00

Particularly after Steve Jobs passed away, there were a lot of stories in the news of parents of autistic children and adults thanking him because his technology has changed the lives of their kids. This video below was on 60 Minutes and highlights how people with autism can use an iPad to communicate.

In the above video, Beverley School is highlighted, a school for children with special needs just down the road from where I live. This video was particularly interesting to me because it hit close to home- literally. In the Toronto District School Board there are 6 schools solely for children and young adults with special needs, and of course many other schools are integrated.
Park Lane PS K-21
Seneca Public School K-8
Beveley Public School K-8
Lucy McCormick gr 7-21
William J McCordic K-21
SunnyView JK/SR PS K-8

I have spoken to staff at 2 of these schools, and both said they always welcome volunteers for anyone in the Toronto area wanting to get involved!

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:05:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas, and I will be spending my day with family, relaxing and enjoying traditions I have done since I was a kid. Some of my best memories growing up are of Christmas- putting milk and cookies out for Santa, waking up excitedly to brag to my sisters that I "heard" the reindeers on the roof, rushing down the stairs at my Gramma's house with my cousins to see the tree. Yes, that nerdy child on the left with the giant glasses is me in kindergarten! Looking at old pictures like this one brings back such good, happy memories. It is at times like this that I can't let myself forget all that I have to be thankful for.

Today I am thinking of all the special kids who have come into my life and taught me important lessons about myself and about who I want to be. I believe strongly that everything happens for a reason.

On my very first humanitarian trip, in the Dominican Republic the summer after I graduated high school, we visited an orphanage in Santiago for children with special needs. I remember walking through the doors to a huge room filled with cribs and beds. A few of the kids were tied to their cribs. Others were lying on the floor. Some banged their heads against the crib wall over and over again, and one had a big bruise on his forehead because of this.

I remember feeling like the breath was knocked out of me. How had I never known that kids lived like this? I spent the day feeling utterly and completely helpless. I met Rosie, who had been abandoned in a garbage bag. I met Luis, who was unable to speak but who was as bright as any other child and who had an adorable sense of humour, teasing some of the volunteers and making us all laugh.

I recently found the below photos on a friend's facebook of that day and all the feelings came rushing back. I would end up returning to this orphanage many times over the coming few years. I haven't been back in awhile, and think about these kids often. I don't think it was by chance that they came into my life.

I am thankful for these kids; thankful that they started me on the road to working with the special needs population and opened my eyes to a world I didn't know existed. I wonder how they are doing today. Do they feel loved? Are they enjoying Christmas in a special way with the orphanage caretakers and with the other children who live with them? Christmas is a special day for many of us, but I think we also need to make it a time to give back to those who are hurting, who are alone, who are outcasted. I wish everyone, especially those kids in the pictures who I have never forgotten, a very Merry Christmas!

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

As a sidenote, tomorrow Chris and I leave for backpacking across Guatemala and Belize. I will be back on January 10th, and in the meantime the rest of my posts for NaBloPoMo have been written and scheduled to post for the rest of December.

Messenger

2011-12-24T05:36:00.000-08:00

Someone very wise once said, "What are we fighting over? Land, money. They don't really matter. We're also fighting over religion. But with religion, there's always one basic ideal- we're trying to become better people - and also the belief that there is something greater than us, greater than the here and now. there are many names for that... It doesn't matter how we try to become a better person."

Would you believe me if I told you these words came from an 11-year old?

Mattie Stepanek was born with a rare disorder called dysautonomic mitochondrial mypoathy. His mother, Jeni, has the adult onset version, and his three older siblings died from it. When Mattie passed away in 2004 at age 13, he was a world renowned poet, motivational speaker, and peace advocate. Mattie's mother, Jeni, wrote the book Messenger: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs, on his life and legacy.

His motto was 'Think Gently, Speak Gently, Live Gently' and he certainly has a lot to teach the world, even after his death. I remember getting one of his books of poetry from my Nana when I was maybe 13 years old. I remember sitting in my room and reading it, saddened and inspired and awed by this little kid all at once. Even though I was older than he was, being so young I couldn't fully grasp, at that time, the weight and importance behind his message, although I ceratinly do now.

This book is a must read. Not only for those with an interest in learning about life with special needs, but for every.single.person. Mattie has a message that must be heard.

"Let our breath be gentle wind,
Let our ears be of those who listen,
Let our hearts be not ones
That rage so quickly and
Thus blow dramatically,
And uselessly.
let our spirits attend and be
Most diligent to the soft
Yet desperate whisper of
Hope and peace for our world."

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Struggles

2011-12-23T05:06:00.000-08:00

Today I want to write about my struggles in wrapping my head around special needs. I don't remember the name of the boy in the picture with me, but I remember my interaction with him so clearly. I was at an orphanage for children with special needs in Sosua, Dominican Republic, and I saw him lying on the ground. I approached him and propped him up on my legs, and then I paused. What next? He couldn't speak. He couldn't stand, or move his body easily. His eyes didn't focus on me and he was too big to carry.

I remember being overcome with a sense of sadness. What is a life where you can't move, communicate, or do anything for yourself?

I admit that sometimes I still struggle with this. It is rare now, and I usually have enough reasons to put it out of my thoughts, but it is something I sometimes think about.

April, who can't see, stand, walk, or talk. What must her life be like? I try to imagine how she feels, what she is thinking, and I can't do it. Does she find happiness in life? Does she know that she lacks things, like sight, that others around her have? Does she realize that she was abandoned and lives in an orphanage? Does she feel sadness about this? And yet at the same time, my heart is filled with love for April. She has changed my life and I don't know what I would do if anything happened to her. But I do wonder what she thinks, what she is unable to communicate.

By the way, that little boy in the photo, he laughed. I held him under the armpits and bounced him up and down. He cracked a smile, and then out came the most beautiful sound- his laugh. Everyone in the room looked over with big smiles- his happiness was contagious. I felt on top of the world. His life does have value, as does every single other life, no matter what difficulties they have.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Carly's Voice

2011-12-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

I am guessing the majority of my readers have seen the video about Carly, the non-verbal, autistic teenager who has used her computer to voice her thoughts. That said, I don't think I can leave this video out of my postings this month. Watch the video below and be inspired by what you see. Let it be a reminder that people with special needs are just the same as everyone else on the inside. They see our stares, our taunts, and our lower expectations, and it hurts.

Carly writes, "I am autistic, but that is not who I am. Take time to know me, before you judge me."

Learn more about Carly at her website, Carly's Voice.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Makenzie's Miracle

2011-12-21T05:14:00.000-08:00

When Makenzie was 18 months old she was a happy, healthy little girl. Her mother was putting her into the car seat and at the same time she reached down and grabbed a Goldfish cracker. She put it into her mouth and then began to cry, unhappy with having to go in the car seat. By the time her mom saw the Goldfish, it was too late and Makenzie wasn't breathing. She began performing the Heimlich and calling 911, but Makenzie went limp and the paramedics rushed her to the hospital. When they arrived, she was on a vent and unresponsive. Makenzie had a serious global brain injury and after waking up, spent 5.5 weeks in a rehab program at the hopsital before returning home. Makenzie has made great gains over the past years, but still has many struggles. Her mother kindly offered to share more of Makenzie's story, specifically with her education and her IEP (individualized education program in the US, or individual education plan in Canada):

Four years ago sending my daughter Makenzie to school was the last thing on my mind. After a choking accident caused a very serious global brain injury Makenzie was unable to walk, talk, smile, sit on her own, or even eat. I spent hours day after day consoling, feeding, researching therapy treatments, doing therapy, traveling, and trying to manage her care, take care of my other children, and keep up a house all at the same time. As Makenzie slowly approached three years old, the idea of going to preschool became the talk of the town. I had no idea what sending my little girl to school even looked like or when we would fit another activity into our daily routine. After some convincing by Makenzie’s Early Intervention team I decided to start the process of having Makenzie evaluated by Child Find.

The reality of sending Makenzie to school was a very different reality then I had experienced with my other three children. This was not going to be a simple process of filling out a package of standard contact information, buying a list of supplies, meeting the teacher at sign in day and then off they go on the first day of school with a few kisses and many tears of joy and sadness that your baby is growing up. Instead there where going to be evaluations, specialists, district employee’s, differing opinions, tears of anger and frustration, laws, rights, talk of budgets, red tape, and big words that no parent should ever have to learn the definitions for.

The first three years Makenzie was in school I advocated for her……. but failed miserably. I ended up pulling Makenzie out of school six weeks into Kindergarten and home schooled her for a year. During that year I spent a lot of time educating myself on special education law and Makenzie’s right to a free and appropriate education. I researched integration and least restrictive environment. I learned all of the definitions to the big words and was fluent in a whole new language.

During the summer we moved and I had a chance at a fresh start with a new team. Armed with more knowledge I was bound and determined to concur the IEP process. Makenzie was going to get the education she deserved.

Today Makenzie is in a class with 23 of her peers. She has a one on one aide to assist her at all times. The classroom teacher does a wonderful job of making sure Makenzie is learning and integrated. The special education team is phenomenal in supporting Makenzie outside of the ILC classroom. For the most part communication with the staff has been great. Makenzie also has many friends, uses her walker, and for icing on the cake…..the district even purchased Makenzie a talker for her use at school.

Over the last couple of years I have learned a lot about special education, the IEP, FAPE, IDEA, and how to make it all come together for my child. So without getting into a whole how-to lesson on IEP’s here are a few of the major things I found work the best in this process.

In my opinion the first and most important thing to remember is that even though getting your kiddo with special needs into school successfully can be frustrating it is imperative that you keep emotion out of the picture. This is a business deal. It took me over 3 years to figure this one out and is very hard when you love you child, know what they need, and can’t figure out why there is red tape surrounding so many of the things your child deserves. While we just want our children with special needs to have the same experiences as their peers many of them cannot tell us about their day nor can they independently perform many of the tasks their neuro typical peers can. They need immensely more than other children their age and their goals and education needs look so different then what we imagined. It is emotional. It is hard not to cry or become angry but it is so very important that you do not take those emotions with you to any meetings at the school. Take a deep breath and continue to remind yourself that this is business.

Now that our emotions are under control learning the law is of up most importance. When I started to get serious about my daughters right to an education I had the IDEA statute printed out and bound. It became my new best friend. It is so much easier to “argue” with someone about red tape, procedure, funding, and other legal matters, when you know just how to stick it right back at em’. For example I knew my daughter needed assistive technology (AT) in the form of a talker with eye gaze. I knew the school knew the same thing. Heck it was even in writing after their own evaluation but yet they kept trying to get out of putting it in her IEP because she did not have a device. There were some very intense IEP meetings surrounding this issue but I knew the law that was tucked so neatly into the IDEA about AT and what was legally required on the districts part. The end result…….. A district funded talker with eye gaze at school for Makenzie.

The third on my list of important things to remember is follow up. This is an art. In order to follow up well you need to learn how to write letters. Not just any kind of letter but one that is always positive and fact based. Remember we are keeping our emotions at bay. I follow up on everything. If I talk to a teacher in the hall, have a conversation with the principal on the phone, when I meet with the specialists, and of course follow up is essential after formal meetings. Even if I a fuming mad I always start with thanking the recipient for something. Next I state the facts i.e.: exactly what was discussed, or specific events. I then recount what I heard and understood and sometimes that is it…….just follow up. Other times there is the need to ask for another meeting in order to further discuss a solution to any issues which were not resolved or that need to be corrected in your child’s IEP. If so, just state kindly that you would like to hold another IEP meetings so that the team can more thoroughly address any issues that have come up. Keep your paper trail. It may come in very handy one day!

Last but defiantly not least……. never lose sight of what this process is all about. You’re Child! This is not about professional ego or the need to win. Never let what drives you become about anything but what your child needs and deserves. Remember what you are advocating for and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

There are many organizations out there that will help you navigate this process and most of them are completely free. Check with your state or county organization for specific state resources. A couple of really great nationwide recourses are The ARC and Family Voices. Parent to Parent is a great parent board and Wright’s Law is a wonderful resource for questions on IDEA law.

Take a deep breath and go get your child the education they deserve!

Believe…. Prayer Works

You can learn more about Makenzie at her blog, Makenzie's Miracle.

The following resources are also of interest:
The ARC- http://www.thearc.org/page.aspx?pid=2437
Family Voices- http://www.familyvoices.org/
Parent to Parent- http://www.p2pusa.org/p2pusa/SitePages/p2p-home.aspx
Wrights Law- http://www.wrightslaw.com/

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Autism: The Musical

2011-12-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

I watch a lot of documentaries, and I haven't seen one that affected me as much as Autism: The Musical in a long time.

I have watched Autism: The Musical several times. It makes me think of India. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry. It makes me understand autism a tiny bit more, and makes me miss so badly those kids at SCH. The documentary follows a woman who has an autistic son, adopted from Russia. She starts The Miracle Project and over the course of 6 months, works with a group of autistic children and their siblings to put on a musical. The film focuses in on 5 of those kids; telling their stories and allowing us to get to know them.

Part 1 of the documentary is below. It is all on youtube, and you will see the other parts linked after Part 1 is finished.

There is a part when they are introducing Lexi. They show a videoclip of her when she is a toddler. She is at a playdate and she is covering her eyes, rocking back and forth. I couldn't stop thinking of April. I am not sure why, because April can't walk, or even stand, so rocking back and forth is not something she does. But she is autistic, and I got an update on her from a volunteer in India telling me that she is doing well, but her autistic behaviours are becoming more obvious.

And then there is a part when Neal, who is non-verbal, uses a speaking machine to send a message to his mom. I bawled. This made me think of Amanda, one of the older girls at SCH (maybe 12 years old) who is completely non-verbal. I wonder what she would say, if she could.

This post that Sarah wrote, Amanda's Love, and the documentary got me to thinking about how special 'special kids' really are. Before I went to India, I never really understood it. But now, I am thinking about each of the kids I fell in love with, and how endearing they are. How easy they are to fall in love with. Even in the documentary, when Neal's eyes light up after a breakthrough with him, I just want to give him a big hug. And when Lexi sings in that beautiful voice, I think of Christopher and how his songs would bring tears to my eyes (read THIS post about Christopher, he is amazing).
I never knew, before I went to India, how much I could love someone with special needs, and how truly special they are.

This documentary is a must see. It shows you the parts of autism that we all know; the daily struggles, the tears the parents shed, and the heartbreak, but it shows so much more. It shows the potential of people with autism and the light they bring to the world.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

55% Support Needed!

2011-12-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

I am going to be a bit shameless right now and ask for your support. As you know from my posts, I am fundraising for an ayah to care full time for April and Molly at SCH in India. These 2 girls are just the sweetest, most wonderful little girls who deserve so much. I have written about April- she has played a huge role in my life and the path I am on. Molly has cerebral palsy and the most beautiful smile.

$2160 is the full cost of the ayah (salary and her meals at SCH) for the year. She has already been hired and her name is Nagendram. We have paid for her salary up until the end of February, but March is quickly approaching and we currently don't have enough to pay for past then.

She has been doing wonders with the girls. They are healthier, happier, and striving. April is learning to walk. Both girls are getting chunkier as they are eating better thanks to Nagendram.

We have been sitting at 55% of my goal for months now. I have put a lot of my personal money into this cause, but can't do it all. I really need to rely on a few other people to help me reach my goal. Whether you can donate $10 or $100, every little bit gets us closer to our goal and allows these girls the attention and stimulation they have been lacking their entire lives.

Click HERE to read a basic overview of this project.
Click HERE to see April learning to walk.
Click HERE to meet Nagendram, the girls' ayah.
Click HERE to read an update on Nagendram.

Christmas is approaching and we all have so much to be thankful for. Some people reading support many causes and others maybe never have donated before. No matter which category you fall under, considering donating any amount, even just $5, to help the future of these 2 amazing girls.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Invisible Disabilities

2011-12-18T06:14:00.000-08:00

The following is a guest post from Laurie, the mother of GB and Hope with both have invisible disabilities. You can read more about the girls at Laurie's blog, Adopting Special Needs.

Nikki invited me today to share my two youngest daughters with her readers. I am delighted to do so. GB and Hope are both interracial, adopted, and have special needs. If you met them casually, you would think they were both neuro-typical. They have what are considered “Invisible Disabilities”.

GB is an eight and three quarters year girl with a beautiful smile. We have had her since she was five months old and finally were able to finalize her adoption a year ago. GB was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder before her first birthday. She started receiving Early Intervention Services when she was seven months old. She received Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Special Education Services. GB transitioned to a full time special education program before her third birthday, where she continued to receive these services.

GB never slept through the night. She had no attention span and no ability to communicate with people she didn’t know, despite have receptive language skills far beyond her age. Shortly before her fourth birthday, a child psychiatrist in Manhattan diagnosed her with Bipolar Disorder. He put her on an atypical anti-psychotic and she started sleeping through the night immediately. She made amazing progress in her school and we were daring to think that she might be able to attended the neighborhood kindergarten class. Progress was still uneven and GB was unable to handle a classroom with anymore than twelve children in it, even with a one on one aide. It was obvious that we were missing a piece of the puzzle. We took GB to The George A. Jervis Clinic to have a complete neuro-psychological done. We were very surprised at how delayed GB was. We had been making accommodations for the things she couldn’t do without consciously thinking about it. We came home with an additional diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Hope just turned six. She was originally adopted at five weeks by a white family in Texas. When she was four and a half, the family decided they could not parent her. The paperwork on Hope said she was FASD, Bipolar, and ASD. She was still in pull ups and never used the toilet. We picked Hope up on August 25, 2010 and finalized her the next morning. Only in Texas.

It quickly became obvious that Hope had none of the organic problems that we expected, but rather had Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). We made the rounds of developmental and neurological specialists and confirmed Hope was not FASD or ASD. We took her to be evaluated by GB’s psychiatrist who confirmed Hope did not have Bipolar Disorder. To help us with Hope’s RAD we found a psychiatrist who treated young children at a local RTC (residential treatment center) who was willing to take Hope as a private patient. She confirmed the diagnosis of RAD.

The only outward sign that the girls have special needs is that GB has the facial features of FAS. Most people do not recognize it. Part of having RAD is not letting outside people see what is really going on. Hope raged from the day we picked her up. When raging, Hope screams, throws things, kicks, bites, scratches, and hits. The school went from September to May without seeing a rage. Now, what ever behavior Hope is exhibiting at home is seen as school. She lies routinely and is always blaming others for her problems. She will triangulate adults every opportunity she has.

Hope is in a class for behavior disordered children. It is very structured and run by the Rockland County Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. Hope is repeating kindergarten as she lacked most experiences and every day knowledge the other kindergarteners had last year. She seems to be capable of doing the work when she choses to, but has a lot of emotional work to do to heal. A lot of times, the emotional work takes most of her energy. The abuse and neglect that she suffered when living with her first adopted family is slowly starting to surface. There are many days when that is all Hope can handle. Hope has therapy twice a week in school and once a week privately. She sees the psychiatrist at least twice a month. Her team says it will be years before we make real progress. Besides raging, Hope is unable to make or sustain friendships or do anything, including playing, without adult involvement. There are signs of hope. GB and Hope are starting to build a relationship. Hope is taking a weekly dance class that she absolutely loves. It is the only time we see a genuine smile on Hope’s face. It is something we can build on.

GB attends a class for autistic children in the same school as Hope. Her social skills are much better than the children in her class. She mainstreams in a reading group that has 3 other children in it. Her reading is on grade level, although her writing requires a lot of support. GB struggled with math until her teacher adopted the *TouchMath* program and her math skills have soared. She is well liked, both in her class and among the typical students from the regular classes. There are seven other children in her classroom, all autistic, with varying degrees of impairment. GB receives speech three times a week, focusing on word retrieval and broadening the “scripts” she uses to interact with her environment. She attends a social group every Saturday with other high functioning autistic children. She has several neuro-typical friends her age, that she has had since she was three. The gaps between her and her friends have become more pronounced in the last two years. I work hard on setting up situations that GB can cope with that also help maintain these friendships.

