Haiti is a country of nearly 9 million people, 80% of which live beneath the poverty line. This means that 80% of the population lives on less that $2 a day. Poor living conditions, natural disasters, and the depletion of forests and fertile soil all lead to this extreme amount of poverty. With extreme poverty comes sickness, disease, malnutrition and severe injury. When I hear this I wonder what can I do? How could I possibly help?
I can travel there, I can experience it for myself, I can physically help the poor and the malnourished and the sick people by giving them my aid. This is my goal, to travel to Haiti and to actually make a difference in the lives of people in need. To live where they live, see what they see and HELP them.
I can't do this on my own, so I am running the Toronto Waterfront Marathon to try and fund raise the cost of me going there and helping to make a difference in their lives.
Every step of those 42km, or 26 miles will be for the children dying of starvation, the kids faced with severe burns, and crippling injuries, and the children that have no one to care for them. But I can not do it without your help.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
I did it!
Well the marathon was on Sunday! I finished, woo hoo! My goal was to finish under 4 hours and I finished 4 hours and 19 seconds! That's close enough for me. It was really fun for my first marathon an I definitely think I will do another one.... some day. I could barely walk after, but my legs stopped hurting yesterday! Anyways thanks to everyone who sponsored me! Here are some pictures from the marathon:
Before the Race
During the Race!
After the Race!
Before the Race
During the Race!
After the Race!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Marathon is Soon!
The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is on Sunday! Wow that is very close! There seems to be one question everyone asks you when you are about to run a marathon: are you ready? I think I'm ready, I feel good about it but this being my first marathon who knows what could happen. I haven't run much more than a half marathon but I think I can do it. It is going to hurt, and I know I will want to quit sometime during the race but I know that that will never happen. I'm shooting for under four hours, I did half a marathon in about 1:50 so I think I should be able to get just under four, but who knows! Thanks to everyone that sponsored me for the race I raised a lot of money and I am getting closer and closer to fund raising the whole trip!
I REALLY WANT TO THANK Nikki's parents (Cathy and Jim) who are paying for my whole flight!! Once I figure out when I need to leave and return (I'm working on it!). The flight is a huge expense, and I am VERY grateful that they decided to help me out!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
My Trip to Ethiopia
In February this year I went on a humanitarian trip for two weeks to Ethiopia with my friend Nikki. Ethiopia was an incredible country with an amazing culture and very friendly people. We worked with the group Blessing the Children in Debre Zeyit.
While in Ethiopia we helped to teach English classes, attend home visits with our social workers, and helped to build a school which is now ready to start classes!
We also took a two day trip to visit Nikki's World Vision sponsor child Tsehay. We stayed in Addis Ababa the capital of Ethiopia for one night and then got a 3 hour ride in the back of a truck to Tsehay's village. The drive there was amazing, we got to see a lot of the country side outside of the big city in Addis. It was amazing. When we got to the world vision office near Tsehay's office we met some of the poeple that worked there and we got a presentation on the developments they were making in the village. The World Vision staff were SO nice and happy to talk to us about the project. From there we got in the truck again and drove for about 45 minutes through some pretty rough "roads".
When we got to the village we were swarmed with excited kids and made our way to Tsehay's house. When we got there we sat around her house and talked to her family with the help of the World Vision translators. She showed us all the gifts Nikki had ever sent her, most fo which were hanging on her wall. Then her mom came out of a little tent made of blankets they had made in the corner with her baby she just had a week ago. The baby was so small and cute and Nikki gave her the blanket we had brought for the family to wrap around the baby. After talking to them and meeting there family we brought Tsehay and her brother and grandfather back to the office for lunch. Her brother ate so much food I thoguht he would explode and they were evry happy. We said our goodbyes and gave our hugs and packed back into the truck for the 3 hour drive back to Addis. That day was so much fun and it was amazing to see the actual developments that World Vision was making in the villages there and not just reading about them. From addis we headed back to our guest house in Debre Zeyit.
The next week and a half we helped to teach english classes to the kids. The kids were probably my favourite part of the trip. They were always so happy and excited to see us and often invited us over to their houses for Coffee. I got to help teach the kids how to write letters to their sponsors, which pretty entertaining. Some of them were really good and come up with some good ideas to tell there sponsors like what animals were in their towns and asking great questions to learn more about their sponsors lives. We also helped to build a school, which was fun we even got some help from one of our social workers! In the guest house I got to stay in a bedroom with my two roommates Misgana and Sesay and Melaku. They were three halarious boys staying at the guest house they were best friends and I got to know them pretty well. We had lots of fun on our front porch at night singing songs and having water fights.
