Marathon for Haiti

Last Day :(

2010-05-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a post for a while as my computer charger was broken and now tonight is my last night here! Today at the clinic everyone made little cards for me and they all tried to write them in English because we now have English class there 3 times per week. It was very cute and made me pretty sad to have to be leaving. Everyone at the clinic is very appreciative of what everyone is doing for them and I wish I could stay longer!

I thought I would just give a brief overview of some of the patients I worked with while here and what progress they have made... here it goes!

Antoinette had a leg amputated below her knee and was working on getting more weight on her leg when I first arrived. After lots of practice she can now put all of her weight on her leg and for a short time she can walk without her crutches. She only ever uses one crutch now and she can up stairs and carry her baby around while walking on her prosthetic leg.

Sylvanie had a femur fracture and is doing very well. She can now walk without a cane when she feels like it which is a big improvement from walking with a crutch all of the time. When she does need to she only uses a cane, and she can walk outside on the road (which is unpaved) and she has gained some great flexibility!

Marjorie had an injury to her plantar fascia and had surgery and a skin graft on her foot. She now has drop foot and has to walk with an AFO. She still uses the AFO but she can now jog for short distances, climb stairs easily and can jump. She also had a below the elbow amputation and is hopefully awaiting a new hand however her arm is much less sensitive than it used to be from lots of de-sensitizing exercises.

Amanda had a femur fracture as well and has been doing mostly strength exercises since she has a cast still. She has gained a lot of range of motion at her knee and her swelling in her leg is improving steadily.

All of the patients at Heartline are incredible people with amazing unique stories that I could never do justice trying to tell. Whether they were brought to the hospital due to illness or injury they all touched the lives of many people and received the care and love they deserved from all of the staff at Heartline. It has been an amazing privilege working with this group and I really hope to come back to Haiti and work with them again. Haiti is an amazing country full of beauty and culture and it is something I believe everyone should experience. This trip has been the experience of a lifetime for me and I will never forget it. It was more than just a trip it was an inspiration, seeing the amazing humanitarian work that Heartline and other groups are doing here makes me excited and motivated to finish school and follow those inspirations.

2nd week at Heartline

2010-05-19T19:06:00.001-07:00

Everything here at the clinic is going great. We had to put a cast on Amanda who was starting to walk, but the doctors decided that her femur wasn't healing properly and that it needed to be in a cast. Cliff the PA that was here made an awesome cast, be casted below the knee and then above the knee and then attached the two with hinges so Amanda can still bend her leg at the knee. I have been working with her at that, just getting her to try and move her leg and doing lots of passive movements, she has quite a bit of swelling in leg and knee and I am hoping getting some of her muscles moving will help to pump out the swelling.

Antoinette who had her leg amputated below the knee is doing amazing! Just a week ago she was only putting 20 lbs on her prosthetic leg and and today she went up to 80lbs she only weighs 100 so she is almost perfect! Today instead of doing the usual walking between benches that we set up as parallel bars she decided she wanted to try some stairs. I took to her to the back of the clinic where there is a set of stairs to the roof and we made our way up. She made it all the way without any help. She was even switching witch leg would go first up the next stair which should really help with her balance and strength. We walked around a bit on the roof and then came back down. She was getting really tired on the way down but she did it no problem! She is doing very well and should be going home soon, well to what used to be her home, you can read more about her story here.

Its been a really great couple of days everyone is doing so well and I'm very excited to see how much more progress well make!

Jumping for Joy!

2010-05-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

The clinic has been incredible the last few days. So much progress has been made! Marjorie who had surgery on her plantar fascia in her foot is almost ready to go home. Today we worked on stairs, we walked up the stairs to the roof and walked around a bit there is a garden on the roof and some clothes lines. I have been working with her since I have been here to try and get her to run and today was the day. I kept encouraging her over and over and finally today on the roof she ran for about 10 steps! After that I asked her if she wanted to jump and she started jumping and laughing and jumping some more, it was amazing! Then we went down stairs and she was able to carry a 5 gallon bucket half full of water all around the clinic she has made a lot of progress.

Amanda is in a lot of pain right now she fractured her femur which is now healed but has a lot of inflammation and she has a brachial plexus lesion so she cant mover her arm. Today we did a lot of bed exercises for her leg which was quite an improvement from yesterday, and the did some passive movements with her arm she is getting able to have it moved further and further. Later in the day we did some exercises with the resistance bands for her leg and she tried to walk, she got about 2 steps but she is so much pain she started crying and sat back down. It was a good day for her she is doing a lot of work, she didn't want to stop but she was in too much pain.

I can't believe how much progress the patients have made just after one week it is amazing. They are so appreciative of you helping them and I think it is a great privilege that I get to work with them. I am learning so much and getting so much experience it is incredible. I really don't want to leave the clinic on the 20th but I know that Leogane was 90% destroyed by the earthquake and they need people to help with rebuilding. And my computer charger broke so after the 20th there will be maybe one post, I am borrowing someones computer now, hopefully I'll be able to borrow one when I move. Anyways I am having an incredible time here at Heartline it is a great organization and everyday at the clinic you feel like you accomplished something great and you know that you are helping to change the course of many peoples lives.