GB has taken gymnastics since she was two. We found a small, non-competitive gym that works very well with special needs children. When she first started, they put an extra instructor in with GB and if GB could stay with the group for a total of five minutes out of every hour class, it was consider a success. GB is now in their most advanced class, which is an hour and a half long. She has no extra assistance and usually maintains herself for the entire class. It is a small class and the other girls know she is autistic. GB is accepted and the girls treat her with empathy and respect. Last week GB did her first unassisted backbend from a standing position and the girls cheered and high-fived her.

The girls’ “Invisible Disabilities” have made it difficult over the years to get the services she needed. Excellent documentation and record keeping, coupled with the willingness to hire a lawyer when necessary have gotten us to the point where both girls are in appropriate placements.

I do not socialize with most of my neighbors or the parents of children who attend my daughters’ school. I am considered pushy and over protective by most of these people. They are sure if I “just let her” either of the girls could handle scouts, soccer, baseball, and whatever else with no problem. GB and Hope are my second family. My older children are grown. I learned from my first family that I knew my children better than anybody else and none of the advice given by parents of neuro-typical children applied to my not typical kids. My husband and I are in our mid-fifties and don’t have much in common with most parents who have 8 and 6 year old girls. I have developed a talent for cutting off inappropriate questions almost before the person speaking has finished asking. Although I am very particular with what I expose the girls to, I am also very open, with them, about their conditions, challenges, treatments and necessary modifications. As a result, GB tends to compensate for and work around her disabilities. This is not as true for Hope, not only because she is younger, but also because we have only had her sixteen months. Hope is just beginning to get the idea that there is a bright future ahead of her.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Interview With Maddie McCaleb

2011-12-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Maddie is a fellow volunteer and supporter of Sarah's Covenant Homes. Like me, this experience changed her and she is returning this month. She also volunteers her time at home with a program for young adults who have a disability. She talks about this below.

1) Tell us a bit about the program you volunteer with. What is the time commitment, what role do you have?

For the past year and a half I have volunteered with Young Life Capernaum. If you know about Young Life, its basically the same model for teens and young adults with special needs. We do club once a week where we play games, sing songs, do a skit and listen to a talk about Jesus, we do contact work, we go to camp... Every night at club, we do our best to keep a 1:1 ratio. "Buddies" come and volunteer and our "Friends" get to hang out with them all night.

These kids are AMAZING. Honestly, they are some of my best friends in the world. This year, I am a leader which means I get to spend more time with them than ever. I help plan clubs, next semester I will start giving club talks, I have breakfast with them and go to their birthday parties.

2) What is the most rewarding aspect of volunteering with the special needs community?

I think there are so many rewarding aspects of volunteering in the special needs community. Its hard, but its seriously life changing. I think that it teaches you to love with persistence. Some kids will latch onto you immediately, but so many require weeks and weeks of hugs and love and communication before barriers come down. Maybe its just a smile or a high five, but its so worth it.

I also think that getting the chance to see the world through the eyes of a person with special needs is something everyone should get to experience. I just got back from three days of camp with my Capernaum kids, and even though I have finals week ahead of me, I feel refreshed and at peace. It really gets your priorities right and sets your eyes in the right place.

3) Are there any challenges that you deal with?

Oh my goodness, there are so many challenges.

There are tears and occasional emotional breakdowns. There are the more serious seizures and panic attacks. There are hundreds of medications, case workers, slow conversations and of course, relationship drama.

But I wouldn't trade any of it.

A lot of those things you just get used to. To me its normal to worry about seizures, to plan on waiting three minutes before my question is answered and to put up with seemingly insignificant fights between friends. The reward is SO much greater than the cost, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

4) Lots of people want to get involved in supporting those with special needs. How do you suggest they get involved?

There are so many ways to get involved. For someone who hasn't really worked with the special needs community, I would recommend giving yourself time to get comfortable. Its a new way of communicating. Its almost like a new language. Find a place that you are comfortable and start helping out consistently. Give yourself time for a breakthrough.

For someone who doesn't necessarily want to volunteer but wants to support the special needs community, I would highly recommend that you check out websites like r-word.org where you can learn about ways to stop offensive language and make a pledge to spread the cause. Changing the way we speak about special needs is the first step to changing the way we think about it, so read up on ways that you can help!

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

The R Word Part 2

2011-12-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

Since my previous post on the word "retarded" and the campaign Spread the Word to End the Word, I have found even more awesome resources and posts on this subject that I want to share.

Melissa's daughter has CDG, Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation). You can read her thoughts on the word retarded at her post, The R-Word (trust me, it's a great read).

Melissa shared the video below. So touching, so wise:

Another great video (it won't led me embed) on Rosa's Law, a law signed by President Obama advocating to change all uses of the word 'retarded' in all federal health, education and labor policy and replace them with “individual with an intellectual disability” and “intellectual disability.”

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Katerina's Story

2011-12-15T05:24:00.000-08:00

Meet Katerina... "Katie".

It is clear that this little girl is malnourished... In this photo, she was near death. It is clear that she knows neglect. That she is failing to thrive. How old do you think Katie is? 1..2... maybe 3? Katie is 9. No, that is not a typo. Katie is 9 years old and 10 lbs. She has Down Syndrome, and because of this has been neglected all her 9 years. Left in a crib with only enough food to barely live off, she stopped growing, stopped developing. This is NOT due to her Down Syndrome; this is neglect.

Just last month, Katie's new family adopted her and brought her to the States. She went straight to the hospital from the airport where she spent time being monitered and set up with a feeding tube and a special diet. She is now home with her Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters. Just look at this change... the miracle of adoption.

A recent update on Katie from her Mom: "They told us she couldn’t grow. The child grows. We are watching her grow. There is soft roundness where two weeks ago she had thin, dry skin stretched over her bones. Her legs were in such a shocking state that we kept them covered during the travel home so nobody would misread the situation, and report us to the authorities for child neglect. Even if they thought that “She’s nine-and-a-half” meant months and not years."

Go to The Blessing of Verity to follow Katie's story.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

The Boy In The Moon

2011-12-14T05:24:00.000-08:00

The Boy In The Moon by Ian Brown is one of the best books about special needs that I have ever read. It is written by the father of Walker, a young boy with a severe disability called cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFC).

Amazon gives the following description of the book: "Walker Brown was born with a genetic mutation so rare that doctors call it an orphan syndrome: perhaps 300 people around the world also live with it. Walker turns twelve in 2008, but he weighs only 54 pounds, is still in diapers, can’t speak and needs to wear special cuffs on his arms so that he can’t continually hit himself. “Sometimes watching him,” Brown writes, “is like looking at the man in the moon – but you know there is actually no man there. But if Walker is so insubstantial, why does he feel so important? What is he trying to show me?” In a book that owes its beginnings to Brown’s original Globe and Mail series, he sets out to answer that question, a journey that takes him into deeply touching and troubling territory. “All I really want to know is what goes on inside his off-shaped head,” he writes, “But every time I ask, he somehow persuades me to look into my own.”

This book brought me to a deep point of reflection. It brought me to tears. It left me with a sense of peace, strangely.

Below is an except from Ian's website. I encourage you to go to The Boy In The Moon's website and watch the videos and read the stories to learn more about what raising a child with a severe disability is like:

His infant head was overlarge and shaped like an olive, but the rest of him was as light as a loaf of bread: I could carry him in one hand. I called him Boogle, or Beagle, or Mr. B, or Lagalaga (because he made that noise), or simply Bah! (He liked B sounds.) Later, as he grew older, we developed a private language of tongue clicks that only he and I speak: All we ever seem to say is, "Hello, it's me, I'm clicking to you, and only to you, because only you and I speak Click;" to which he (or I) reply, I think, "Yes, hi, I see you there, and I am clicking back, I like it that we speak our private language, in fact I find it hilarious." This is very enjoyable for both of us.

I could clap my hands and he would clap back; he especially liked it when I clapped his hands faster than he ever could on his own. He hated having his face touched, but loved his bath: The water seemed to ease his movements, float his knobby joints. It was impossible to take a decent photograph of him, except by chance, and then he looked like Frank Sinatra Jr. on a tear. He smelled warm, baked: His head to this day has the tasty whiff of a Zagnut bar. He never crawled, but began to walk at 2 1/2.

The house was a well-organized nightmare. You couldn't survive as the parent of a handicapped child if you weren't organized, and my wife was. There were laundry baskets of toys on every floor; plastic contraptions hanging off the backs of chairs in the kitchen and the living room; tubs of syringes and feeding lines upstairs and down; caches of diapers in a chest by the front door; troops of medicine bottles and ointment tubes; vomit stains on everything.

He loved to touch things. The bottom three slats of every window blind in the house were mangled. His most developed consciousness seemed to live in his hands, in what he could manipulate — the genius light switch, the fascinating toilet paper tube, anything that beeped or flickered. What he could touch he knew.

To teach him to walk, we undertook a costly and radical Venezuelan therapy three times a week for two years. The Medek method entailed hanging him upside down and pulling his legs into unnatural positions. He started screaming the moment we pulled into the driveway, but he learned to walk. At least he had that. He could be what his name said he was. Maybe that was why we insisted.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

This Is Lovely, But...

2011-12-13T05:44:00.000-08:00

The following is a post by Julie Cole, co-founder of Mabel's Labels (the awesome company that kept me employed through University!). You can view the original post on The Mabelhood. One of Julie's children was diagnosed with autism, and I think this post is one we all need to read to re-evaluate our standards and the way we treat people on the spectrum.

I have people send me this link regularly:

I’m always so chuffed when people take the time to forward something that might be of interest to me. Have a look – this clip is a beauty. A lovely teenager with autism gets his chance on the basketball court and absolutely shines – elevated to hero status by his supportive peers cheering him on. It is truly moving.

It also annoys the crap out of me.

When I see this clip, it makes me want to scream “So what? You think the only thing a kid with autism can do is fetch water for the team?” Why, oh why, did it take so long to get that kid on the court? Why, oh why, is there such shock that he can actually play well?

I think a part of it is that a lot of assumptions are made about children with autism, the most popular being that children with autism have learning disabilities. Nowhere in the diagnostic criteria for autism is there mention of learning disabilities. Basically, if a child with autism appears to be LD, chances are the professional team needs to shape up and find more effective teaching strategies. So, it’s time to stop being shocked when you meet a kid with autism who is “smart” (whatever that means). There is no reason for that kid not to be.

I’d be fine if my kid had LDs, just so happens he dodged that bullet. But either way – autism or LDs, I’d expect him to have a shot at being on the basketball team. My kid is doing the regular Gr. 5 curriculum. He started French Immersion this year, is a helpful big brother, has fun with his friends, goes to Cub Scouts, loves the ‘Bone’ books, has a growing RESP for university, drives me crazy on his Nintendo and plays an awesome game of hockey. Note that water boy duties do not make the list. I do recognize that the kid in the video gained a lot from his role as team “manager” – it provided him with the opportunity to be involved and feel a part of the team. But there’s a lesson to be learned here about expectations. Let’s set them high, folks.

I don’t want to take away from the awesomeness of this clip – the community spirit and the raw support for this kid is out of this world. I really did cry….moments before I got a little annoyed.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Jaxson's Fight

2011-12-12T05:06:00.000-08:00

Jax is a 6 year old boy and the son of Lacey. She writes that "Jaxson was born on Nov.20 2005 with Trisomy 21. He has spent half of his short life in the hospital. He has heart defects, pulmonary hypertension, severe reflux, sleep apnea, and a hypoxic brain injury that resulted in severe siezures." Jax is a trooper, and Lacey generously offered to share more of his story for this blog:

Jaxson is my 6 year old son, and he has Down syndrome. He has several medical problems, and his little body works very hard just to stay alive. He has congenital heart defects, pulmonary hypertension, severe lung disease, tracheal and bronchial malaysia, sleep apnea, seizures from a brain injury, severe reflux, gut immotility, a clotting disorder, severe osteoporosis, already causing a break in his femur bone. His spine is starting to curve due to lack of being able to hold himself upright at all.

He has a trach, oxygen, feeding tube, and a ventilator to help him breathe at night. He has more equipment, and uses more electricity, than everyone else in the family combined. He costs thousands of dollars a month just to keep alive. The equipment in his bedroom is only seen in ICU rooms, not even in a typical hospital room.

The machine that keeps Jaxson alive:

Jaxson doesn’t wake up at the same time every day. Sometimes he wakes up before he sun even comes up. On those days, I have medications I can give him so he’ll go back to sleep. When he wakes up, I have to get up, because his alarms go off and he requires a lot of suctioning. The meds don’t always work, and make for one tired momma. Since Jax has gotten the trach, my average sleep a night has been cut in half. Let me just say now that I don’t get a single second of nursing care help for Jaxson! Usually around 8 is when I take Jax off his ventilator and put his trach nose and oxygen on. I turn his feeds off, change him, and take him down to the family room. He always requires a lot of suctioning in the morning, after sleeping all night. So that’s what I spend most of my time in the morning doing, and getting my coffee! 9 is when I start getting his meds ready. Jax has over 20 medications a day, they vary depending on how he is doing. Some medications are as needed, and some stop for a while and then start back up again. Most of his meds have to be crushed and mixed with water. He has a shot, nebs, and inhalers that he also gets. It usually takes me about an hour, again, depending on what meds he is getting at the time. I bath him every other day, but every day I change his trach ties, and his dressing on his gj-tube. I can change the dressings pretty quick. If you add the bath, his morning cares take about an hour. After his cares I get his feeds set up. He gets a formula through his gj-tube, he takes nothing by mouth. Normally he gets bolus feeds 4 times a day that run over an hour. But right now he is on continuous feeds, meaning they run all day long. We can’t put anything into his stomach right now, because his surgery to prevent reflux is not working, and he’ll aspirate anything in his tummy.

Because we just moved, he doesn’t have any therapists set up yet. He normally has OT and PT once a week. He has a stander that I have to put him in every day. Even with that, he is starting to show signs of not being upright and on his feet. His spine is starting to curve, and his hips are starting to pop. Things we need to bring up with an orthopedic doctor. I try to leave him in his stander for an hour, depending on how much he will tolerate. If he cries, or acts like he’s upset, I take him out! If he has doctors appointments, those take up pretty much the whole day. Driving, waiting, being seen, and then coming home is a full days event. Most of his specialists are an hour away with good traffic. Any time we go out, we have to take oxygen, feeding supplies, suction, our emergency kit, and sometimes a pulse oximeter. Our emergency kit has extra supplies in case something happens. An extra g-tube, trach, and supplies that go along with them.

We get tons of supplies sent to our home every month. A lot come by UPS, and a driver will deliver his oxygen tanks. He has a respiratory therapist that comes by once a month to check his vent and make sure everything is running the way it should. I just bought a supply rack that has been a dream! In fact, I need to go get one more. I’ve been able to sort and label his supplies so we can easily find them. So great for a busy kid that needs organization!

Evenings seem to be the quietest time. Jax doesn’t usually need anything, besides suctioning. That’s my time to get other things done. The bad part is sometimes I relax for too long, and get started on his night routine late. That is hard because then I don’t get to bed until 11 or 12.

I try to start Jax night routine at 8, after I put Arina down for the night. I have to give him a liquid suppository, because he can’t poop on his own. Then we put his jammies on. Nigh meds are next, which again, many have to be crushed in water, or done as a nebulizer treatment. If he is on Tobi, that takes a half hour by itself.

Jax night meds on this particular night. 3 are nebs that take about 20 minutes each:

When we put him in bed we have to hook up and plug in all his machines to charge for the night. His suction, feeding pump, and pulse oximeter. We have to take his oxygen off, plug it into his ventilator, and put the ventilator on him. Put his pulse ox on, connect his night feeds, and put a bile bag onto his g-tube so his tummy can let extra air out while on the vent. He has a whole mess of wires in his bed at night. Luckily, he doesn’t roll around much, so we don’t have to worry too much about disconnecting tubes! If he doesn’t fall asleep in a half hour or so, we’ll give him melatonin or trazadone to help him sleep.

Even though Jax is 24 hour care, and a million dollar kid, I wouldn’t trade him for the world. He shows me everyday just how strong he is. There have been many times that we thought he wouldn’t leave the hospital.

But he always fights his way back and amazes the doctors. His smile lights up a room! Because of him we have connected with so many other families, and made some fantastic friends. He truly is our little angel!

You can follow Jaxson's story, and that of his sister Arina who has Down Syndrome and was adopted from Ukraine, at Tales Of A Knight And A Princess. Be sure to check out the post I'm The Same.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

One Tough Cookie

2011-12-11T05:34:00.000-08:00

Below are the stories of two beautiful girls, both with cerebral palsy but with very different stories. Please watch- really touching videos. What I found interesting was how both families used the word "lucky" to describe their situations. I have also included some info below on cerebral palsy so you can educate yourself on what it is.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement, and motor skills (the ability to move in a coordinated and purposeful way). Cerebral palsy can also lead to other health issues, including vision, hearing, and speech problems, and learning disabilities.

CP is usually caused by brain damage that occurs before or during a child's birth, or during the first 3 to 5 years of a child's life. There is no cure for CP, but treatment, therapy, special equipment, and, in some cases, surgery can help a child who is living with the condition.

There are three main types of cerebral palsy:

Spastic Cerebral Palsy
(stiff and difficult movement)

Athetoid Cerebral Palsy
(involuntary and uncontrolled movement)

Ataxic Cerebral Palsy
(disturbed sense of balance and depth perception)

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Table for 12

2011-12-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

Table For 12 is a show that aired on TLC from 2009-2010. It chronicles the lives of Eric and Betty Hayes and their 10 children; twins, twins, and sextuplets. One of the sextuplets, Rebecca, has cerebral palsy.

I admit I am a sucker for most TLC shows, especially ones like this that follow interesting families. I particularly liked this one, while it was on, a) because the family seemed so much more down to earth than other similar shows like Jon and Kate Plus Eight, and b) because of Rebecca. I love that TLC spotlighted a family with a child who is developmentally delayed. I find in the media when special needs people are portrayed, it is rarely people with cognitive impairments, but much moreoften those with physical impairments (ie the TLC shows on people with dwarfism).

Rebecca is legally blind, unable to speak or stand, and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. It warms my heart to watch this show because her family's love for her is so apparent. It also makes me happy that such a positive image of a family with a special needs child is being shown in the media. I think it could change the perspectives of people watching, and make cerebral palsy seem a little less intimidating.

The series of videos below is an episode that focuses on bringing Rebecca to horseback riding therapy. Part 1 includes an interesting interview with her parents on raising Rebecca. In Part 3 they show her being evaluated and then riding the horse for the first time. It's a great watch!

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

The Walk

2011-12-09T05:26:00.000-08:00

My time at Sarah's Covenant Homes in India really did change my life. Certainly it wasn't without challenges, but working with April brought this deep sense of fulfillment and purpose into my life. Something about it felt very right, and a year and a half later, as I plan my return, it feels even more right than it did then. Something is pulling me very strongly into the direction of working with the special needs community, and I attribute this to my time at SCH.

Many other people feel the same way. Katie Zenger has volunteered at SCH twice now, and, like me, has been changed by these children. I asked her to share her experiences:

She and her husband, Kody, made this video, The Walk: The kids at Sarah's Covenant Homes love to go on walks. Simple as that. These walks are grand adventures full of smiles, squeels and experiences that keep them smiling for hours and hours. Here is a short about one those adventures. Both boys were abandoned as babies and raised in the Gov't orphanage in India until Sarah got them in Dec. 2009. Both boys were very malnourished when we got them. The little guy with all the huge smiles and giggles in the beginning, his (blog) name is Jeff. He's the little one who got so sick this summer with Typhoid. It is very difficult for him to eat food by mouth because of his spasticity. He does eat but not much and he's pretty thin. He is one of a handful of children we are praying God will make a way for us to get them G tubes. The other little guy who claps his hands together toward the end, his blog name is Aaron. He also has spastic CP but he is able to stand with his braces on. He is such a smart, funny little boy! They both are. You can always count on a big greeting from Aaron when you walk in the room... loud excited noises, scooting on his bum with his hands in the air!

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Laughter

2011-12-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

I write about April a lot on this blog, so haven't written too much about her, or the SCH kids, during this month as I don't want it to be repetitive. That said, even though I have posted this video before, I want to share it again.