The trip was incredible and I will never forget it. It has insipred me to want to do more, and helped me to realize there are more important things than trying to live the "American Dream". It helped me realize that this is what I want to do with my life I don't want to sit around in Canada going to work everyday and coming home to do nothing. I'm no longer trapped in our Canadian bubble, I have realized the injustices that are going on outside of our bubble all over the world. The lack of healthcare, mistreatment of children, and lack of education to help children defeat the challenges they are faced is incredible and something needs to be done about it. I wish everyone would just go one time and see the real world and what is going on outside of their lives so they can realize that there really are people out there that need help that are trapped in poverty and that they CAN do somehting about it. We have privileges that few people in our world have and we can use those to help people escape poverty.
Eshetu one of the social workers teaching letter writing.
Nikki and Tsehay
Building the school
Out on the front porch
While in Ethiopia we helped to teach English classes, attend home visits with our social workers, and helped to build a school which is now ready to start classes!We also took a two day trip to visit Nikki's World Vision sponsor child Tsehay. We stayed in Addis Ababa the capital of Ethiopia for one night and then got a 3 hour ride in the back of a truck to Tsehay's village. The drive there was amazing, we got to see a lot of the country side outside of the big city in Addis. It was amazing. When we got to the world vision office near Tsehay's office we met some of the poeple that worked there and we got a presentation on the developments they were making in the village. The World Vision staff were SO nice and happy to talk to us about the project. From there we got in the truck again and drove for about 45 minutes through some pretty rough "roads".
When we got to the village we were swarmed with excited kids and made our way to Tsehay's house. When we got there we sat around her house and talked to her family with the help of the World Vision translators. She showed us all the gifts Nikki had ever sent her, most fo which were hanging on her wall. Then her mom came out of a little tent made of blankets they had made in the corner with her baby she just had a week ago. The baby was so small and cute and Nikki gave her the blanket we had brought for the family to wrap around the baby. After talking to them and meeting there family we brought Tsehay and her brother and grandfather back to the office for lunch. Her brother ate so much food I thoguht he would explode and they were evry happy. We said our goodbyes and gave our hugs and packed back into the truck for the 3 hour drive back to Addis. That day was so much fun and it was amazing to see the actual developments that World Vision was making in the villages there and not just reading about them. From addis we headed back to our guest house in Debre Zeyit.
Tsehay's Grandfather with some sheep Nikki bought the family. He told us you bought us 2 and now we have 6!
Nikki and Tsehay
The next week and a half we helped to teach english classes to the kids. The kids were probably my favourite part of the trip. They were always so happy and excited to see us and often invited us over to their houses for Coffee. I got to help teach the kids how to write letters to their sponsors, which pretty entertaining. Some of them were really good and come up with some good ideas to tell there sponsors like what animals were in their towns and asking great questions to learn more about their sponsors lives. We also helped to build a school, which was fun we even got some help from one of our social workers! In the guest house I got to stay in a bedroom with my two roommates Misgana and Sesay and Melaku. They were three halarious boys staying at the guest house they were best friends and I got to know them pretty well. We had lots of fun on our front porch at night singing songs and having water fights.
The trip was incredible and I will never forget it. It has insipred me to want to do more, and helped me to realize there are more important things than trying to live the "American Dream". It helped me realize that this is what I want to do with my life I don't want to sit around in Canada going to work everyday and coming home to do nothing. I'm no longer trapped in our Canadian bubble, I have realized the injustices that are going on outside of our bubble all over the world. The lack of healthcare, mistreatment of children, and lack of education to help children defeat the challenges they are faced is incredible and something needs to be done about it. I wish everyone would just go one time and see the real world and what is going on outside of their lives so they can realize that there really are people out there that need help that are trapped in poverty and that they CAN do somehting about it. We have privileges that few people in our world have and we can use those to help people escape poverty.
Eshetu one of the social workers teaching letter writing.