To some people, it might be cute, but may not look like much. To me, this video represents so much. My month at SCH was an emotional one, working with April. She hadn't been at SCH for long, and no one yet had taken the time to really work with her. Sarah suggested her to me as a child who could particularly use my one-on-one attention during my trip.

In the beginning, April would slap me away when I touched her. She wouldn't allow me to hold her. She was in her own little world. Every morning I would arrive early and would go straight to her bed. I would try to pick her up, she would hit me away. I would try to feed her, play with her, stimulate her, do therapy with her- everything was a challenge.

I remember this morning so well. I walked in to be greeted with a smile. And then this laughter- gosh, I could listen to her laugh all day. From this point forward she made gains every day; slowly she would let me hold her, cuddle her... She was still in her own little world, but she was in our world too. She was interacting more with her ayahs and with the other kids in her room. She was smiling and laughing more often. Her fits (I am not sure what better word to call them), like in the video below, would still happen, but less often. This video is still difficult for me to watch. It would bring tears to my eyes when she would do this... when she would scratch her chest so deep it would leave a mark. I would feel so overwhelemed, so useless. I can't imagine what she must feel; wanting to communicate something but being completely unable to do so.

I know that my role in April's development was a small one. But having played that role in her life- having worked with her to open her up to begin that process- is one of my proudest accomplishments. I watch this video and am filled with such a strong sense of love and protection. April changed my life in more ways than anyone else ever has. I adore this girl!!

I dare you to watch this video, and not smile :)
(ignore my voice... apparantly it goes up 10 notches and get's really annoying when I'm excited!)

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

The R Word

2011-12-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

retarded: slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress

My month of posting on special needs is not complete without dicussing "the r word"- retarded. A word often used without harmful intentions, but one that is loaded and causes offense.

I remember, around 12 and 13 years old, using the word often. Never with bad intentions, but innocently- or perhaps ignorantly. As I got a bit older, I began to understand the meaning and hurt behind using the word in that way. I clearly remember an incident in grade 8 where 2 girls I was friends with not only used the word, but then went on to imitate someone with Down Syndrome. Years later, I can still feel my anger. I remember telling them off. I don't remember how they reacted, or whether my words changed their thinking, but I do remember the offense it caused me, at that time connecting their action with my cousin who has Down Syndrome, and who brings a lot of joy into our family.

A few months ago I was having a discussion with friends about the word 'retarded' and whether or not it is offensive when used incorrectly (ie. 'that is so retarded'). One friend said that because it isn't being said with negative intentions, one shouldn't take offense. Another friend, who has a family member with special needs, disagreed and talked about the anger she feels when she hears the word.

I agree that it is usually said without negative intentions, but I think it is also mixed with ignorance. The friend who has someone with special needs in her life dislikes the word because it is personal. The majority of people who use it inappropriately likely don't have that connection.

There is a campaign going on right now called End The R Word. I think that stopping the use of this word is the first step we can take towards inclusion of people with special needs. Go to the website to take that pledge to eliminate the word.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Reece's Rainbow

2011-12-06T05:38:00.000-08:00

Reece's Rainbow is an organization I have blogged about before. They advocate for children around the world with special needs who are living in orphanages. They connect parents looking to adopt with these beautiful children, and teach people the value in adopting a child with special needs. They provide grants for families adopting and have a photolisting of children around the world waiting for families.

One of these children is Debbie: Girl, born 2008
Diagnosis: Dandy-Walker syndrome, Cerebral Palsy
Debbie just turned 3 years old. She has frequent CAT scans to monitor her brain development. The most recent CAT scan determined that she does not need a shunt. At birth, her head circumference was 14.6 inches. At the age of 3, her head circumference is 18.9 inches.
When she is placed in a sitting position, she can stay there, but she can't get into the position independently. She enjoys laying on her stomach. She can crawl. She can walk while holding on to 2 hands. When placed in a baby walker, she can move it. She picks up toys and plays with them.
She pronounces sounds and responds to her name. She smiles, makes eye contact and enjoys being held. She eats from a spoon but is not yet feeding herself.

Another one of those children is Vika. Vika is a beautiful little girl adopted from Russia who has Down Syndrome. Her mother, Melanie, was kind enough to share her story with me:

"Our adoption took almost 2 years, minus a month or so. We had quite a few unforeseen delays. We had originally committed to adopt another, older girl. After several months we were informed she was very ill and was no longer available for adoption. So we plugged ahead and committed to adopt Vika. During this time, her region in Russia stopped accepting dossiers and so we just waited. We finally got to travel to meet her in Oct. 2010. We were preparing to go back for court a couple of months later, when we were told she was in the hospital for TB. So, again more waiting and uncertainty. Very difficult time. This was by far the worst time because it was very hard to get any information on what was going on. The uncertainty and having no control over anything was really bad. Finally in Oct. 2011 we traveled back for court and got to bring her home that trip. Reece's Rainbow was the website that first made us aware of these little ones with Down's who needed families and gave us the inspiration to adopt one. We first saw our little girl's picture on Reece's Rainbow.

The conditions in V's orphanage seemed pretty good, as far as orphanages go. It is still a very sad place, no way around it. You've still got children laying in cribs/playpens without much interaction for much of the day. There was one caregiver in V's group that really seemed to love the kids and did her best, but.... she's only one woman and can't replace a family. The room itself seemed cheery, clean, well cared for. We spent the vast majority of our time there, though, in a visiting room away from the other children so I can't speak a lot about the actual conditions where the children lived. I can just say she seemed to have been reasonably cared for. Probably dehydrated, though.

Well, from my vast one month experience (ha!) of raising a child with DS, I would say there are 2 things that come to mind. First, she's just so darn loveable and cuddly. she personally is very responsive to affection and physical closeness. Second, i love what having a special-needs sibling brings out in our other 3 children. I love that they're learning compassion and acceptance of those who are a little different.

I guess I would like your readers to know that raising a child with DS isn't this big, scary undertaking. At least from our experience it hasn't been. It's been very rewarding so far. We understand this is a lifelong commitment and that tough times may certainly be in our future. But V. is such a huge blessing to our family and she is so much fun. Work, yes, but all our kids have been. We just see her as another kid and all our kids are wonderful and challenging in their own way."

You can follow Vika's story at Melanie's blog, Grace Notes.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Welcome To Holland

2011-12-05T05:17:00.000-08:00

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Institutions

2011-12-04T05:31:00.000-08:00

I don't have many words to explain these videos, but I think they are important to share. The first video is correct when it says this population are our most vulnerable, and we need to be doing more to protect them. Each and every one of these kids has so much potential... so much value. It breaks my heart to watch these, but I think they need to be shared because this is the reality in so many countries around the world.

Bulgaria's Abandoned Children, the 2nd video, includes 9 parts. All subsequent parts can be found on youtube, as well as a follow up filmed the following year.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Hope For Thomas

2011-12-03T05:51:00.000-08:00

For the past few months I have been volunteering with Thomas, an amazing 7 year old boy with cerebral palsy. I want to take the time during this month to share his website and more information about his struggles, his successes, and how you can help.

His site says, "Thomas was born with Cerebral Palsy, a brain abnormality that affects his ability to control many muscles in his body. This translates into his ability to sit, crawl, walk and talk. His diagnosis arrived just after his first birthday. Since then, he has participated in many forms of therapy, attended specialized nursery programs and leads a life that is subject to constant intervention to help learn new skills. The road to recovery involves many hours of work and daily therapy to help Thomas learn how to manipulate his body to do things that do not come naturally or easily to him."

I have found a lot of joy in working with Thomas. It is a steep learning curve for me, having such little experience in this area, but I am picking it up and this experience has been hugely instrumental for me in choosing my future career path. He inspires me, he makes me smile. He fills me with hope because I can see his progress. I also see my own progress as I learn more with each session about how best to work with him; how to position his body as he crawls, how to properly lift him to a standing position. Thomas and I are still getting to know each other, and already he has taught me so much!

Thomas' Blog
Thomas At Ability Camp is a blog his Mom chronicled about his time at Ability Camp, a 5 week intensive therapy program.
Thomas' Stem Cell Therapy is a blog his Mom wrote about their experience in China, receiving stem cell therapy and treatment.
Hope For Thomas is his website, which includes a button to donate funds and Air-Miles to support his therapies.

A few weeks ago, in a break from all his therapies, we carved pumpkins. Look at that smile :)

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Recovering Noah

2011-12-02T05:15:00.000-08:00

I am going to start this month by sharing the story of Noah, a little boy with autism. Leslie, his mom, and I have never met, but we have been emailing and reading each other's blogs for years. Her husband and I were at Sarah's Covenant Homes in India at the same time, as we both support this organization. Leslie has three kids, adopted from India and Guatemala, and is in the process of adopting another adorable little boy from India. Her oldest son, Noah, has autism, and she blogs about this at Recovering Noah.

She describes Noah's history on her blog: "Noah is our wonderful little 9 year old son who came into our lives via adoption in September 2002. Although his birth history is unknown, it is believed that Noah caught an infection inutero which led to periventricular calcifications on the right side of his brain. This resulted in cerebral palsy (left-side hemiplegia). In January 2003, at the age of 15 months, Noah started regressing into autism immediately following his DPT vaccination. At 18 months, he regressed into full-blown autism following his MMR. Although he still has "severe" autism and is non-verbal, Noah continues to make small gains each day."

Recently, he has been making incredible gains using a letter board, where he can spell out the thoughts he is unable to verbalize. I have posted one amazing conversation in particular below, and I encourage you to go to Recovering Noah to follow his progress!

Today, I asked Noah what he wanted to be when he grows up and he spelled out D-O-C-T-O-R. I asked him what kind and he spelled out A-U-T-I-S-M. Then he spelled out C-H-I-L-D-R-E-N.

I said, "You want to be a doctor who works with children who have autism?" and he spelled out Y-E-S.

Then he spelled out I G-O T-O C-O-L-L-E-G-E and looked at me as if it were a question. And though my heart was breaking, I said, "Of course you'll go to college! But you'll have to work really hard."

And the truth is... I don't know what will happen 8 years from now. Or 18. Or 28. Maybe he WILL go to college one day. Maybe there will be a cure. Maybe we'll find a way to continue to tap into his potential and he'll be the first nonverbal college graduate in the world. I have no doubt that he'll make a mark on this world. But as his mom, I want ALL his dreams to come true. Not just the little ones, but the big ones, too.

And while it seems daunting... And the works seems so hard...And so tiring, something else he told me gives me the motivation to keep going on...

When I asked him to give one piece of advice to parents who have a child with autism, he spelled out D-O E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

And so we will continue to do everything we can to help his dreams come true. Even the big ones.

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

NaBloPoMo

2011-12-01T05:41:00.000-08:00

November was NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month. A campaign organized by Blogher, bloggers go the month of November and write a post every single day. You can read an article HERE about the purpose behind the campaign and what bloggers get out of it.

I heard about NaBloPoMo last November when Creating Our Joy, a blog I designed and have been following for several years (since before Violet came home) started doing this. Kerri is a mom to "Violet", adopted from Ethiopia, and "Blueberry", adopted from Guatemala. Last year her NaBloPoMo posts circled around adoption, and this year on purging. You can read one of here posts HERE. I have a lot of respect for Kerri, the author, and hope I have a family like hers one day. What I really appreciated about this was all that I learned about adoption- how her daughters deal with questions that come up, how she talks to them about it, what her thoughts are on the corruption that exists within the adoption world. I will adopt my kids one day, and found this so valuable.

Thus, I knew I wanted to take part as well. November was a crazy month with We Days and the travel that goes along with that, but the forth and final We Day of the season is comlete, so now that I have more time, I want to dedicate my blog posts in December to NaBloPoMo.

Today begins my month-long blogging campaign. I haven't been blogging too much lately, so please feel free to comment and share posts to keep me going :) I am going to focus on the theme of special needs, as this has been on my heart lately and something I feel strongly about.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post!

This post is one in a December series of National Blog Posting Month, where I am advocating for children with special needs. To make a difference in the life of someone living with special needs, check out THIS POST.

Christmas Love

2011-11-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

I have a new update on the girls in India and their new ayah (click HERE to read the history behind this project):

"She's doing such a great job. April looked beautiful today (didn't notice Molly from close by). Whenever I see Nagendram she has one of those two in her arms, combing their hair, carrying them... As we work with her she will do even more, but for now this is major--they are not spending hours alone lying on beds; they are being really cared for. Hope this model will eventually inspire lots of support so we can adopt it throughout the place. I also noticed that both of their hemoglobin reports for this month are EXCELLENT. they're getting enough to eat and showing it."

Having their own ayah is really changing their quality of life. Sarah is hoping to duplicate this with other kids because it has been so successful, but first, we need to hit 100% so we can fundraise enough for the girls' ayah for a full year.

We have been stuck at 52% for a while. In order to get it back going again, I have made these certificates that you can give to friends/family this Christmas, when you make a donation for the girls' ayah in their name. Simply make the donation at the Chip In below, and then send me an email at ncochrane3@hotmail.com letting me know your name and the name of the person the gift is for. If you would like any special text, I can include that. I will then email you a copy of the certificate, which you can give electronically or print off.

For one week of ayah costs per girl, it is $22.50 a week, so consider this as a possible amount.

Thank you so much and Merry Christmas :)

Christmas Gift Ideas

2011-11-04T11:26:00.001-07:00

Every year for the past few years now I have written a post close to Christmas with ideas on gifts you can purchase that serve a greater purpose. It has always seemed appreciated so I will do it again. If you have never bought a gift like this before, make a goal where 1 of your gifts this year supports a good cause. If you have done it prefer, see if every gift you buy has a greater purpose.

Tortoise Shell bracelet
Juan, the stepfather of the kids I work with, is the artisan behind these beautiful bracelets. They are fair trade, so 65% of funds go to him, and the rest goes into Project Esperanza programming, the program that set up this site and that provides educational assistance to kids, mostly Haitian, in the Dominican Republic. You can view all the other items, by other artisans, HERE.

SCH Wall Calendar
I volunteered in Sarah's Covenant Homes last year and, as anyone who reads this blog knows, fell so in love with the kids. SCH is selling calendars with amazing photos to raise money to support the care of the kids. I already have mine ordered, and can't wait to get to look at their adorable faces every day!

Punjammies
PUNJAMMIES™ are made by women in India rescued from forced prostitution seeking to rebuild their lives. Proceeds from the sales of PUNJAMMIES™ provide fair-trade wages, savings accounts, and holistic recovery care. I have one pair, and will be ordering another so I can wear them when I go to India! For now I wear them as pajamas.

Sseko Design Shoes
During my trip to Uganda, I took a visit to the Sseko headquarter and was really impressed with what I saw. Sseko sells beautiful shoes and supports higher education of Ugandan women. Check out their website for full information, and then go and purchase a pair... I love mine!

Other great places to shop...
Nightlight Designs
Haitian Creations
Light Gives Heat
Global Mamas

India Books

2011-10-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

A few books about India I have read in the past few months that I would recommend:

Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald- Sarah’s husband moved to India as a journalist, so she followed him there, and shares her stories of life in Delhi. She is a very funny writer and also does a lot of travel througought the country, so can share her experiences in many different cities. During one chapter she did vipasanna, which I found particularly interesting. She went to an ashram to practice this form of silent meditation; 10 days where you wake up at the crack of dawn to meditate. You cannot speak, read, watch television, do anything really, except eat a simple meal, rest, and meditate. It was really interesting reading about her experiences with this.

Sideways On A Scooter by Miranda Kennedy- Miranda lived in Delhi as a foreign correspondent for 5 years. She tells the story of her life there, but focuses in on castes and specifically the life of a woman in India. I couldn’t put this book down. I never learned much about the caste system when I was in India but find it very interesting. Women’s issues have always been of interest to me, so I loved how she told this through the lives of several women she met. She is a funny writer, but I also learned so much. It is a very good read for anyone wanting to learn about Delhi, the caste system, globalization, arranged marriage, or global gender issues.

Untouchables by Narendra Jadhav- As I learned in the book, every sixth person in the world today is Indian, and every sixth Indian is an untouchable (also known as Dalit), the group at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. The author writes the story of his parents, both untouchables, and their experiences standing up against discrimination. They had personal experiences with Dr. Ambedkar, leader of the untouchables and one who arranged for hundreds of thousands of untouchables to convert to Buddhism (including the author’s parents) to escape their discrimination. I knew very little about the history of the untouchable caste and found this fascinating, particularly the way the story was intertwined with that of “Babasaheb” Ambedkar’s.

White Tiger by Aravind Adiga- This wasn’t my favourite story about India, but I thought I would include it on the list because it’s a decent read. It paints a pretty negative picture of India, and while there are these negative sides, it just wasn’t the India I know. It is a novel, not a memoir as many of the others on this list are. It is written from the perspective of a low-caste driver for a wealthier Indian man, and shares how he involves his life into one filled with corruption, murder, and lies. For what it’s worth, it’s a quick read and I enjoyed it on the basis of the story (and learned a bit more about caste system and the life of a servant in India) but it isn’t the best portrayal of India.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai- I had a hard time getting into this novel, but it has won several awards so I wanted to include it. It tells two stories; that of Sai, who is growing up in Darjeeling, India, and that of Biju, an illegal Indian immigrant living in the USA. The author writes another book set in India called Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, that I have not read.

King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan by Anupama Chopra: I am in love with Bollywood. I find it so much fun and so entertaining. The first Bollywood film I ever watched was Devdas, starring Shah Rukh Khan, or “King Khan” as he is known. Shah Rukh is the King of Bollywood and as famous, in India, as Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt combined! I found this book super interesting and entertaining. It was a light and easy read, and inspired me to go out and rent several Bollywood movies! It seems silly, but Bollywood really is such a huge part of Indian culture. Going to see Hrithik Roshan’s film, Kites, when I was in Delhi was so much fun. I will definitely go see another Bollywood when I go back!

Son of God Orphanage... abuse in Haiti

2011-10-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today I was reading a blog of a woman whose son was adopted from Haiti. She shared the following story, which I have felt compelled to share as well.

"Help us be their voice"..."There are over 75 children in Son of God orphanage in Carrefour, Haiti. This orphanage is full of abuse, physical, sexual, emotional. Full, FULL of trafficking. Child trafficking (which one of the directors of the orphanage is now in jail for) and organ trafficking. Yes, ORGAN trafficking. Officials have been able to track organs back to this orphanage. Children’s organs...."

The story disgusts me. This couple disgusts me, who made this happen to these children. But it also made me think. I googled the orphanage, Son of God orphanage, and found posts like these:
Supplies For The Son of God Orphanage

The Story of Two Haitian Boys

75 Orphans In Haiti Need Your Voice

"Friday the team returned and further blessed the orphanage with school, craft and personal hygiene supplies. Since Pastor Max is also a doctor running a medical clinic among the provisions was a bag full of band aids, vitamins, antibiotics, gauze, and other first aid supplies."

I found links to fundraisers, photos of volunteers cuddling the kids, blog entries sharing Max's "rescue" of those living in his home. And I thought back to organizations I have worked with. This could have been any one of them.

There have been times that I have witnessed suspicious activity. In no way I am saying it was to this extent, but things that I knew weren't right. I heard organizations lie about children that were in their programs to make the situation seem more desperate (saying children were in the sex trade when they were not), I have seen neglect in orphanages, seen bad choices being made. When we are in a different country, sometimes uncomfortable, not knowing how things are done, not wanting to overstep our boundaries, as it is clear from this we can totally overlook major human rights violations... corruption... neglect.

I have probably gotten in more trouble for asking TOO many questions and being too critical, but I would rather be critical and really look deeply into the organization I am partnering with than to have put my time and funds and HEART into a program to find out that abuses that are happening. Most of all I mourn for these children, but I also feel for those who support Son of God orphanage- who fell in love with those kids- and now are finding out what was really going on. I can't imagine the sadness and guilt they must be feeling.

I think we can learn a lot from this... to not just go blindly and support whoever asks us for support. To not give handouts. To be totally transparent about funding allocation. To ask as many questions as are needed until we know exactly what is happening with every aspect of the program we are partnering with.

I am not trying to say we should not donate to charity- I think each and every one of us should make that a priority- I am just saying that we need to be smart about it. We need to take the time, ask the questions, and make it impossible for this to happen to any other child.

CLICK HERE to sign the petition for CNN to bring awareness on this topic to the news and for the orphanage to be shut down (yes... after all this... the children are STILL there, living in abusive conditions with Max's wife).

Contest To Support Andrielis' Education!

2011-10-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Andrielis is thriving in grade 9 at her new private school. I don't want her to do what is typical in the barrio she grew up in- to get pregnant young, to live a life of unemployment and illiteracy. Andrielis is going to follow a different path and she is working so hard to make sure that happens. Click HERE to learn more about how she is doing.

I need $1400 to pay for her grade 10 tuition/books/uniform. I am currently at $80. In order to get myself closer to this goal, I am giving away three gifts certificates. Tickets are $3 each, two for $5, five for $10 or ten for $20. You can make your donation to the Chip In button below. Anyone who posts about this contest on their blog gets one extra ticket, just let me know by linking the post in the comments.

Contest ends November 15, 2011. I will draw names, email the winners, and mail the winners their gift cards.

Please help me spread the word about this. It is so important that I raise these funds in order to secure Andrielis' future. Prizes and Chip In are below.

Two $25 Starbucks gift certificates to be awarded to two different winners: Now you’ll always be ready for your next latte, mocha or treat. Your Starbucks Card can be used to treat yourself or someone else at over 4,000 participating Starbucks locations.

One $100 RBC Visa Gift Card: RBC Visa Gift Cards can be used to make purchases wherever Visa is accepted. RBC Visa Gift Cards come with Visa protection and security features and registered.

Thank you so much!!

Update on Nagendram

2011-09-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Sarah sent me an update on how Nagendram is doing with the girls. If you don't know the back story behind this, click HERE to learn more.

"Nagendram rocks with the two girls. Whenever I see her she's got one of them in her lap, doing their hair, making sure they're lice-free, entertaining them... She had potty trained two girls in her care before, and I know she is the type who can help these girls make progress."

This brings such a smile to my face. It can be tough to find an ayah who really loves the kids. In India, people with disabilities are highly discriminated against. Many don't consider them worth their time/effort. To hear that Nagendram is holding them, caring for them, loving them... it makes me so happy. I have so much hope for what she will be able to do for them.

Let's hit 60%... one more month of Nagendram's salary!

Emma

2011-09-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

As I wrote about earlier, Sarah's Covenant Homes recently took in 21 new children. Just today, 2 more little girls came from a different orphanage, and one of them is on the verge of death. Really, these photos are quite haunting. Her name is Emma. You can find more photos and information on her HERE. I am not trying to be melodramatic at all when I write that Emma is dying. What is most striking to me, aside from her obvious emaciation, is the lack of hope in her eyes. Like she has given up. And then the picture of her legs... what I remember most about the malnutrition clinic in Haiti was the way the kids' skin felt, when they were on the verge of death. It is impossible to explain, but none looked as bad as Emma does, and many died.

I do have hope for her. Below are pictures of kids that SCH has nursed back to health. Certainly, none came in conditions as bad as Emma, but if she gets through the next few days, she will make it.

This is a before and after of Cassia:

Before and after of Aloe:

Before and after of Felicia:

I believe Emma's life can be saved, too. The next few days are crucial. Sarah is at the hospital with Emma right now. They will need money for her hospital stay, possibly a surgery for a shunt for her hydrocephalus and another for the lesion on her back. When she gets older, surgery for her club feet will be needed. Emma will need Pediasure to bring her weight up, immunizations to keep her healthy, and diapers to keep her clean. Clothes, food, an ayah to take care of her. Maybe, in a few years, Emma will even be able to go to school. All of these things cost money, and money at SCH is tight with over 100 kids.

How can you help?

1) Go to http://sarahscovenanthomes.blogspot.com/
2) Click on the Donate button on the top right sidebar
3) Support financially to help pay for Emma's care
4) If you are unable to financially support, share Sarah's blog to your friends and family
5) Like SCH's page on facebook for more updates: http://www.facebook.com/#!/schindia

Thank you.

Introducing Nagendram!!!

2011-09-16T05:07:00.001-07:00

This morning I woke up to the most amazing message in my inbox. Photos- over 60 of them- of April and Molly with their new ayah. If you have been following my blog, you know that last summer I spent 6 weeks in India, most of which was spent at Sarah's Covenant Homes, an orphanage for abandoned children with special needs. These kids changed my life (and my career path- but more on that later). Since May, Sarah (not Sarah who runs the home, but Sarah who went to India with me) and I have been fundraising for an ayah for April and Molly. Full details are on the first post I wrote HERE, but basically our goal was to pay a year's salary of an ayah (caretaker) to work solely with April and Molly, so that they would get individualized attention and stimulation, rather than being one of many that their ayah was assigned to.

I am so excited that WE DID IT! We raised 50% of the needed funds, so the girls' ayah was assigned to them. Her name is Nagendram. This 50% covers her salary for the months of September, October, November, December, January, and February. That is six months that the girls will get 2:1 care. Six months that will allow them to thrive! When I look at the photos below, I am filled with so much peace and love. Just look at Molly's beautiful smile. And April; oh my gosh... her smile, her happiness, her laughter. Just the small fact that her head is lying across her ayah's knee. She isn't alone. She won't know neglect. It is beautiful.

Our next goal is to reach 60%, as that will cover March as well. Sarah and I are headed to India, to again work with these amazing kids, next summer. Ideally we would like to hit 100% so that they have an ayah up until the end of our trip. We won't have to worry about the kids all year, we will be able to see it all in action next summer, and hopefully this will provide a model (2:1 ratio) that we can fundraise to replicate for other kids at the home. If you feel compelled to help, please donate to the Chip-In below.

There is another reason why this is so important. Sarah, as of today, took in another 21 kids from the government orphanage. You can see a few photos below, and all of their photos at THIS POST. They are beautiful. I am so excited to meet them, and I see little bits of the other kids in them (Eleanor's photo reminds me of April!) 21 new kids means a whole lot of money. All of these kids need sponsors. All of these kids need vaccinations, Pediasure, medication, doctors visits... some will be capable of starting school, once they are settled. I am hoping that what we are doing with April and Molly, a 2:1 child to ayah ratio, will one day be duplicated with all the 103 kids in the home. That is a huge dream that would take lots of money and fundraising, but if we start with these two kids, maybe one day it will happen.

So, most importantly, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to make this possible. These girls absolutely changed my life and I am filled with so many emotions looking at these pictures. Thank you for playing a role in improving their quality of life. Secondly, the need is still there. We want to hit 100% of our goal for the girls' ayah, to secure her working with them for a full year. Sarah also needs to find sponsors for all the new kids, and has many fundraisers going on, including the need to provide them all with immunizations (see below):

My time with SCH changed me. I think of these kids every day, in everything I do. I now see hope in each of their lives, in embrace of (not despite their) disabilities. Please join me by contributing, sharing this post, or even just leaving a comment on Sarah's blog with your well wishes for the kids' future. Thank you!

Lessons From Amulya

2011-09-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Mother’s Day quickly approached. We would be taking all the children to the park to be photographed, holding heart shaped decorations with handwritten sayings like “thank you for loving me” and “happy mother’s day”. Mother’s Day can be a difficult concept for an abandoned child. We wanted to take the day to thank their sponsors, who love the kids as if they were their children, and to continually assure the kids of how loved they are.

The kids were aware that something special was going on as we pulled up, handfuls of the laciest, frilliest dresses we could find. Polos and dress shirts for the boys, earrings and bows for the girls. Not used to such luxurious items, they squealed with excitement. Amulya, one of the eldest at the home, collapsed on the ground in a fit of hyperactive screams. Her eyes unable to focus, her hands jittery with excitement, she could barely contain herself as she continued to hurl herself at the ground, a groaning laugh escaping her lips.

Amulya was the child I found most difficult to deal with at the home. In her mid-teens, she and her twin sister, Dhivena, had come a long way since they arrived at SCH. Dhivena, unable to walk at the time, had taken her first steps on the roof of the house. Amulya was slowly learning to control her excitement. Earlier, if someone had even looked at her, she would breakdown in a fit of happy screams, slapping and throwing things in her oblivious joy.

“Amulya,” I sighed, trying not to show my frustration. “Come on, we will get you dressed.”

Of course she understood not a word of my English, but I took her elbows and tried to pull her to a standing position.

“Let’s go, Amulya,” I said, more forcefully this time.

She responded with a slap to my shoulder, and then a delighted giggle. I rolled my eyes, exasperated and unable to keep track of the number of times Amulya had slapped me since my arrival.

“Fine,” I said stubbornly, leaving her on the ground, “You can wait.”

I scooped up little Esther and carried her, and a bag of dresses and bangles, up the stairs to the office, which would become our makeshift change room. Esther, a toddler who had been misdiagnosed as having special needs, was an orphanage favourite with her Shirley Temple curls and sweet smile. I found the perfect pink flowered dress for her, and after running a comb through her hair and throwing on some matching bangles, Esther was ready for her photo shoot. I stared at this lovely, perfect little child and couldn’t help mourning the loss of her mother; the woman who decided not to care for her for reasons we will never know. I thought of my own mother, and with a twinge of sadness wished I could provide to Esther what my mom provided for me.

I was given little time to dwell on it as Cassia was handed to me, and I found an equally adorable pink dress for her to wear. When the first eight kids were ready, we headed out in the car with our cameras, leaving Chelsea and Corinne behind to dress the next load of kids.

Once at the park, the kids’ eyes lit up. This particular park, the only one in the town, was only open during certain hours. Thankfully, we arrived just as the gates opened and before the crowds had arrived. I glanced over the park quickly, deeming it nothing special; a slide, two sings, a climbing jungle, and some open space with grass and gardens. Certainly not nearly as nice as the playgrounds I had spent hours in as a child. But as I took a second look, I noticed something strange that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“Grass,” Sarah said, as if reading my mind. “This is one of the few places in the city that you will see grass.”

The kids who could walk had sprinted to the swings, and those who couldn’t were plopped in the middle of the grass, letting their fingers run over it with an awed expression.

“The second group of kids will be here soon,” I said to Sarah. “Let’s get started”.
One of the ayahs looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then picked a handful of bright pink flowers from the nearest bush. She fussed over Esther, pinning some to her hair, and leaving others at her neck. Finally she nodded at me, showing her approval. I smiled, Sarah giggled, and Esther basked in the attention. She looked like a princess. The other kids began to crowd around, and we shot their pictures quickly. This first group was easy. Our littlest ones, and those with the least disabling needs, they looked precious. Brent, with his blue and red striped polo, lost his mischievousness for a moment and smiled with big, doe-like eyes, making our hearts melt. I knew his sponsor would be thrilled receiving this picture on Mother’s Day. Victoria, with bright pink flowers in her hair and a fake-gold necklace on, that we had picked up at the shop, gave us a big smile, showing off the bottom teeth she had just lost.

“How could anyone abandon these children?” I thought to myself, watching Victoria boss around the littler ones, as if she really were their sister. And in some ways, I thought, she was.

As I photographed the lovely Victoria, the second carful of kids pulled up, and Sarah began loading the first group back into the car to go home. Esther cried, wanting to go down the slide one more time, but the park was getting busy and we had photos to take. In the last twenty minutes, crowds had begun to show up. Children, mostly by themselves, were running wild and fighting over the two swings. A group of mothers chattered in the corner, and I admired their brightly coloured saris. A pack of teenage boys with gelled hair and bellbottoms sat on the benches, looking angsty. I giggled to myself, thinking how unlikely it would be back home for a group of teenagers to consider the local children’s park the cool hangout.

“Nee-kee See-stah!”

I turned to face one of the ayahs, who was calling my name. She and another ayah were stumbling under the weight of Shalene, our oldest child at SCH. Well into her late teens, and unable to walk or talk, Shalene was quite heavy and trips like this were difficult for the tiny Indian staff, many around her same age. I rushed over to help them, and we sat Shalene in the grass before going back to the car to help the rest of the kids.

“Amulya, you made it.”

Amulya sat in the car, looking quite pleased with herself. She shoved Wendy lightly, trying to get out of the car, unsure of what would await her outside the doors. I became very aware of the eyes on me as these older girls piled out and headed to the park. A few, like Shalene, needed to be carried. Those who could walk did so mostly with a limp or on their tiptoes. Phoebe, completely blind, amazingly led herself to where the group sat. I wondered if she could sense the dozens of eyes staring at her. Certainly, she could hear their whispers.

“People with disabilities aren’t often taken outside here,” Sarah explained. “They don’t quite know what to make of our kids.”

She said it nonchalantly, being used to the reaction with every outing she took the kids on. I tried to swallow this piece of information; that it was socially acceptable to keep a child with special needs inside, where they would never have to be heard or looked at.

“Aaayiiiii!” Amulya screamed, thundering over from the car.

Her eyes wide with pleasure, she didn’t seem to see the crowd of people staring at her, but had eyes for only one thing; the garden.

“Amulya, let’s take your picture.”

I held up my camera to show her, and pointed to a chair we had arranged for her to sit at. Amulya ignored me, or perhaps didn’t even notice my presence. She took off at top speed, and hurled herself at the garden.

“Aaayiiii!” she screamed again.

My eyes widened as I watched her shake the bushes, grabbing fistfuls of the leaves and putting them in her mouth. I took a step forward towards her, prepared to pull her up, but then I heard Sarah giggle. Her giggle turned into a laugh as she began snapping photos of Amulya, rubbing the dirt all over her new white dress. Phoebe, blind all her life, had heard the commotion and now stood beside Amulya, reaching out towards the bushes and shaking them wildly.

“Get these kids out of here. They are ruining the garden!” A security guard (yes, in India, even the parks have security guards) said sternly, watching the girls with great disgust.

Sarah ignored him completely and turned to me.

“They have never experienced nature before. This is incredible!”

I took a step back, taking in what Sarah was telling me. Surely, on Mother’s Day, my goal was to show these kids that they have many mothers who love them. Surely, at some point during the day, I had stepped away from dressing them up and taking pictures of them, and engaged with them on a personal level? I thought back. I remembered scolding Amulya for hitting me, and sending Esther to the car when she wanted to slide, but I couldn’t remember loving them. I couldn’t remember encouraging them to explore these new and exciting surroundings, as a mother would do with her child. Instead, I focused on the timeline, and on the stares, and didn’t notice the beauty in what was happening before my eyes.

I smiled.

“Yeah, Amulya!” I cheered her on, sending a wide smile to the stubborn security guard who glared at us. The other children, equally as excited to see and touch the leaves and flowers, joined her in the garden.

Amulya, oblivious to my epiphany, looked up at us with a big smile, and popped a handful of leaves inside her mouth.

Guatemala and Belize Trip

2011-08-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have 2 trips coming up in the next year. As I already posted about, Sarah and I will be returning to India next summer to work with SCH. This is still a while away so we haven't even begun to plan details yet, although most definitely when we do I will be writing a lot about it! Chris and I are also going to go backpacking in Central American this December. I am not going to be bringing my laptop or blogging, but I do want to write a few posts about it. As we are trying to research now, other travel blogs have been some of my most valuable resources. So, below is our itinerary so far (likely will change, as it has a million times already) and a few highlights of things we will be doing. I have been emailing a ton of friends who have been to Guatemala asking advice, so typing it up in one post will make it easier so I can direct them to the post. If you have any tips of advice or changes you would make, please let me know!

1. Dec26: Arrive in Guatemala City, bus directly to Antigua (45 mins from Guatemala City)- find Antigua hotel in advance (any recommendations?)
2. Dec 27: Antigua – relax, explore, see city sights-Casa Santo Domingo, San Francisco Church, Arco de Santa Catalina, el Mercado
3. Dec 28: Antigua – cooking class at El Frijol Feliz 8:30am - 11:30
4. Dec 29: Trek Pacaya volcano
5. Dec 30: Leave Antigua in the morning, drive to Panajachel- bus from Antigua to Pana is about $12. Spend day exploring Pana, Lake Atitlan, and relaxing. Stay in homestay in Pana
6. Dec 31: Panajachel- celebrate New Year’s!
7. Jan 1: Panajachel. Leave back for Antigua either tonight or early tmrw morning
8. Jan 2: Take a bus to Coban from Antigua (one hour from Lanquin which is the gateway to Semuc). Even better if we can get to Lanquin
9. Jan 3: Semuc Champey for the day, drive to Flores, arrive in Flores at night
10. Jan 4: Day trip to Tikal- Admission Q150, open 6am – 6pm. They recommend arriving early around 6am.
11. Jan 5: Flores
12. Jan 6: From Flores we can get a Linea Dorada express bus to Belize City. The bus will drop you at the water taxi terminal where we can get a water taxi to Caye Caulker
13. Jan 7: Belize, Caye Caulker
14. Jan 8: Caye Caulker
15. Jan 9: Caye Caulker
16. Jan 10: Depart from Belize City, back to Toronto

We are going to do a 3-point flight. Right now at Expedia it has dropped down to $872. We are going to watch it a bit longer before booking. Ideally won't be spending more than $900 on flights, and $1500-$1700 total.

A few highlights for me...

We are already booked to do a cooking class at El Frijol Feliz. This is something we wanted to do in Thailand but never had enough time. During the class we learn 1 main course, 2 secondary dishes, and a dessert for $45 per person. We are choosing to cook tamales, traditional Guatemalan rice, tortitas de papa, and mole de platanos. On the website, under the Menu tab, you can read a description of what each dish is.

Pacaya is one of Guatemala's three active volcanoes. The most recent eruption was May 2010. Lots of tour companies offer treks for about $10. Roasting a marshmellow over the lava is on the to do list!

Lake Atitlan is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world.

We are trying to figure out how to get to Semuc Champey. It's a bit off the beaten track, but we found a hotel right near there (El Retiro) that does pick ups from Antigua. Haven't heard back from them yet, but hoping this works out. According to wikipedia, "Semuc Champey is a natural monument in the department of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, near the Q'eqchi' Maya town of Lanquín. It consists of a natural 300 m limestone bridge, under which passes the Cahabòn River. Atop the bridge is a series of stepped, turquoise pools, a popular swimming attraction. Although it can be difficult to get to, Semuc is becoming more and more popular with travelers." Isn't it stunning?

Of course we won't miss Tikal: Tikal (or Tik’al according to the modern Mayan orthography) is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. HERE is a good travel blog about Tikal. Below is a good video... it makes me want to consider staying in El Remate instead of Flores... will have to look into that...

And then we will be finishing up our trip in Belize, headed to Caye Caulker, a small limestone coral island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean Sea measuring about 5 miles (8.0 km) (north to south) by less than 1 mile.

So that is our plan so far! We did a similar kind of itinerary for Thailand... may not end up following it when we get there, but it will help make sure we can do everything we want to do if we choose to follow it. Any changes, tips, suggestions?

One Day

2011-08-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I lay
Under the moon
And thank God I'm breathing
Then I pray
Don't take me soon
Cause I'm here for a reason

Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around because

All my live I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we dont wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day

It's not about
Win or lose
Because we all lose
When they feed on the souls of the innocent
Blood drenched pavement
Keep on moving though the waters stay raging

In this maze you can lose your way (your way)
It might drive you crazy but dont let it faze you no way (no way)
Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So my negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around because

All my live I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we dont wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day

One day this all will change
Treat people the same
Stop with the violence
Down the the hate
One day we'll all be free
And proud to be
Under the same sun
Singing songs of freedom like
One day

All my live I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day.

*photos taken during my time in India, Haiti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Thailand
Photo 1 = kids begging on the border of Thailand and Myanmar
Photo 2 = Frankel at a clinic I visited for malnourished kids in Haiti
Photo 3 = School in Kenya
Photo 4 = Maya and Raj, beggars in Delhi we befriended
Photo 5 = Boy at the school in Kampala, Uganda
Photo 6 = Dal Lake in Srinagar, India
Photo 7 = Fassika and her neighbour outside the neighbour's home, Debre Zeyit, Ethiopia

Progress

2011-08-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Progress is being made, slowly but surely, on the 2 projects I am fundraising for. At this point, approaching deadlines for both, I have realized that I definitely bit off more than I could chew. But then I see photos like this:

and like this:

and I don't care. I know I have to keep it going. Since my last post, there has been lots of progress for both projects.