Nikki and Tsehay
Building the school
Out on the front porch Thursday, June 4, 2009
My Trip to Dominican Republic
2 years ago I attended a humanitarian trip with the group Hero Holiday (http://heroholiday.absolute.org/). This trip was amazing, it was one of the best experiences I've had. I was there for a little over a week. Hero Holiday is a great group when I went there was over 100 people mostly high school students on the trip. Hero Holiday does many things in the community. We helped to build 3 schools, one of which we actually completed when I was there. The schools are very important as education is an incredibly important aspect in defeating poverty. We also visited an orphanage for kids with special needs. Many children there had been abandoned as babies, some were even left in garbage bags to be found, and have very serious mental development issues. I worked mostly with one child who was probably about 12 years old. Despite being 12 he couldn't have been more than 4 feet tall and could barely move his limbs. I think he had cerebral palsy. He was mos likely abandoned as a child do to his handicap not being accepted in the culture and is now being taken care of at the orphanage. I helped to feed him (a mix of soft blended food) which was extremely difficult for him to even swallow. It was an incredible experience that affected me in so many different ways.
After the orphanage we visited a village where mostly Haitian people lived and had a pig roast for them, and played football(soccer), and did a shoe and gift distribution. The shoe distribution was a bit hectic people were climbing the truck with the shoes trying to get themselves a pair and a HUGE crowd of people formed all trying to get shoes. I met lots of kids, the kids were one of the best parts of the whole trip. They are so funny and happy and love to play with your camera and go on your shoulders.
The trip was amazing and changed my whole outlook on life. We are trapped in our own little world of existence here, we get everything we need and have jobs and food and houses yet we still find things to complain about. Many people don't realize the true amount of poverty throughout the world and even if they do realize they think there is nothing they can do about it. This trip made me realize how much poverty is out there and that you CAN do something about it, and that is something I will never forget.
Here Holiday is a great group, if you ever wanted to go on a humanitarian trip especially if you have never been on a trip like this before they are a perfect. They provide everything you need, in DR you stay at a small resort and it is just a really great, fun and life changing time.
After the orphanage we visited a village where mostly Haitian people lived and had a pig roast for them, and played football(soccer), and did a shoe and gift distribution. The shoe distribution was a bit hectic people were climbing the truck with the shoes trying to get themselves a pair and a HUGE crowd of people formed all trying to get shoes. I met lots of kids, the kids were one of the best parts of the whole trip. They are so funny and happy and love to play with your camera and go on your shoulders.
The trip was amazing and changed my whole outlook on life. We are trapped in our own little world of existence here, we get everything we need and have jobs and food and houses yet we still find things to complain about. Many people don't realize the true amount of poverty throughout the world and even if they do realize they think there is nothing they can do about it. This trip made me realize how much poverty is out there and that you CAN do something about it, and that is something I will never forget.
Here Holiday is a great group, if you ever wanted to go on a humanitarian trip especially if you have never been on a trip like this before they are a perfect. They provide everything you need, in DR you stay at a small resort and it is just a really great, fun and life changing time.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Real Hope for Haiti
Every day in Haiti kids are dying of malnutrition, diarrhea, and physical injuries. Only 54% of Haitians even have access to clean drinking water. The country is being rapidly deforested in order to provide fuel for the people, this leads to infertile soil which leads to malnutrition and starvation. Thousands of mothers are dying from child birth, and the country has an 8.4% infant mortality rate! Half the population lives on $1 per day.
It is hard to believe that this can be happening while we sit in our homes complaining about the weather and how we have not eaten for hours because we were so busy. However it IS happening and the desperate call for aid has never been greater.
Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center is helping to answer that call. RHFH started in 1999 with a severely burned child. They began taking in more sick and injured children and in 2002 the rescue center began. They now have 60 children with various illnesses and injuries and also run a rescue clinic. RHFH is doing amazing things to help the children of Haiti and have saved countless lives. I will be volunteering with them on my trip to Haiti. (http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com)
It is hard to believe that this can be happening while we sit in our homes complaining about the weather and how we have not eaten for hours because we were so busy. However it IS happening and the desperate call for aid has never been greater.
Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center is helping to answer that call. RHFH started in 1999 with a severely burned child. They began taking in more sick and injured children and in 2002 the rescue center began. They now have 60 children with various illnesses and injuries and also run a rescue clinic. RHFH is doing amazing things to help the children of Haiti and have saved countless lives. I will be volunteering with them on my trip to Haiti. (http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com)
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