First, Andy, Andrielis, and Yoandi are registered at their new school! They are going tomorrow to meet their teachers and get acquainted with the school, and official classes begin on Monday. They look amazing in their new uniforms and they are so proud of themselves. Andrielis has finished her national exams and Andy and Yoandi passed grades 3 and 5 and are starting grades 4 and 6. They are texting me constantly about the new school; today they were super excited about it having a science lab. It is opening a whole new world for them.

The downside is that it is becoming more costly than I had anticipated. Andrielis' full year is paid for. I have paid off a bit of the boys. I got a text today saying the director gave them the book list (I hadn't even thought of books when I made my budget)- the total for all 3 kids was over $700!! Thankfully we have found a way to purchase them used, and a bit cheaper, but it is still significant. I have had to use the rest of what was fundraised for the boys' tuition to meet this need, as it was urgent. Because of this, my bank for the Education Fund is completely empty, and money still needs to be paid. I will focus on Yoandi first. His tuition is 27,000 pesos- about $720 with sending fees. I am working on raising this, but the need is a bit overwhelming right now as I try to send as much as possible and fundraise as quickly as possible. If you can help, please do!

Last I posted about the ayah for April and Molly, we were only at $500 raised. I am excited that we are now at $1030- 47% of the total needed! Sarah is going to go ahead now and hire the ayah to work with them, as the next 6 months are covered. I would like to raise the rest quickly to ensure this stability for the girls. April is standing.... I just feel a major breakthrough for her and now how huge this could become. With 20 new kids coming to the orphanage any time now, they are really going to need this extra attention.

Be Amazing

2011-07-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

It is up to you to illuminate the world.

I am feeling optimistic tonight. Nope, not a dollar has come in about my most recent post, asking for help with my two fundraisers. But today I feel like that is okay. I know it will come.

Perhaps it is the nice weather. The days at the beach with friends, at the park with Chris, the upcoming long weekend. Perhaps it is that I am writing. I have consistently said that over a year after my trip to India, I am still processing my experience. I have decided to write about it. 20 pages in, I have begun pouring out my heart and sharing every detail of those moments I never want to forget. Not sure what I will do with it once I am finished, but it feels good to get it out. And to know that, a year from now, I will be back in India and re-living it. Sarah and I have been talking about travelling the South of India... visiting a yoga ashram for a bit and seeing the sights. I am prepared for India to change me more than it already has.

Today I saw this picture of Victoria. Her hair has gotten so long since last year. She is such a little princess- so giggly and confident. I am inspired by the way she takes on the world, and this series of pictures captures it perfectly.

Life is good! And every day I need to wake up and remember all that I have to be thankful for, and everthing these kids taught me about living each day to the fullest.

Making Progress

2011-07-20T05:43:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Sarah, Jod, and I went to the beach. We came prepared with freezies and pitchers of lemonade, and Jod and I made a sign about SCH. We swam for a bit, and then began our sales. I haven't done a lemonade stand since I was 7 or 8 (hence why we brought Jod along!) but thanks to his cuteness, it did pretty well and we made about $50 for the girls' ayah in India. One older couple gave us a $20 bill. Most gave the 50 cents for lemonade or a freezie, but those 50 cents add up.

It is now crunch time for both the Ayah and the Education Fund. Both of these need to be funded by the end of August.

First there is the girls' ayah. April and Molly have no one in the world except for Sarah, and us. With 82 kids and more on the way, they need this ayah to get the attention they deserve. They need to be stimulated in order to thrive. April is so close- she is standing with her walker and I just saw an incredible video of her taking steps. She has came so far and can only go forward from here. $500 for the ayah has been raised. For those of you with a heart for children with special needs, please consider taking on this project and sharing it in your networks.
Click HERE to learn more!

The Education Fund is going better. Andrielis is completely funded and will be registering at the new school soon. Andy and Yoandi are getting there, as you can read on their blog. They went to the evaluation at the new school, and the headmaster said their grades are too low. She said they have to go to a summer school every afternoon for a month, and then come back to get re-evaluated. There is a need of $50 for this:

I am trying my hardest with these needs, but want to reach out one more time and see if anybody can help. After these projects are funded, I am definitely going to be taking a fundraising break!! But in the meantime, these kids are very close to my heart and these needs are great.

I'm No Mother Teresa

2011-07-16T18:52:00.001-07:00

I just finished the book All I Can Handle: I'm No Mother Teresa: A Life Raising Three Daughters With Autism by Kim Stagliano. I loved it, and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to better understand what life is like as a parent of a child with autism. Not only is it very real and very telling.. but it is funny. It's not often that I find myself laughing from a book, but that was the case with this one.

I spent some time reading Kim's blog today (the author) and came across a post on April 13, 2010 that shared this video. I find myself somewhat hardened to 'pull at your heartstrings' videos. I have watched many documentaries. I have watched many clips on youtube about various issues around the world. I find them informative, but it takes a lot for a video to really make me pause, and to really make me emotional. For some reason, this video did it. I have watched it over and over again and it breaks my heart. Her inability to communicate... the pain she is going through. The pain her family must be going through.

I have always struggled with feeling unmotivated and unfulfilled during the times when I am not travelling and am not wrapped up in international development work. Ever since India, I have been toying around the idea of getting involved on a local level with the special needs community. I have begun volunteering with a little boy with CP, and already, after only one session, I am thrilled with the decision. What draws me to development is the interaction with community members. In India I was able to combine these two interests in a way that really impacted me. As I begin to get more involved with this, I will likely post more about special needs on my blog. I feel a bit all over the place with so many different directions that I am being pulled into, rather than having one focus, but I figure this is the time to do it! This is the time to travel to different countries, to explore different issues and opportunities and discover where my heart really lies. I still have a lot of discovering to do, but I know that I am enjoying the process, and the learning curve I am having as I try to educate myself on special needs.

Pick up a copy of Kim's book. This is something we all need to educate ourselves on.

Wasted Away

2011-07-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

This week I am with 60 kids working at Me to We's Take Action Academy- a week long social justice/leadership camp. Last night we did a Hunger Dinner; kids were separated at random into three groups representing different classes in the world. The elite (in reality... us) were given a meal of four courses. The middle group was given rice and beans. The largest group, those living in poverty, were given just one cup of beans. Presentations and discussions followed about the inequalities in the world.... about hunger, and about other issues facing us.

As we were watching one presentation, a video clip passed on the screen of a baby; wasted away, nothing but skin and bones.. lying in a hospital bed. My heart stopped for a quick moment as memories of Haiti flashed back. I spent a very short amount of time in Haiti; a quick bus trip over from the Dominican where I was living for 2 months. It was a short trip, but one that I won't ever forget as long as I live. The kids are burned into my memory. Two years later, I have forgotten many of their names and faces (with little staff and most being too young to speak, I never even knew many of their names), unfortunately, but I so vividly remember their skin.

Yes, I know it sounds strange. Of the few days I spent in this clinic for malnourished children in Haiti, the 2 things that stand out most for me were the despair, and the feel of their skin. In most places I travel, it is the happiness and the hope. Hunger has a way of breaking that down. I felt despair all around me. It felt hopeless.

When I saw that picture of the baby flash before my eyes, I remembered holding the babies in Haiti. I remember touching them and being shocked. The starvation and dehydration had made their skin like paper. It reminded me of how my grandfather's skin felt, a few years ago when I went to visit him as he was dying in a hospital bed. Silky smooth and thin, but strange. Fragile. I can't put words to how it felt, but when I saw that picture, I could almost feel it again; Hunger.

I spent some time today reflecting on my experiences. As the kids, today, are focused on action planning for how they are going to make a difference in the world once Academy is over, I find myself doing something similar.... Trying to pull together the experiences I have had around the world. Thinking about all the issues in the world I have come across- hunger, HIV/AIDS, discrimination, lack of access to education.... tying these together, learning more about the root causes, discovering my focus. And also taking bits of the strength I have witnessed and modelling myself on these incredible people. Making sure that the people I have met are not forgotten, and that I do something about it. Making sure that I never take for granted the experiences I have had. Making sure I take every opportunity to continue reflecting upon it, learning from it, sharing it, and doing something about it.

Go April Go!

2011-07-06T05:56:00.001-07:00

Here she is walking!! Doesn't she look so cute?! I love how her hair is always in those cute pigtails now. And those skinny little legs... oh my goodness, I miss her! Sarah tells me the physiotherapist slowly nudges the walker forward and she will take steps to keep up. When I was working with her a year ago he showed me an exercise to do with her, where I would hold her up by her armpits and then Sarah (or the physiotherapist or whoever was around) would push her feet to the ground so she would stand). Just to do that (hardly baring any weight) she would scream and have a fit. Never once was I successful in getting her to stand, so I am thrilled to see this progress.

As I have posted about before, we are still working hard at raising the money to hire an ayah for her and Molly. See the chipin and link below for more details. We have raised 14% of what is needed! So close! Help if you can :)

Click HERE to learn more!

April and Molly

2011-07-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Click HERE to learn more.

We have raised $195 so far for the girls' ayah- 9% of what is needed. I desperately want to get to $1000 by the end of July. At $1000, Sarah will hire the ayah. This ayah (caregiver) will work ONLY with Molly and April; a 2:1 child:ayah ratio. When she is finished feeding and cleaning them, she will have more time, with only 2 kids in her care, to play and interact with them. They will spend less time waiting for their turn, and more time being loved on and being stimulated.

A few weeks ago April began standing up with the aid of a walker. She even took a few steps. Words can't describe how excited I was when I heard that. She is at a critical point where she could really thrive and learn to stand on her own, and then walk. I think that an ayah's love and attention could play a huge role in this.

Sarah and I have a fundraiser planned for 2 weeks from now, so hopefully that should bring in a few hundred. I have been using Blogs for a Cause to fundraise for this, but haven't had any blog design orders in the past 2 weeks. That meant only $25 raised in June.

I hate having to reach out and ask people, really I do. It is awkward.. it is uncomfortable. But if I don't do it, who will? Who, aside from Sarah (who has 98 other kids to fundraise for) will stand up for the rights of April and Molly?

If 30 people donate $10 we will pretty much be at $500 raised. The majority of you won't notice that $10 is gone. But when you see pictures and hear about Molly and April with their new ayah, you will feel the pride knowing that you played a role in that.

Please share this on your facebook, on your blog. Encourage those you know who have never donated before to give up one lunch- $10- to support 2 amazing little girls in India. Thank you!!!

PS Picture to come of April STANDING up!!! So excited to see it!!

The Short Term.

2011-07-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

Forgive me in advance... this post is likely to be a bit rambling and all over the place. I have so many different thoughts on "short term missions" and they are not quite organized in my head yet.

Lately I have seen a lot of posts on different blogs I read about "short term missions". Most (if not all) of these bloggers are involved in social justice through their religious background. They use the term "missions" and I put it in quotes as I am quoting them, and I do not generally associate this term with the work that I do (not coming from a religious background).

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. (Wikipedia)

That said, aside from the evangelism, much of the work that a missionary does is work that I do as well when I am travelling, and so I have found these posts to be particularly interesting, as I always want to work on and improve the way that I go about this.

The best post on this that I have read is from the Livesay's blog (long term missionaries to Haiti): Thinking Through STM (short term missions). Are Short Term Mission Trips The Answer?, respecting the poor, and bloggers, charities, and the question of poverty tourism are 3 other posts I would recommend reading.

I picked up the book When Helping Hurts and couldn't get through the first page. It was all very heavily Christian/evangelical and I simply couldn't relate to that. I may give it another try, as I think there is valuable information in it, but I don't think it is for me.

I totally agree with most of what is being said, but not all. I agree that many short term missions go very, very wrong. I have been a part of them. I have made so many mistakes, and have done things that I am embarrased of now, looking back. I have taken an obscene amount of photos of myself with kids I don't know, I have waltzed around and handed out money to anyone who asked. I have made mistakes. I have also learned from those mistakes and now, particularly on my most recent trip to Uganda, I consciously think about every.single.thing I do, and what the negative and positive effects of it could be. I find myself becoming quite critical of my own actions and the actions of other missionaries, knowing how easily things can go wrong. I try to avoid orphanage (with SCH as the exception) and try to partner with established organizations, mostly focusing on education. I think partner is the key word, as I try to build a long-lasting relationship with the organizations I volunteer with, to produce a higher level of sustainability.

That said, I have been a part of and seen organizations that exploit local people to look good, to make themselves feel better, or whatever their motive may be. I have seen and have taken part in 'the hand out' where the rich, white missionary will bestow gift upon gift to the 'poor orphans' or 'poor children' to create a good photo opp. In most cases these gifts are pointless (hair bows or stickers) and even if they are items that are needed (shoes) they are brought in from the developed country and thus the developing country is losing business, as the economy is not being supported.

One thing I strongly disagree with is that people who want to go on a short term mission should instead use that money and donate it to charity. I have seen this statistic thrown around often: Americans spent $1,600,000,000 on short-term missions (STMs) in 2006 alone. Yes, from just looking at that stat it would seemingly make sense for those short term missionaries to instead donate the money it would cost to go on their trip to charity. I spent about $3000 for my trip to Uganda. Could CUS, the school I was volunteering with, use that money? Absolutely. That money would have gone so far. But instead, using that $3000 for me to travel and work with CUS for those 2 weeks has (in my opinion) brought the school more than that one-time $3000 could have bought. I have committed to working long-term with CUS. I have sponsored another child and taken on the volunteer role as Sponsorship Coordinator, developing a new program that will bring at least 4 times the amount of donations that they were receiving before. Had I never worked with these kids in person, and gotten to know them, that $3000 would have eventually run out. Now that I know these kids, I can't turn my back on them, and my support to CUS will be long term and will total much more than $3000.

Absolutely I think short term missions need to be changed. There needs to be more education on how to build a relationship, and much less action simply for the photo opp. During my trips, in Haiti and Ethiopia in particular, I made mistakes. I didn't have the support of a reputable organization and there was far too much handing out of money (in the case of Ethiopia) and poverty tourism (in the case of Haiti). Yes, I wish I could take that back and re-do things that I had done. Reading the blogs of other long term missionaries, I am comforted by the fact that they, too, have made mistakes. Although at the same time, this is discouraging as I recognize the high number of people who must be making these mistakes, and the impact it could have.

However, I am looking at the bigger picture. Yes, we all screw up sometimes. Live and learn. In the end, I can only speak for myself, and I feel as if the work I have done (while it hasn't been perfect) has done more good than harm. Certainly in my own life, but also in lives around me. That said, I still have lots of room for improvement. I wish that it were easy, but it is so complicated. I wish that every person, before heading out on their first trip, would read these posts that I linked above. I think I would have done some things very differently had I had this knowledge of how things can go wrong. At that point, I knew nothing of sustainability and it didn't even begin to occur to me how someone might feel if I waltzed into their community and started snapping pictures. Thankfully, I now think about these things a lot more, but I know there are many people who don't, or who aren't at that point yet.

So, I don't there is a black and white answer to the question, Are short term missions doing more harm than good? I think it depends on the organization, the country, the missionary, and the level of research and thought taken before the trip. I encourage everyone considering going on a trip to read the links shared above, and to consider deeply what is being discussed. For those, like me, who have already begun this work, I think it is important not to get discouraged. We can make change in our lives and in others', it is just important to really think about each of our actions and the impact they will have on the lives of everyone else involved.

Genesis

2011-06-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Genesis
Girl, Born December 21, 2006

HELP, I HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRANSFERRED!!

More info coming, child is blind and was recently transferred to the institution.

Genesis breaks my heart – such a beautiful girl. Our last pictures of her she was playing on a rocking toy, and now she's lying in an institution. Please, please, someone rescue this little girl! She would have so much potential, in a family setting.

These children are truly living on borrowed time, and families should be home study approved before an official commitment can be made for this child.

Bethany
December 2006
Osteogenesis Imperfecta

From volunteers who met her: This radiant girl lives in a Russian orphanage. She suffers from OI, Group 3. She was bedridden for the most of her life; until she was almost 4 years old she could not sit and could not turn over. She had multiple bones broken by simply moving around in bed. Only one year ago volunteers found her in a cast from head to toe. They have begun raising money for her rehabilitation in the American Medical Center in Moscow. As a result, she is now sitting vertically first time in her life. The first time she was able to look out the window, she saw the bleak Moscow landscape of late November and there was no limit for her joy! She takes such pleasure in being able to see that the street cleaning guy has a “soft” hat and that birds are “fuzzy .” Despite having such a handicapped childhood, Bethany is unbelievably bright. At three and a half she knew all colors, 1 to 10 numbers, could recite many children rhymes, and she has a perfect music pitch! According to the nurses, Bethany radiates positivism and humor to such degree that children from the hospital gather in her room for a good laugh, a song, or a story. When it was time for her to leave the hospital and to part with the nurses, she broke down crying for the first time, despite all the physical pain of the hospital procedures. She desperately wants to belong, to be part of a family.

More information is available for interested families. Potential families must have good medical coverage and be comfortable financially.

Daphne
Girl, Born April 25, 2006

Daphne was born with CP. She is not able to walk and is significantly cognitively delayed. She is described as an affectionate and responsive child, and she would so benefit from having a loving family of her own.

She is facing transfer very soon, and will remain bedridden if she is not adopted.

Above are just three profiles of kids waiting for families through the Reece's Rainbow program. The first one, Genesis, is one I have been checking back on hoping that she has found a family. She looked so much happier in her previous photo. I am reading The Boy From Baby House 10. A great read. I will write about it later, along with a list of other books about special needs that I have picked up over the past few months.

I had no idea over a year ago that India would change me so much.

In good (amazing, incredible!) news, it looks like 2012 is going to mean a return trip to India for me!! It is too far away to finalize anything yet, but hopefully at this time next year I will be getting to see April again :) I got the most amazing news two weeks ago that using her walker, she is STANDING! This has the potential to be huge for her. I knew she could do it but to hear that it is happening brought tears to my eyes. I have been told that a picture will be on its way for me soon. I am SO happy for her!

World Vision Update

2011-06-10T05:36:00.000-07:00

I posted earlier about making the decision whether or not to cancel my World Vision sponsorship. I got a ton of comments, emails, and facebook messages offering advice, so thank you!! Many of you asked me to keep you updated, so here it is! Also surprisingly, many of you were going through or had been through similar decision; I guess it is inevitable once you get more involved in international development.

I got a nice email from a staff member who found my blog. She didn't pressure me to continue sponsoring, but instead said she respected my decision and told me about Connecting With Communities, a website which allows sponsors to learn more about their child's community. She asked if I could write a blog post/share photos about my experience meeting Tsehay, which I said I would love to do. From the main page, if you click Ethiopia, and then Hidhabu Abote, you can see Tsehay's community (my photos are not up yet, I still have to send them in). While I am glad they have this new site, it wasn't very developed and still wasn't really enough to make me continue my sponsorship, or feel good about where the money is going. I had asked if I could contact Tsehay's new sponsor to give him/her the photos, and they weren't sure, so this seemed like a good option where I could share the photos this way.

Last night I called World Vision to cancel. I wouldn't say the woman guilted me into not cancelling, but she could tell I was on the fence, so she offered other options. Basically, she told me I could put my sponsorship on hold for up to 6 months. During this time I will still be able to send and receive letters/updates on Tsehay (her annual update usually arrives in August or September) but I will not make payments. This will give me more time to think it over. I liked this idea, so payments will be held under November 28th. She also mentioned co-sponsoring. During these 6 months, I can look for someone to co-sponsor Tsehay with me. I am willing to continue sponsoring Tsehay if I pay $10/month. Sponsorship is $35/month, so I am going to look for someone to pay $25/month to sponsor Tsehay with me.

So, if anyone is interested in sponsoring through World Vision, let me know and we can talk about co-sponsoring!

So that is where it has been left. I am still sponsoring Tsehay, and have until the end of November to make a decision.

World Vision

2011-06-04T09:23:00.001-07:00

What to do....?

I have been sponsoring a little girl named Tsehay through World Vision for about 5 years. She is 10 years old and lives in rural Ethiopia with her parents and 2 younger brothers, Hailu and Abdisa. I don't know if I should continue my sponsorship...

Why I want to cancel: World Vision is a huge organization. I don't feel much connection to them, especially now that I have worked with so many grassroots organizations that are in such great need. I donate 10% of my income every month. $35 of this goes to World Vision. There are 3 causes that I am desperately trying to fundraise for who could so badly use this money. In all cases of those 3, 100% of the funds go directly to the projects, where with World Vision, 19% goes to administration (salaries, advertising, etc.) Only 81% goes to the projects, and even then I am not really entirely sure what the projects are in Tsehay's community and how she benefits from them. I feel like that $35/month could go so much further if put in one of the three projects I am working on (CUS, SCH, Education Fund). I don't feel like my money really makes a difference one way or another with World Vision, I don't know enough about what is being done with it, and I don't like the high admin rate.

Why I don't want to cancel: I have been sponsoring Tsehay for 5 years. Child sponsorship is something I had wanted to do for so many years, and I can remember fighting with my parents about it and them telling me no. At the time (I was in high school) I was mentoring a little girl through a Big Sister program, and together we made and sold bracelets and funded her sponsorship. We were even interviewed for the paper, and it was a huge source of excitment and pride for me at the time. I remember SO looking forward to getting letters from her, writing letters, picking out gifts to send, etc.

Then, in 2009, I planned a trip to Ethiopia with the main reason being that I wanted to meet Tsehay. I spent the day with World Vision, went to her house, met her family, and took her, her brother Hailu, and her grandfather out for lunch. It was a moment I won't ever forget and it meant SO much to me to be able to meet her. THIS POST is the one I wrote when I went to meet her, if you want to read about it. At the time I raved about World Vision, but I knew very little about interntional development at that time. I didn't ask any questions, think critically about what they were telling me, etc. It is almost embarasing reading that Ethiopia blog now and seeing how much my thoughts have changed on things like gift giving, giving to beggars, sustainability (I doubt I even knew that word then!) Anyways...

I still look forward to getting new pictures of Tsehay and I always gush and show everyone when I get one. I have watched her grow, and have those incredible memories of meeting her, and that makes it difficult for me to even think about cancelling that sponsorship.

So, what to do?

I want to be smart with my money. I want it to go somewhere that will really make a difference. And yet I also don't know... that could be the case with World Vision, and I would feel sad giving up my sponsorship of Tsehay after so many years. I am torn!! Thoughts??

Goodbye, Uganda

2011-05-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

I am writing this from the airport, and I will admit I am heartbroken to leave. I went into this trip not to get attachments to the kids. I have attachments with kids in the Dominican and in India, and it is hard to leave. I figured that this trip would be more like those I had to Ethiopia, Haiti, Thailand, and Kenya; a learning experience and one where I try to do and see as much as possible, but not one where I leave hugging kids with tears in my eyes. I was wrong. Sometimes I guess you just can’t plan these kinds of things, and some of the kids I met are people I will never forget.

In the morning we finished profiling more children who arrived at school later in the week. There were about 10, so it didn’t take too long. Rebecca then arrived at the school! Last time I saw her she asked me if I could buy her an outfit. I said yes, but felt strange about it and discussed it later with Hellen, Kate, and Sarah; is it okay to give her a gift like this? What is the line between a hand up and a hand out? When is an appropriate time to give a gift, if there is one? They assured me it is fine and put my worries to rest, and I came to agree that my past 3 years of sponsorship have not been ones of showering her with gifts, so doing something special like this for her, while I am here, is perfectly okay.

We headed out with Rebecca and Emma, the son of Hellen, as he is leaving for boarding school this weekend and Kate promised him she would buy him his school shoes. Rebecca was super excited to go shopping, and had a very specific idea of what she wanted to get; flat, plastic shoes and leggings. Two days before, when Rebecca asked me if I could take her shopping, she mentioned the leggings. It is funny because she is 15 and at that age where she is maturing and dealing with the balance between getting older and staying respectful, in Ugandan society. All her life she has worn long dresses or skirts. She leaned in close and whispered, “Nikki, do you wear leggings?” When I told her that indeed I do, she burst out giggling and told me she wanted a pair. During our shopping trip, she requested a lotion that lightens your skin, which again shows the stage of life she is in. This girl is so beautiful though, it makes me sad that she would want to alter her appearance like that, and of course this request was turned down!

We arrived at the market and she spotted a pair of black leggings with a pink stripe, with a corduroy skort on a mannequin. The skirt is above the knee, and I am guessing that must be somewhat rebellious as she wouldn’t let Hellen see that purchase once we got back. We took it down off the mannequin, she held it up to herself, smiled shyly, and raised her eyebrows in that Ugandan way of agreement. She liked it.

As we went to find her shirt and shoes, Kate was robbed. I felt so bad as it was so frustrating. We were warned that this area of Uganda is notorious for its robberies, but as someone pressed up super closely against her back, another swooped in on the front and stole her iPhone. We were all pretty frustrated with this hectic area of Kampala by now, and hurried the kids along to pick out their next purchases. Men in Uganda are usually quite respectful to women, at least in my experiences, but the men working the stalls here would all reach out to try to touch us, use every pick up line in the book, and just be downright disgusting. We were getting quite fed up with it, but Rebecca laughed at our lesson on how to glare at men who call us their baby/darling/etc. “Rebecca, if any man ever talks to you like that, you stare him in the eye and say, ‘I am not your baby!’” She laughed, and agreed she would.

We found a pretty brown top and another longer red skirt, and then finally after looking through hundreds of shoes found the plastic flats she so badly wanted. Emma was much easier and picked his shoes out quickly, and then we got on the matatu just as the rain started (...again). We wanted to take the kids out for lunch, and we agreed on Indian; our favourite, and something new to them. It is a quite nice restaurant; similar to those back at home, and it was obvious they felt out of their element. While both kids were chatty during the shopping trip, they were quiet during lunch and kept watching us out of the corner of their eyes to copy our behaviours (how to eat using the naan, etc.) They both ended up clearing their plates though, so I would say their first Indian food experience was a success!

When we got back to the school, Rebecca tried on her oufit (the long skirt, not the short one and the –gasp- leggings!) so we could take some photos. She was so shy coming out of the house and blushed like crazy as I gushed about how gorgeous she is.

We walked down the street to the house of baby Immaculate, and she was home! For the past few days she has been at the clinic, and I have been worried about her. She has Down Syndrome, and with that, heart issues. Her mother, who speaks good English, wasn’t home, so I wasn’t able to get details on how it went, but she looked like her happy, smiling self and was excited to come back to the school with me to play. All too quickly it was time to say goodbye. I hugged Immaculate extra tight and had her wave bye-bye to me (one of the words she knows, and does so cutely!), then I went into the classroom to say goodbye to the kids. I have learned not to make a big, dramatic thing of it. I quickly announced that it was time for me to go to Canada, and for them to study hard and that I would mail photos and letters soon. To say goodbye, I chased them all around the classroom, giving each one a big kiss on the forehead. They all ran screaming from me, trying to avoid my lips, but then being sure to get close if I missed them so I could corner them and smother them with kisses. It was a happy goodbye with lots of laughs. The kids went home but Mariam and Sylvia hung back a bit. Mariam walked up to me briskly and said, in a way that made me think she had been rehearsing in her mind what to say, “Thank you, Nikki, I will miss you”. I gave her a big hug and kiss and told her to continue to study hard and to remember that as her sponsor, I will help her get through school all the way until she is the lawyer that she wants to be. She nodded and listened intently and hugged me extra close. Then Sylvia. Sylvia is my sister’s sponsor child and one of the kids who is super special to me. She is always first to hug me in the morning, first to greet me with a big smile, and last to say goodbye. I gave her a big hug and began telling her how special she is, how far she will go in life, and how she has been like my little sister these two weeks. Her eyes were filling up with tears and after a big hug, she left. As soon as the kids were out of sight (or so I thought) I let out the tears I had been holding in. They were peaking through the trees at me, and some came back for an extra hug after I pulled myself together.

Next was Rebecca. She asked us to “escort” her home so that I could meet her family and say goodbye there. We walked to her house; about 15 minutes from the school and nearly an hour from her high school. It is a beautiful walk through plantain fields, over rickety logs that cover rivers, and through little paths that zigzag between houses. We arrived at her house and we stood outside for a bit as she went in, not quite sure of what to do. I have heard negative things about her aunt and uncle, so was hesitant about whether I would be welcome. She assured me that I was, and that her uncle wanted to email with me (we exchanged information) but neither were home (they were both at work). We went inside her house (a tiny, cramped house for 10+ people) and the neighbours all crowded around to me us. Rebecca seemed so confident as she proudly introduced me to her friends as her sponsor, and they all got so excited and thanked me with big, happy eyes. One friend of hers is sponsored somehow (perhaps through an organization) and her sponsor is also from Canada, which she was excited about. Rebecca’s brothers, Dennis and Nicholas, are 7 and 5. Dennis is HIV+ as their parents died of AIDS, and they live in the village with their grandfather. Rebecca lives with her grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins. Barbara is 10, Mercy is 7, and Arthur is 4. There are some other older cousins and their children as well, who also live in the house, so it is quite packed. The visit was pleasant and gave me a small look into Rebecca’s life. She seemed comfortable and happy in her home, which made me happy. I gave her a big hug goodbye and said that I can’t wait to hear about when she is the most famous doctor in all of Uganda. Getting to meet her was one of the highlights of my trip.

We walked back to the school (jumping over streams, and climbing across logs in the process) and it was time to say goodbye to Hellen and Innocent and the kids of that family, and later, Sarah and Kate. The kids living in Hellen’s house all hugged me close, and then I noticed that little Ivan wasn’t around. Ivan is maybe around 9 years old, and his parents were killed by the LRA when he was young, so he now lives with his aunt Hellen. I went to look for him, and found him outside the house with big fat tears rolling down his cheeks. Ivan is not one of the kids that I particularly bonded with, but every day I would give him a big hug when I arrived and throughout the day we would playfully exchange tickles, hugs, football games, etc. I wiped up his tears and gave him a big hug, but I think he is really emotionally scarred from his parents’ murders, and having people leave his life is particularly hard on him. I had written Hellen and Innocent a letter of appreciation, and exchanged big hugs with them. They are both so wonderful, and I learned so much from them. Innocent is more organized than anyone I know (especially in Uganda!) and Hellen is like a Ugandan mother to all of us. I am going to miss them. We went back to Red Chilli, finished packing, and I was off. I said goodbye to Sarah and Kate; they are staying a bit longer and are headed up north to Apac for a few days. Love those girls, and couldn’t have asked for better people to travel with. (Sarah: I am going to miss our night-time snuggles tonight!)

I felt sad leaving for the airport. I kept replaying exchanges with certain kids in my mind, and thinking about all that I had learned. With each trip I go on, I feel like I grow so much as a person. Uganda taught me a lot and I will take something away from all the kids and families I met. Three years ago, when I began sponsoring with CUS, I never imagined that I would see it in person and play a role in implementing the sponsorship program. After having finished this trip, I am more committed to this school than ever. Sponsorship is $10/month, and trust me when I tell you it goes to a good cause. Empowering these young students to become educated will change the future of Uganda. And each one of them deserves it so much.

Wonder World

2011-05-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Today was the much anticipated field trip to Wonder World (previously called Didi’s World, just had a name change)! Kate had taken the kids 2 years ago when she was here last, and those that went still talk about it. Well over 100 kids showed up to school this morning to come (perhaps 130 kids??) with huge smiles. As we arrived at the school on boda-boda the excitement was so obvious. They were outside getting ready to load the three buses and were cheering and running and pushing in line with huge smiles. We loaded the buses and a half hour later we arrived at the front gates of the huge amusement park. The first bus with the youngest kids had arrived before us, and when we got off the bus we saw them on rides, and they ran screaming to us, each one with the biggest smile I have seen. The power went out shortly (welcome to life in Uganda!) so the rides couldn’t be operated for about 30 minutes, but we took all the kids to the playground part of the park. Imagine 130 screaming, smiling, running at top speed children. Their smiles were infectious, it was amazing.

The power came back on and we began going on the rides. We had the entire park to ourselves, and everyone ran from ride to ride, screaming and trying to get in line first. The rides were geared to different ages, so the little kids went on some and the bigger kids went on others. I spent most of the day with the big girls. Now that Mariam knows I am sponsoring her, she doesn’t let me out of her sight and she and Sylvia dragged me by the hand to every ride they wanted to go on. It has been years since I ran from ride to ride and it brought back a lot of good memories. Unfortunately, my stomach can’t handle the rides like it used to, but I managed to hold my own with them!

We started on the octopus, which I rode with Sylvia. She laughed the entire time; a huge belly laugh. After some of the smaller rides, the kids decided to be daring and try “the boat” (the pirate ship; the one that goes back and forth with 4 or 5 rows on each side). I sat with Mariam and Darphine and we sat close to the middle. They were terrified and clutched on to me, but were fine. Mariam covered her head in my chest, but pretended it was because the sun was in her eyes, not because she was scared, hehe. Sarah was in the very top row that goes the highest. Every single girl in her row was balling her eyes out, begging for the ride to be over. All the kids scream “OH MAMA!” when they are scared. Darphine was saying, “Oh, my life!!” Poor Felix leaned over the side of the boat and threw up! They were terrified, and yet loved it and wanted to do it again. This time we went in the highest row and I sat with Mariam, Sylvia, Molly, and Jackie. Molly, the youngest and tiniest, was loving life, and Jackie was handling it okay, but Mariam was hiding her head and crying, and Sylvia was screaming and balling her eyes out and clutching on to me for dear life. Afterwards, they all claimed that they loved it! Funny girls.

We served lunch to the kids (posho, rice, cabbage, beans, and beef) and gave each a de-worming pill. Hellen has been unable to provide this for them at school, and many parents can’t either. It should be done every term but this hasn’t been the case, and is something the nurse suggested for many of the kids with swollen stomachs and abdominal pain. We lined the kids up and gave a half a pill to the little ones and a full pill to the older ones. Then, it was time for swimming! The pool is reserved for kids aged 12+, but it isn’t really reinforced and so we brought in some of the 10 and 11 year olds as well. We had bought a few bathing suits and Hellen still had some from 2 years ago when Kate visited and brought some. It wasn’t enough for all the kids, but we had them swim for 10-ish minutes and then switch their “swimming costume” with a child waiting to swim. Some of the littler ones got impatient and just went swimming in their undies. Not a single one of the girls knew how to swim. A few of the boys did, but it was mostly girls and terrified doesn’t even begin to explain how they felt. Kate, Sarah, and I went in first and they would clutch to us like monkeys. We would take them in a circle and then take another girl. Some of them are 15 years old so it was hilarious. Two of the teachers- 30 year old women, came in as well and did just the same thing; clung to us like monkeys and were terrified! Darphine, usually so shy, was screaming her head off and a huge smile never left her face. Mariam was scared and only stayed in for a short while, mostly sitting on the side of the pool with her feet in. Molly, as usual, was the bravest, and managed to try kicking her legs as I held her stomach and pulled her across the pool.

After a long time of swimming, I got out shivering but warmed up quickly from running again from ride to ride and trying to keep up with a pack of 11 and 12 year olds pulling me along and fighting over who could hold my hand. I went and played with the little ones a bit and watched them go on some of the ride. It is funny how protective we are of our kids in Canada, and how these 3 and 4 year olds roamed the park by themselves all day long. They really take care of each other. By 4:30 we were sunburned (well, us muzungus), tired, and happy. The kids sang the entire way home and gave us lots of big hugs when we got back to the school at dusk and they made their way home. I know from the happy screams I heard all day that this is something they will remember for a long time!

My Two Girls!

2011-05-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a fantastic day with an even better ending; Rebecca came to visit, and I was able to do a home visit with Mariam, my other sponsor child! We arrived around 9:30 and had a very productive morning of finishing (!) the sponsor profiles! Every single child who has attended CUS this week (as I said, they trickle back after break, so others will come) has been photographed, interviewed, and has written a letter and/or drawn a picture for their current or future sponsor. So many kids need sponsors in order to get this school off its feet, but I feel productive having that first step completed. I took the role of photographing the younger children, and then interviewing the older ones. The interviews went well and many kids lived with both parents, which was a nice surprise. One girl, Sarah, is a story I won’t forget. I met her on Saturday, as she and some other kids were at choir practice. She is one of the best singers in the church choir, and her eyes crinkle when she smiles; she is beautiful with big dimples. Monday and Tuesday she hadn’t been at school, but I would see her every day after school and would urge her to come. She was all smiles until I mentioned school, at which point she would become withdrawn. I was so excited to see her at school today and gave her a big hug and made a huge deal out of it. When I did her interview I learned the reason why. Sarah is a housemaid. She is 12 years old and only in p2 (with 7 year olds) because she has spent so many years not getting her education. Her mother is alive and lives in the village. Sarah lives with a family near the school and works for them, and they send money back to her mother. They hadn’t been allowing her to go to school, but with the presence of sponsorship, and with Hellen going to talk to them, they have agreed to let her come, although Hellen is doubtful she will be able to make it all the way through her primary education. Sarah is in need of a sponsor, and I hope that perhaps having a sponsor will help the family she lives with allow her to continue coming to school.

After school we went on two home visits. First we visited the house of Gloria, who Sarah is sponsoring. Gloria is in p4 and is a real sweetheart with great English. She lives with her mother, father, 2 sisters, and 1 brother, and there is another daughter who is living in the village. Gloria’s mom speaks very good English, and Hellen tells us the father is a drunk who has caused problems in the past for the family, but she seems like a wonderful mother. When Sarah told her that she was sponsoring Gloria, she was very overwhelmed and had tears in her eyes. It was really touching. I love meeting those mothers who really work hard to give the best for their kids.

Next up was Mariam's house. I have only just begun sponsoring Mariam but she is so sweet and I love her already. She lives with her mother, father, and 6 siblings. She is in p5, Onyongo Alex is in p4, Namyeri Sharon and Atyeno Sylvia are in top class, Okuma Francis is in baby class, Namyenge Agness is 2 years old, and Awino Alen is just 3 months old. It was a fairly nice house compared to others I have seen; it was 2 rooms and made of brick instead of mud. There is an outdoor kitchen. Mariam brought us inside and a pack of young kids (her siblings) all came over to greet us. Her mother spoke a decent amount of english and we chatted for a bit about school, about what being sponsored means, about her family, etc. I gave Mariam the doll I brought her and her face lit up. She is just super cute with her big gap-toothed smile! I handed out stickers to her siblings and they covered their foreheads in them. Mariam shared the doll with little Agness, who warmed up to me by the end of the visit. I asked her mother if I could take a photo, and she went to the other room to change and get the baby dressed. It is always interesting to get a look into what the homes are like, and I feel like talking to her mom and telling her that I plan on supporting Mariam through secondary school will enforce this and will encourage her to continue sending her to school. Mariam is super spunky... a little pipsqueak of a kid with long skinny legs and a toothy smile, but who I have seen on multiple occasions threaten the bigger boys! In the photo she is the one in the yellow uniform. Her little sister Agness is carrying the doll. She makes me smile :)

When we got back from the home visits Innocent had arrived back from town. He had been to Didi's World (the amusement park) to confirm our trip tomorrow and get the final costs (prices have been raised, so we are thinking we will cut the zoo trip in order to bring all the kids to Didi's World). I paid the year of my sponsorship for Mariam upfront, and he used it to buy text books for the school. He had a big bag full of the books and it was so exciting seeing how far the funds went. I flipped through the books and they are amazing; I can't wait for them to be put to use. We went outside to say goodbye, and then Rebecca arrived! So of course we changed our minds and ended up staying much longer. I have written about Rebecca before, and the challenges we have had with her aunt. Her aunt is a twisted woman and wants the worst for Rebecca. Hellen has had problems with her for as long as Rebecca has been at the school. She makes Rebecca work at the market a lot, while her kids do nothing, and so I have only gotten to meet with Rebecca for a few short visits. Rebecca is amazing. She is such an inspiration to me. We sat down outside the school today and everyone made themselves busy with other things, giving me a chance to get to know Rebecca more in private. She was not shy at all this time, and was quite chatty (and has excellent english). She watched the video of me bungee jumping and was in awe, it was really funny. She said I am "smart", but that she would never do it and the rope is too long! She had her geography and history exams today and I looked through her notebook and her writing is so neat and geez, she is waaaay smarter than I will ever be! Her notebook is impressive and I can tell her studies are important to her. She wants to be a doctor, and told me so proudly with a giggle. We talked about her family, about her brothers who are back in the village, and about school. We talked about the differences between Canada and Uganda and looked through some of my photos so she could see the Nile. As we talked, Hellen continually looked on and shooed the other kids away from joining in on our conversation. It was really sweet because Hellen looked at me with such a satisfied, happy, motherly look about her. She really understood how important this meeting was to me and Rebecca, and she was so happy that it finally worked out and I could spend more than 10 minutes in a crowd of people talking to her. As we talked more and more, we got closer and closer and by the end she was leaning close to me, clutching on to my legs as she spoke. Kate said that whenever I looked away she would stare at me with huge, happy eyes. It warms my heart to hear that, because it is so important to me that she knows how much love I have for her. She means so much to me and to be able to sit in privacy and get to know her and her amazing self is something I am so grateful for.

Nurse Esther

2011-05-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Today was the second day of school, and the day that we had arranged for the nurse (Esther) to come and give a check up to all the children (now slightly over 100, many children came today). The nurse arrived shortly after we did and we set her up in one of the empty classrooms (baby and middle classes went together in one classroom). She had a notebook and thermometer, although not much else. She said that next time she will bring more supplies, but that this time was late notice. Oh well; better than nothing. We began with baby Hellen (the baby sister of Sylvia/Joseph/Javel/Immaculate/James). The three youngest children in that family really worry me. They are such an amazing family, but living in such dire poverty. It is common in this area for children under 5 to pass away, and Immaculate is 4, James is 3, and Hellen is not yet 1. Immaculate and James have worms and malnutrition. The nurse thinks Hellen has a UTI, and suggested we bring her to the clinic for a test, which we will do. Compared to other children their age around here, they look sick to me. She checked up all the kids and wrote down whether they were okay, whether they need simple treatment (de-worming meds, cream for fungal infection, all of which we bought today) or whether it is more serious and we need to take them to the clinic.

We started with the baby class and then moved up until all kids and teachers had been checked out. The teachers talked to the nurses about migraines mostly. Lots of the kids, especially the little ones, had worms. Many had fungal infections. A few had mouth infections and need dental care. Others need urine and blood tests for different sicknesses. We plan on taking them all this week, if we can manage to arrange it. Baby Hellen is my top priority. She never smiles, always has a runny nose and a cough, and has big swollen cheeks. James and Immaculate do as well, and so we are going to really make it a priority to get them healthy. So much of it is proper food, but there are other factors as well.

Most of our day was spent getting kids (3 or 4 at a time), bringing them to the nurse, escorting them back and getting others. Only one cried (he didn’t want his temperature taken). I also spent about an hour interviewing all the p3 kids. The cook didn’t show up today and Hellen was busy making lunch, so I went solo with no translator, but the kids were old enough to speak a decent amount of English, and so it went well. Many of them didn’t live with their parents; some had died and many were in the village. Most said rice was their favourite food. One cutie said that his hobby is studying!

It was interesting seeing how many of the kids have medical issues; particularly fungal infections and worms. I am hoping we can arrange to bring them to the clinic this week, and that will be interesting for sure! On a happy note... baby Hellen tolerated me holding her for a whopping 30 seconds before she cried!! It is always a strange feeling when a 7 year old can soothe a baby better than I can, but I guess the little kids here take care of the babies just as much as the mothers do!

It was also interesting to get a better look into the frustrations of running a school in Uganda. Hellen has called and called the primary 5 teacher and he hasn’t answered his calls and hasn’t shown up to school. They are attempting to make due, but I walked into the classroom and three of the girls had fallen asleep! (update: he finally showed up the following day). Similarly, both cooks didn’t show up. This means no food for kids. We provided them with bananas on the first day, but that is all they got during the whole school day, and if we hadn’t been there it would have been nothing. The following day only one cook showed up (of two), so only half the kids could eat (the kids that stay the whole day; those that go home at lunch time went home having no lunch, even though those little ones are more prone to sickness and malnutrition). Because they can’t pay high salaries, these are common problems.

Back To School!

2011-05-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

Last week was term break, so no children were in school. Today was the first day back, and the day that we begun major profiling of the kids to either update their sponsors, or find them sponsors. I found today particularly interesting because I learned a lot about the challenges and barriers that stop kids in Uganda from going to school. Many of the kids weren’t there. Of the 170 children at the school, only about 60 or 70 were there. Hellen told us it usually takes at least a week for the kids to slowly trickle back. Attendance rates are always a challenge due to many factors; sickness (malaraia, most often), going up north to the village, needing to work, and not having the school supplies among the most common. The kids need to have 12 workbook (lined notebooks) each term, with three terms per year. This costs 6000 shillings per 12 books, which is less than $3, but many families cannot afford it, especially if they have multiple kids going to school. I talked to several kids in the community who attend other schools who told me they didn’t go back today because they don’t have their books. Some of the kids who arrived had their full 12 books, but others had 6... 4... or none. Some didn’t have a uniform and some were barefoot, even though it is supposed to be a requirement that the students each have uniform, shoes, and books. Hellen tries to accept every child despite whether they can afford these things, but it is not always easy.

It was exciting seeing the kids in their uniforms sitting at their desks, despite the low number of students. Tomorrow we have paid for a nurse to come and check all the children, so we expect numbers to be much higher tomorrow. Wednesday is a field trip to Didi’s World, so again, it should be high and hopefully they stick after that. We began the day sitting around Hellen’s kitchen table (right next to the school) with Hellen and Innocent, going over the needs of the school. We made a cost breakdown for everything; teacher salaries, text books, registering the school with the Ugandan ministry, lunch, uniforms, etc. It is a long list and we have prioritized what is most important. Currently at the top is the lunch program and teacher salaries. Teachers at CUS get paid about half of what teachers at government schools get paid. They have a quick turn around rate because teachers will find jobs that pay more and will leave. They can’t hire good, qualified teachers because the pay is too low, and then the learning of the students suffer. We want to be able to pay the teachers what they would get at a government school. We also want to add fish, ground nut paste, and fruit to the students’ meals to make it more nutritious. Hellen said that when they don’t have the money to provide lunch, attendance drops rapidly. I found books to be of particular importance. The entire school only has a few text books, and most are several years old, from before the government changed the curriculum, so schools shouldn’t even be learning anymore. Ideally they should have a book for each child, but all they are asking now is for one teacher copy.

For the past three years, I have sponsored 2 kids with CUS; Rebecca and Adongo Kate. Recently Adongo has moved to Tororo, a few hours away. She had been tossed around from family member to family member and is not in school anymore. She is 10 years old. Hellen is going to try to get her to join Hope Home when it opens this summer (still waiting on papers from the government) but in the meantime, it doesn’t look like she will be at CUS, so I wanted to choose a new sponsor child. There are 4 girls in the p5 class that I have really bonded with. As I said before, Kate, Sarah, and I have each divided the grades to focus on separate ones. I am focusing on p 5 and 6. Sylvia, Molly, Jackie, and Mariam are all in p5 and are best friends. Molly and Jackie are sisters to Scovia (an Escape secondary student, friends with Rebecca) and three years ago I sponsored Sylvia for my sister for Christmas. Mariam is the only one of the four not sponsored, so I decided to sponsor her. Nabwende Mariam is 11 years old and wants to be a lawyer when she grows up. She likes skipping and is from the Tororo region of Uganda. She lives with her parents and 6 siblings (4 sisters, 2 brothers, she is the eldest). Her mother doesn’t work but her father is a fisherman. When she is posing for pictures she smiles with her mouth closed, but sometimes I catch one of her with her teeth showing and she has the cutest gap tooth smile, it just makes me melt! She and Sylvia are best friends and are always holding hands. All 4 girls speak excellent English. I was due to make payment for Adongo Kate, and now that I have switched to Mariam since Adongo is gone, I decided to just pay a full year upfront to get some of the text books purchased. Sponsorship of $10/month will cover a variety of things including those things I listed above, but I figured that since I am here I might as well just pay it all now and see with my own eyes where it goes.

(photo left to right: Molly, Sylvia, Mariam, Jackie)

We set up a good system. Sarah went to each class and had the kids write a letter or draw a picture (depending on their age, the youngest student, Divine, is not even 3 yet) for their sponsor or future sponsor. Then they would go to Hellen and Kate to be interviewed; name, age, hobby, family situation, etc. Then they would come to me to get photographed (one just a headshot, once holding a whiteboard with their full name on it) and to get a gift; underwear for the girls (thanks to Please Mum who donated 200+ pairs) and packages of stickers for the boys. It was interesting seeing the results of the interview. It seems most kids have at least one parent who has passed away. We have kids from all sorts of tribes; Acholi, Karamojong, Luo, etc. Some of the kids reported issues in the home such as abuse, and one girl, when asked how everything in her home is going, stood up and refused to speak again (she is a student who has had issues in the past, sadly, with abuse of all kinds). In all cases, nothing was pushed, and if they didn’t want to talk they certainly didn’t have to, but some were eager to open up. The littlest students were terrified and barely spoke, but as they got older they got more talkative.

Dinah and Ketty (the twins) stopped by at the end of the day and we spent time with them for a bit. I love getting to know the secondary school girls, as I have read so much about them and have been rooting for them to excel. I thought of them as such serious girls when I first met them, but they are getting more outgoing with us. We played in the compound and had a huge group of kids doing the chicken dance, the time warp, and the Macarena! And then Rebecca showed up! It was great to spend a little bit of time with her, although it was getting late and we had to leave before it got dark, as there have been lots of robberies on boda after dark. She had just come from school. She has exams all week long, so unfortunately won’t be able to come to Didi’s World on Wednesday. But it was great seeing her, and I gave her the book that I had brought for her; one that I had read many times when I was her age, and the copy which I still had, with my name and the date I bought it (2002) inscribed on the inside, with a note to her. She was a bit chattier but still quite shy. Her English is excellent. She said she would stop by before school tomorrow so that we can spend more time with her, as both times it has been very short. She has two exams every day this week until Saturday, so she is studying hard! I have the two most amazing sponsor kids :)

Note that that bottom picture is me and Rebecca. This girl inspires me to no end! The top photo is Prisca (Among Patience Priscilla). She is 4 years old, wants to be a teacher when she grows up, likes dolls, and is from the Luo ethnic group. She lives with her parents and Hellen tells us the father is an alcoholic and is abusive when drunk. Prisca is seriously the happist child I have ever met. I have never seen her without a smile on her face. She needs a sponsor at $10/month to help cover the fees I mentioned earlier to improve her quality of education. Please leave a comment if you are able to!

Religion and International Development

2011-05-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday... church day. In the past, church has made me nervous. I grew up not going to church, and most kids in my school never went either. Religion was something that wasn’t widely talked about. When I started doing international development work, I began seeing religion more and more often, and began getting curious about where I stood on the topic... what my beliefs are.

That said, I have had some bad experiences. Ethiopia was the first time that the organization I was working with was Christian (not by choice, but because it was the only NGO I could find that did short-term volunteer trips). It really turned me off Christianity as I got the impression that all they wanted to do was convert with a level of insensitivity. Having rarely even been to church, I was sneered at when I was not comfortable praying in front of a large group of people. To me, religion is a very personal thing and while I do have beliefs and I do pray when I feel the need to, it is never something I am comfortable sharing with strangers and having people treat me so negatively made me even surer that organized religion is not for me. Later, I worked with another Christian organization, and from day 1 I felt judged because I do not go to church or didn't identify as Christian. I was never asked what my beliefs are; it didn’t matter. I have never experienced more hostility and judgement in my life than I did during that time, and I again decided that if Christianity is all about such negativity and hatred for others who don’t think the exact same way, it is not for me. I sporadically attend a Unitarian church at home, and it is all about accepting everybody, learning about world religions, and promoting social justice. This seemed to go against everything I believe in.

Needless to say, I was nervous about going to church today as it has been uncomfortable for me in the past. When we arrived at the church, we were early, but Hellen began singing as people came in, and we were greeted with great excitement.... visitors! Muzungu visitors! Baby Immaculate arrived (with a diaper this time, teddy bear from Nana in hand) and families whom we had visited greeted us happily, proud that they were already friends with these visitors. We were given seats at the front, and for the next four hours (!!) we enjoyed the service. There were 2 preachers, 2 choirs (adult and children) and a time for testimonies.

At the beginning of the service, Hellen pulled us up to the front and we each went to the microphone and introduced ourselves and shared a bit about who we are and how much we have enjoyed getting to know them so far. I nervously thanked them for welcoming me into their church, their community, and their homes, and told them how much I have learned from them and how I will take their stories and the memories of our time together back home with me. Sarah hilariously quoted a bible passage in an attempt to be inspiring (I won’t bother explaining that any further... you had to have been there, but we are still laughing about it!)

After one of the men preached (about the 7 things God can’t tolerate; lying, killing, etc) Hellen asked those who have testimonies to come up and share. About 7 people came to the front to share a story about what they had God to thank for. Of those seven, three were the parents of the three families we had done home visits in earlier this week; Bena’s mom, Sylvia/Joseph/Javel/Immaculate/James/Hellen’s father, and Rita’s mom. Bena’s mom, her usual emotional self, began cheering and sharing excitedly about how we had visited her house. Rita’s mom called the sponsoring of her child and the home visit “a miracle”. Sylvia and family’s father touched me the most. He had been at the stone quarry when we went to visit, and we hadn’t met him yet. Most fathers are absent or not very good parents. He loves his children so much. He shared with everyone how grateful he was that his daughter Sylvia had the opportunity this week to see the Nile River, and how surprised he was when he came home earlier this week to see his 6 kids with new clothes after having us visit. His words spoke a lot to me, particularly coming from a father.

After the testimonies, there was singing. This was my favourite part. I admit that the sermons didn’t particularly touch me, although I could see that the congregation enjoyed it, but the singing made me emotional. The children’s and adult’s choir performed, and every single person, even the toddlers, were on their feet, hands raised, dancing up a heavy sweat. With eyes closed and hands raised, I could see their faith shining through. I could see how important their belief of God is to them and how it gets them through many of the tough things they experienced.

I was never drilled on what I believe, I never felt judged or as if I am a bad person, and our differences didn't even matter. I simply felt welcome. And the welcoming joyfulness that I experienced as I was brought into hug after hug after hug made me inspired. Ugandan church is definitely something I would do again, and something I will never forget. (On a sidenote, the NGOs I had a negative experience with were both run by foreigners (Americans, in both cases), and this is run by a local Ugandan... interesting...)

The rest of the day consisted of meeting with 4 of the 6 Escape girls (Scovia, Dinah, Ketty, and Darphine) and hanging out with them and telling them about their sponsors and getting updates, then going for a swim and watching the monkeys by the pool again! Tomorrow is a big day; school starts up again after term break and we have 170 children to update and many of those to find sponsors for!

Not As Planned

2011-05-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got pooped on. Great. But let me tell that story later. First, from the beginning of the day:

As I have posted about before, some things happen very slowly here, and not everything goes as planned. Yesterday was a Saturday and we hoped to visit an orphanage for children with special needs that we have read about online. It is located in Kireka, the same region of Kampala that the school is in. Since we couldn’t find a phone number or address online, we figured we would ask around and that someone would be able to direct us. Wrong!

Several people told us they knew where it is, but after driving around on boda boda for about a half hour (and losing money in the process... of course they “knew” where it was, they were getting money out of us!) we never found it. We found a few schools and rehabilitation centers, but being Saturday, they were closed, and it was not the orphanage we were looking for. If anyone is familiar with the Kireka Home for Children With Special Needs, let me know!

We ended up playing at the school and getting to know some of the kids better instead. As I began this post with, I got pooped on. Yep, thanks Immaculate. Immaculate is the 3 year old with Down Syndrome who is the sweetest child I have ever met. She is so funny. Today I brought her a teddy bear that my Nana had made. She was so excited and was cheering and giggling and hugging her “baby” and then I felt it..... poop on my leg. Ohhh nasty. Most babies here don’t wear diapers. She flipped up her dress and looked at her butt, and then my leg, got a solemn face, and walked herself and her “baby” home to get cleaned up. I spent the next thirty minutes washing and sanitizing!

The rest of our day was spent with the kids. The choir was practicing for church the following day and it nearly brought tears to my eyes watching them. The girls held their baby siblings as they crowded into a small classroom with tin sheet walls and a dirt floor. One of the boys played the drum and they sang, swaying the babies back and forth to the beat like little mothers. They sang with such pride and emotion and it was a beautiful moment. Outside, the other kids were trying to peak into the classroom to watch as well, so we encouraged them to put on their own singing/dancing performances. We did boys vs. girls. Boys went first, and let me tell you, boys will be boys anywhere. Their “song” was a bunch of screaming and jumping up and down to get on the camera! As they sang, the girls sat quietly in a row on the sidelines. The girls went next and sang a beautiful African song, whilst the boys ran across the view of the camera, in front of them, making faces and trying to get on film. Needless to say, we voted that the win went to the girls!

While our day didn’t work out exactly as planned, it turned out to be a good opportunity to get to know some of the kids better, to organize some of our donations, and to see the beautiful signing of the children’s choir.

Rebecca

2011-05-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

A young girl named Rebecca is the main reason why I decided to come to Uganda. I have been sponsoring her for over 3 years, since December of 2007 when my parents sponsored her for me as a Christmas gift. Since then, I have sent money for her school, sent the occasional letter and photo, and continued my sponsorship now that she graduated CUS and has started secondary school. Teachers at the school recognized me from photos I had sent in letters to her, which I thought was funny, and they asked me how my trip to India was last summer, knowing from a letter that I had been there! She wrote me a letter once two years ago, asking when I can come and meet her, and I knew ever since then that at some point I would have to come. Rebecca’s parents have died of AIDS and she lives with her emotionally abusive aunt and uncle, who don’t treat her well. She is very intelligent and is going to go far in life, which I told her in every letter I wrote. Over the years I have looked forward to getting updates on her, but never really realized the impact that sponsorship had on her.

This week is term break after exams, and Rebecca had been travelling up north with her family. I had been excitedly anticipating her return all week, but thought it wouldn’t be until later. Innocent, her teacher from last year, called her aunt and asked when they would be coming back. She said they were en route to Kampala, but traffic is heavy and we were leaving soon, so I expected I would meet her the next day. Just as we were about to leave, Rebecca arrived back in Kampala and came straight to the school.

Sarah, Kate, and I all stopped what we were doing and walked over to the school’s front entrance where Hellen was talking with Rebecca. Kate had met her before on a trip 2 years ago, so she was tearing up from the beginning, knowing what an amazing kid Rebecca is. I gave Rebecca hug after hug and began excitedly asking her questions; how is school, how was your trip, how are you, I am so excited to finally meet you, etc etc etc. Finally we all just began laughing because Rebecca had stood there for 5 minutes straight in almost dead silence, continually bringing her hands to her face and tearing up. She was completely overwhelmed and in shock. The look on her face was priceless when I told her how special she is and how I have been wanting to come to Uganda for 3 years just to meet her. It is a moment I won’t ever forget, and it confirmed for me how amazing child sponsorship can be. It is not just me sending money for her school. It is offering her a support system and making her feel special.

Rebecca’s story is much like that of Cinderella, but with an aunt instead of a stepmother. Her uncle is a kind man, I am told, but he works in Iraq with a security job and the family rarely sees him. This is good for the family as he makes about $300/month, compared to the $60/month that many others in the community make. He and his wife send their children, around the same age as Rebecca, to a pretty good school, but they will not pay school fees for Rebecca. They recently sent her brother, who is also HIV+, back to the village.

Rebecca’s aunt is a strange woman. I haven’t met her, but have heard a lot about her and the challenges Hellen and Innocent have had with her over many years. Thankfully she is allowing Rebecca to go to school, as that wasn’t always the case, and I was worried that she wouldn’t attend secondary school. But she is controlling and makes Rebecca work a lot (culturally acceptable here for kids to work, but it is only Rebecca, and not her own children). She wouldn’t allow her to go to the Nile River with her friends because she had to work at the market. I guess she wouldn’t consider for just that one day having one of her own kids work, and allowing Rebecca to take part in this day. She wouldn’t allow her to visit Sseko with us either as she had chores to do. Innocent tells me it looks promising that she will allow Rebecca to come to Didi’s World (amusement park) with us next week, so I am hopeful. I will be relieved when the paperwork for Hope Home is ready, so Rebecca can move in and won’t be under the care of her aunt any longer. Her aunt is waiting for this day as well, as she wanted Rebecca to go to a boarding school so she would have one less child in the house.

Right now though, I am still on a high from meeting Rebecca. I am hopeful I will get to spend more time with her, and make sure she knows that I will support her, and then if she keeps working hard, she will be able to achieve everything she dreams of.

Shopping Ugandan Style

2011-05-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

After our visit with Sseko we took Hellen and Darphine out for lunch. I am not a fan of Ugandan food... interestingly, it is the first country I have been to where I don’t like the food. I had a bit of rice, but didn’t eat too much. Darphine ate lots though, and enjoyed an orange fanta. Next we had to go downtown to buy some soccer balls for the school, and then enough food for the next three months of breakfast and lunch at the school. The kids get porridge for breakfast and posho and beans for lunch. We want to make this more nutritious, so hopefully we can secure the funds to do that through the new sponsorship program ($10/month instead of the prior $35/year, so it won’t just cover uniform but will cover food, teacher salaries, books, etc). First we got the soccer balls. I had never been downtown Kampala before. I was surprised to see skyscrapers. Prior to this, I hadn’t seen any beggars in Uganda. Downtown this isn’t the case. There are many people from the Karamojong tribe who beg in the streets. They are traditionally agriculturalists but due to lots of issues (I am not too educated on their history, but am going to research it more) they have been driven from the land and don’t have the skill to do anything else. They have resorted to begging, which is so sad. Many of them tattoo their faces, and this, along with the look of them, reminded me a lot of Ethiopians. I spent some time researching their tribe today, and interestingly they migrated from Ethiopia around 1600 AD. I heard from Kate that parents will leave their babies on the streets to beg, and cross the street or go nearby where they can watch them, but they leave them by themselves with their hands out, as they think a baby by itself will get more money than a baby with its mother. Twice on the ride I saw babies, maybe 18 months, sitting on the sidewalk all alone. Another 4 year old boy ran up to the car beside us with his hand outstretched. No matter how many times I see child beggars, it always gets me. And never before have I seen baby beggars.

Getting places in Kampala takes so long. There isn’t enough roads, there isn’t a single traffic light, and traffic is awful. I know that this is Africa and that I have to be patient and go with the flow, but sometimes it can be so hard. Sitting at a standstill for so long, getting carsick, having everything take so long... it can be hard! We drove to the food market and Hellen haggled for food. We usually stay away when she is haggling because if they see muzungus, they will jack up the price. Fuel prices are up, and so food prices have already doubled and in some cases tripled. It is awful. Lots of food riots going on in Kampala and lots of kids hungry because their parents can now only afford half the amount of food as they had prior.

After we bought the food, we headed back to the school for a bit and played with the kids. Most people in Uganda speak Luganda, so we have been trying to learn a few words... so far, it isn’t going well! Many of the kids come from the North, so they speak a wide variety of other languages as well, but English and Luganda are the main ones. We played with the kids for a bit and then Sarah and I headed to do some souvenir shopping at a market downtown. I got a few things, but much of it was similar to what I had seen in Kenya, so I didn’t need to buy too much. The paper beaded jewellery is something that is unique to Uganda, at least from my experience. I have never seen that anywhere else, so the paper beaded bracelets I got are my favourite souvenirs. Also, I love knowing that the funds go to supporting Hellen and the school.

As I said, I am not a huge fan of Ugandan food and neither is Sarah. We found an Indian restaurant next to the market, and I was sooo excited to get some Indian food inside of me! Most of the food I eat at home is some type of rice dish, usually with spicy sauce, so I have been craving some spice. Ugandan food is quite bland. It felt so good to find this restaurant! We headed back to the guest house and I am typing up my blogs on Microsoft Word now. Power and internet have been on and off, and so once I get a chance, I will post this to my blog. Dates may be a bit off as posts will be delayed due to the lack of internet!

Sseko

2011-05-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

This morning we hired a car to drive us about a half hour to the office of Sseko, a fair trade shoe company that I have heard a lot about. I first heard about Sseko about a year ago. I bought a pair in the winter, so hadn’t been able to wear them until today. They are sandals with ribbon so that you can tie them in different styles. They are so unique and beautiful and there is a huge market for them.

We brought Hellen and Darphine with us. Hellen is always interested in learning more about other work being done in her country. Darphine is a 12 year old girl who graduated last year from CUS. She is one of our Escape Scholarship girls now enjoying secondary school, where her favourite subject is biology. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Darphine is one of the shyest children I have ever met. She was tough to get a word out of, and when she did speak I had to put my ear very close to her mouth to hear what she was saying. She speaks great English and told me that she has 3 younger siblings and that her best friend is Apio Betty (another Escape girl). She must have a wild side to her, because when I showed her the video of me bungee jumping, she is the only person who said she wanted to do it too! Every other Ugandan thinks we are crazy! As Sseko promotes higher education for women, we brought Darphine along to inspire her towards completing secondary school and then University, and showing her by their example that it is possible. We invited Rebecca as well, but her aunt said no (again). I am going to devote an entire post to Rebecca, and I promise that is coming soon...

A woman named Cameron (from Texas, but has lived in Kampala working with Sseko for a year) greeted us at the gate and brought us in. We met the women working for Sseko and she showed us the process of making the sandals, which was interesting. She then brought us into the office and explained the story of Sseko. I read the blog often so knew much of this, but not all, and I was glad she went over it as Hellen and Darphine knew nothing, and I thought this would be especially interesting for them. Sseko was founded 2 years ago by a woman named Liz, who was volunteering in Uganda. She was working with a school founded by an organization called Cornerstone. It was a girls secondary school. Hundreds of girls apply to be accepted into this school, but only 25 are accepted, purposely from different tribes from all over the country so that they can learn about peace amongst different ethnic groups. It is more than just a secondary school, it is a leadership academy. These girls are among the best of the best, however when they graduated, Liz noticed that many went back to their villages without the money to go to University and with few jobs available. She wanted to help them help themselves.

Liz came up with an idea for a product that is now the Sseko sandal. The first year, she hired 2 girls who had just graduated the school to help her make the shoes, paying them a fair wage so that they could go to University. In Uganda, there is a 9 month period from the time that you graduate secondary school until the time that you begin University. Sseko hires girls for these 9 months and pays them an excellent wage so that they can save for University. They are also train on skills like typing, and they have people in the field they hope to go into (nursing, business, social work, etc.) come in and mentor them. As I said, the first year they hired 2 girls, the second year they hired 5, and they now have 6 girls who will soon be starting University. They have 14 other full time staff members who work for them, brought in from other NGOs, mostly for women who have been sexually exploited.

Sarah bought a pair of shoes, and I bought a different coloured ribbon for the shoes I already have. We stood with the women and chatted a bit with them, and they showed us some of the different ways to tie up the ribbon. I love the idea of social business, and love the Sseko product. It is unique, and there is a market for it both in Uganda (I got so many compliments on my shoes from Ugandans today) and in North America. Best of all, it provides hope, education, and employment for 20 amazing Ugandan women. In the future, with a growing market, it can support even more!

Go buy a pair of Ssekos... or two!
http://www.ssekodesigns.com/

Bungee Jumping!

2011-05-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

I did it!!! I went bungee jumping!! Oh my gosh, scariest thing ever. All week we have tried to explain to Hellen that we wanted to go bungee jumping, but most Ugandans don’t know what it is, and it is hard to explain. Later on, when we showed her and the kids the videos, they laughed hysterically, or their faces went white. So funny.

Earlier when we were taking the kids to the Nile, we were separated into 2 buses. The other bus (with Kate in it) had an attempted robbery twice. Two times on the highway a different man jumped out and tried to slash the bus’ tires; the first time with machete and the second time with a board covered in broken glass. Apparently this is common up north, but has been happening more and more often in Kampala and Jinja. Our bus was never targeted, likely because Sarah and I were sitting in the back so they couldn’t see muzungus in the car, where as Kate was up front. Both times, the driver swerved and avoided it, but because of this, Hellen sent her brother Innocent to protect us and go along with us. He also made a great photographer!

We arrived at Adrift where the bungee jumping takes place and nervously signed up. Two other girls from somewhere in Europe arrived shortly after us to jump as well. It cost $80 (more than I had thought) but it turned out to be well worth it. A Canadian guy named Will works it (his wife also lives in Uganda doing HIV/AIDS research) and I had him reassure me that no one had died before! My heart began pounding at this point!

It all happened very quickly. He weighed us, we said goodbye to Innocent and gave him the camera, and then we made our way up the big tower. I had “called” going first days before, but when I got to the tower and looked around, and I chickened out and made Sarah go first. Prior to this, she had been nervous and I had been excited, but once the time came, she was excited and I was nervous! I was second, and the other two girls were behind us. Innocent had my camera below, and I held Sarah’s to take photos/video of her, and then handed it to the girl behind me to take photos/video of me. I have an amazing video and will upload it as soon as I am home and Internet is better.

I watched as Sarah sat in the “throne” and had her feet tied up. She then hopped to the ledge, they shouted “three, two, one, BUNGEE’ and off she went! I was going nuts videotaping her, and was shaking already! She screamed up at me from the boat below that I would love it. I made my way to the “throne”; the chair where they tie up my legs. I was scared that if I pointed my toes it would slip right off, but they assured me that was impossible! I hopped over to the ledge and listened to Will’s advice not to look down. He asked me if I was ready and I said no! I was sure I couldn’t do it. He gave me a pep talk for a few seconds, and then it was time. He told me to jump out as far as possible, as if I was doing a big belly flop.

“Three, two, one, BUNGEE!”

I bent my legs (they felt like jelly) and jumped out. Oh my gosh, it was terrifying doing that jump, but as soon as I did I loved it. The adrenaline was pumping through me and I began screaming once I hit the bottom and starting bouncing back and forth. My hands felt tingly! I grabbed on to the paddle that the guys in the boat were holding out, and they pulled me in. As soon as I was in the boat I sat with my head in my hands for a few seconds, shaking like a leaf and needing a break. Sarah and I were so giddy after that, and for the next half hour I could still feel it. Well worth the $80, and we made it back to Kampala safely with Innocent’s help. What an amazing, amazing day!

Nile River

2011-05-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we arrived at the school at 8am to take all the Primary 5 and 6 students on a field trip to the Nile River! School doesn’t start until Monday (term break) but Innocent (Hellen’s brother and their teacher) got in touch with all the parents to let them know, and all the kids who were back from the village were ready at the school waiting for us when we arrived. Sarah, Kate, and I have split up the grades so that we can make sure each grade is taken care of in terms of sponsorship. I am in charge of Primary 5, 6, and the secondary students (there is no P7 as they have all dropped out or gone back to the village), so I was excited to get to know this group. 24 kids were coming, and not a single one had laid eyes on the Nile River before. They are all learning about water in their science classes.

In typical African fashion, the buses taking us didn’t arrive until 10:30, but I spent time getting to know the kids, and snuggling with Immaculate (not Immaculate who needs a sponsor, the 3 year old Immaculate with Down Syndrome). I am so in love with her! Just wait until I get home and can upload a video... you will fall in love too! Four of the six Escape Scholarship (secondary school) girls were there; Dinah, Ketty, Scovia, and Betty, and it was fun getting to know them. Darphine was on her way back from the village (but we spent time with her today, more on that later) and Rebecca’s aunt needed her to work in the market (more on that as well). Dinah and Ketty are twins, and are both very serious girls. I sat next to Ketty on the bus ride and it was hard to crack a smile out of her, even as the younger kids were going crazy cheering and singing as we approached Jinja, the city of the Nile. Betty is a strong leader and the other kids seem to look to her. Studious Scovia is a teensy little thing and brought her notebook and pen, and was busy scribbling down notes on the Nile throughout the trip. Her three siblings (Jackie, Molly, and Fred) were on the field trip as well. They are all very close in age. Having heard about the Nile all my life, I was just as excited as the kids.

We arrived in Jinja and had lunch first; posho, matoke, rice, chicken, ground nut sauce, and beans. Then we headed down the steps and saw the Source of the Nile. A guide stood with us and explained all about the Nile, and Lake Victoria (where the Nile flows from). He was great to the kids and tested them on things like asking them to name three counties that the Nile flows through (Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt) and three countries that Lake Victoria is in (Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania). It was really quite educational and they were all listening intently. Then, the part they had all been waiting for; the boat ride! Our guide brought us down to the Source of the Nile and we boarded a big boat that fit us all. None of the kids know how to swim, and even Hellen was scared (last time when she came with Kate two years ago she refused to get on, bus was brave enough this time!) but the kids loved it. They were saving seats for us muzungus to sit beside them, and splashing their hands in the water and enjoying the ride.

I know for me, it was pretty cool to see the Nile River with it being so famous. It was just as wonderful getting to know the kids, and watching them experience it for the first time. I loved getting to know some of them better. Sylvia and Mariam are best friends and are always seen holding hands with big smiles on their faces. Ivan’s parents were both killed by the LRA when he was young, but he has been taken in by Hellen, and although it is clear that he is still emotionally scarred from his past, when he smiles, his eyes light up and he has a mischievous look about him, even though that is so far from his personality. Definitely a successful field trip and tourist attraction at the same time!

Plan Canada

2011-05-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Plan Canada has an office in Toronto and is an NGO I have heard lots of great things about. They are very similar to World Vision (who is better known, I think) but isn’t religious, which I like. We organized to have a visit today with Plan Canada’s Kamuli project, about 3 hours northeast of Kampala. Wanting to get as much out of the visit as possible, Kate, Sarah, and I sat down last night and made a list of questions we had. We got to talking with the staff today, and I learned SO much. But let me start from the beginning...

A Plan Uganda staff member named Lucky and our driver Eric picked us up this morning at 8am. We headed out on the long 3 hour driver to Kamuli, a rural area where Plan Uganda works. We chatted for most of the 3 hours, getting to know Lucky and Eric and learning about their experiences with Plan, and what Plan does. When we were nearly there, we stopped for snacks and Plan covered everything. For the entire day, they didn’t charge us a thing, and made us feel so welcome, going out of their way to make us comfortable and enjoy our time. That says a lot about the organization they are. Plan sponsors 39,961 children in Uganda, and 13,000 in the Kamuli project (there are 4mother project areas). One, Luwero, has an ebola outbreak so they didn’t bring us there, even though it is closer to Kampala than Kamuli.

We arrived at the office in Kamuli and met with more staff members, and learned more about their mission. They operate under 6 program pillars; the right to education, the right to water/sanitation, the right to community security, the right to protection, the right to participate as citizens, and the right to protection and assistance in emergencies and improved resilience to natural and man-made hazards. They have 3 campaigns; Because I’m a Girl (all girls schools, latrines and supplies for menstruating girls so they can go to school, vocations for teenager girls like tailoring and hairdressing), Learn Without Fear (advocacy against corporal punishment in schools, good child:teacher:parent relationships), and Universal Birth Registration (getting all sponsored kids birth certificates for free, as this is needed to start school and many kids don’t have it).

As I said, we spent a lot of time asking questions, and I learned a lot about life in Uganda and how NGOs deal with different issues that come up. Most families in this area rely on agriculture (sweet potatoes, rice, maize, and beans). Maize is the only cash crop... the rest are simply to feed the family. Rice is a cash crop as well, but not all families grow that, they primarily grow the others. During rice farming season, many kids are pulled from school to help out. Plan goes to each family, finds the children who aren’t in school, and talks with the parents about why they need to not pull the child from school. We asked about children with special needs, as Sarah and I both have a growing interest in that. They struggle with this as there are few options and no schools for the deaf, blind, etc. in the area. They have sent 3 children to special school out of the area. Lucky actually has a 6 year old daughter named Divine with severe cerebral palsy, and it was touching seeing how much love she has for her daughter, as she showed us pictures, and then discussed how her son wants to be a doctor so he can help his sister walk and talk. He is only 4 years old

We spent the next several hours visiting different Plan projects in the area. First we went to an HIV/AIDS project, that promotes testing and counselling for couples. They hold meetings where positive adults and their children can come together and discuss issues they are dealing with, how to overcome the stigma, ARVs, etc. They were in the midst of a meeting when we arrived, and one woman stood up and shared her story. Monica was tested positive for HIV in 2000, and she later convinced her husband to get tested as well. He is also positive, and was at the meeting beside her. They have four children, of which one is also positive. She began ARVs in 2005 and is proud that her home is running well, that three of her children are not positive, and that she convinced her husband to get tested. She left us feeling quite emotional as the crowd of women and men clapped, and I looked at the pride shining in her eyes.

Next up was Kamuli Girls’ School, a primary school for girls, part of the Because I’m A Girl campaign. It was funded by Plan Germany and is absolutely beautiful, with boarding rooms, a big dining hall, and lots of classrooms for the 360 children who attend (some board, some do day school). It is a term break after exams, but some girls who board were at the school and 11 of them came over to talk to us. They were all in Primary 7 (the last year before secondary school) and were excited to show us how good at English they were. I went through each one and asked their name and what they want to be when they grow up. Among their dreams were a lawyer, a surgeon, a doctor, a pilot, and an accountant. It is beautiful to me seeing such intelligent and confident girls.

Next up was a maternity health clinic. The maternity ward was funded by Plan Germany as well, and it had a delivery room and several beds for mothers and their babies. Three babies are born here a week. Next door was an immunization clinic funded by Plan Canada (woohoo!) The room was packed with mothers and their tiny babies, all coming to get their free immunizations for things like polio, measles, and hep B. Most babies I meet are scared of muzungus, but these babies were so happy and smiley!

Later, we went to a youth group called Nakiwulo Agaliawamu, where youth aged 14-24 are invited to take part in a pig program. 25 youth (15 boys, 10 girls) are given pigs. When they reproduce, they must give one back to the project to let in new participants, and they sell the rest to make a profit. Next to that was a banana plantation, which they also use to sell and to eat. Nearby was a women’s group led by Plan. 15 women (and 3 men) meet every Wednesday, and they were meeting as we arrived. They have a lock box locked shut with three locks. Each lock has a different key and three different women hold a separate key, so that it can only be opened when all three of those women are together (and thus nothing can be stolen). Each Wednesday when they meet, they bring either 500 or 1000 shillings (they choose) to put in the box. If needed, women can request a loan (one woman received a loan of 20,000 shillings today to pay fees for her kids to go back to school after break on Monday) and they each have a passbook where it is recorded how much they have loaned out, how much they have put in the box, etc. Since these women don’t have access to a bank, this is their community bank. When the session is over, they get back everything that they put in, so it teaches them how to save. When they get a large lump sum back, they are more likely to use it on house repairs, school fees, etc. There are very strict rules and fines for anyone who doesn’t follow these rules. If you are late, you pay a fine. If you leave the room without asking permission or skip over a step of the process, you are charged a fine. The women seemed to like the structure, and benefitted from learning how to save money. Some women save 10,000 shillings a week! Before we left, we introduced ourselves to the women, explained who we are and thanked them for letting us learn from them. We asked if one of them might be able to share how this program has affected her. A woman named Jennifer raised her hand, and told us about how so many women in the community are wanting to enter the program. Before, all her money went to food, with nothing left over. Now that she is learning how to take care of her money, for the first time she is able to afford other things aside from just food.

Our last project was a borehole, where kids were crowded around pumping water to bring home. We headed out for a late lunch (it was 4pm by that point) and enjoyed getting to better know six of the Plan staff members. Again, this is something they generously covered, which touched us. They were nothing but welcoming. We said goodbye to our four new friends, and at 5pm headed back to Kampala with Lucky and Eric on the long ride home. We weren’t back at the guesthouse until 8:15pm, and we parted ways with Lucky and Eric with an invitation to stop by the Kampala office next week. It was a long day with lots of driving, but I feel like I learned so much and have a newfound respect for a great NGO working around the world.