Heartline Day 2

2010-05-12T16:11:00.001-07:00

I never knew how much music can get people happy! Today at the clinic in the morning we got some music going outside. All of a sudden after a few songs everyone was standing up everyone was dancing and everyone was laughing. After what all of these patients have gone through, from losing there whole family to having the leg crushed under their own house it is amazing to see that music can still put a smile on their face! Antoinette lost just below her knee on her right leg, she got a prosthetic leg and is working really hard to get used to it. Today when the music started playing she stood up walked over to a bench and threw away her crutches and started dancing. It was amazing! She is doing so well just last week when I was here she could only put 20lbs of body weight on her prosthetic leg, and today she got up to 60! She is doing so so well! It was David the PT's last day today and everyone was very sad he was leaving he has done such an amazing job with all of the patients, in just over a week he has had patients walk for the first time since the earthquake!

After the music and dancing and singing we took a little break and watched a movie, it was some kind of Haitian comedy, as far as I know and I had no idea what was going on. While we watched the movie I worked with a lady that had to have surgery on her foot and had her left arm amputated below the elbow. I just gave her a massage as she has a lot of scar tissue that is still sensitive and it needs to be touched and have pressure on it in order to bring down the sensitivity. Then I had her do a little boxing on my hand with her amputated arm which helped also to lower the sensitivity on the scar tissue on her arm. After that we did some walking on the stairs and I got her to jog! Only about 4 steps but she was very excited! It was a very fun day and I loved working with everyone, David taught me a a lot of stuff before he left and I will never be able to do what he was doing but I will try my best!

Back to Heartline!

2010-05-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today I went back to Heartline until the 20^th. Will I'm there I'm going to be doing physical therapy with some the patients that have suffered mostly fractures from the earthquake. David the current physical therapist is leaving tomorrow and he has made some huge progress. He showed me the ropes today and he is doing some really great things with the patients. He has gotten people with femur fractures to walk for the first time since the earthquake and does some great exercises with the patients. I'm very excited to be working here! Today I did a lot with a boy that had his arm smushed in the earthquake he had to have some tendons replaced so the mobility in his fingers isn't very good, but it is getting much better! Cliff one of the PA's working made a dynamic cast which give some resistance to him when he closes his hand but pulls his fingers back up when he is not. He has most of his trouble keeping his fingers straight so this should do a great job! He made it out of coat hangers some tape and elastic bands! We weren't sure at first but it turned out great! After the clinic we all went to someones house for dinner which was delicious and then headed back to the guest house! Tomorrow the PT is showing me some more things and then I'll be trying to follow in his shoes.

Downtown and Jacmel

2010-05-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

The last 2 days I have been doing some sight seeing with Fanfan. On Saturday we went to downtown Port au Prince. Downtown was very busy there were people everywhere selling all sorts of stuff. We went to see the Palace which is collapsed now, it was huge and the destruction that the earthquake caused is incredible. Most of downtown is destroyed so all the markets were on the street or the side of the street. I looked around trying to find a Haiti soccer jersey but apparently they don't exist right now. Then we went for lunch, We sat down at the restaurant which was basically a little shack that was part of someones house and got some rice and beans. Everyone that saw me there laughed because there was a blan in the restaurant. It was fun and we took some pictures and left. Then we went to see the cathedral which as you may have guessed is also collapsed we had to walk all around to find a spot as it was mostly fenced off. After that we went to find Fanfan a foam pad to sleep on he is sleeping in his tent on concrete right now. We found one and did some bargaining for it then headed home.

The next day we left at 6am and headed to Jacmel. Jacmel is a really old city that is an art hub in Haiti. The carnival happens in this city and there is a big voodoo influence. We got on the bus(Fanfan, Charnel and I) and headed up through the mountains on a tiny winding road. About halfway there we were stopped by a mudslide. This happens a lot in Haiti as all of the farmers on the mountains cut down the trees for fuel and then there is nothing holding the soil in place so when it rains hard like it did last night it all slides down onto the road. We waited there about 45 mins for the UN to come and clean up the road and then the bus continued on. When we got there we got a motorcycle taxi and headed to the city. We got there and didn't really know what to do Fanfan had never been their either so we walked around taking in the view (the city is on the coast) and then looked for some food. Then we did some shopping, I bought some art and a mask to add to my collection, buying stuff here involves a lot of bargaining the guy I bought the art from asked me what I wanted to pay and I told him and he said okay! That one was easy! After that we got another moto taxi and headed to the beach. We got there and no one had bathing suits, so I went for a swim in my shorts I wore all day and Fanfan waited around with Charnel. The water was so warm so I went in for a bit and then came out to dry. We took another moto taxi back to the bus stop and almost crashed! Se turned a corner and another motorcycle was turning on the wrong side of the road it was close, they yelled at each other and we carried on. The bus ride back was faster we were in a school us this time and whipped through the mountains going around 55mph the whole time! It was a little scary! Turning corners the driver just lays on the horn and hopes no one is coming! We got back and I helped Fanfan's friend make a facebook account.

It was a fun two days. The destruction from the earthquake here is crazy. Jacmel was 3 hours away from Port au Prince and everything was cracked or collapsed, the widespread damage caused by a few minutes is incredible, people are scared to go in concrete buildings now as there are still some aftershocks. It was my last day with Fanfan today so I said goodbye and told him he better come to the airport when I leave!

The Earthquake

2010-05-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Its 8 in the morning and I'm just waiting to leave and so I thought I would make a post about the earthquake. Fanfan told me his story a few days ago and so I'll try to say it from his point of view. Here it goes:

I was getting a ride to church in the taptap it was the morning. As we were driving along the driver began to swerve back and forth all over the road. At first I though his brake was no longer working and he was trying to stop. Then all of a sudden he came to a quick stop on the side of the road. At that time it felt like as if God picked up Haiti and dropped it back to the ground. I ran out of the taptap and everyone was walking around as if they were drunk. All you could here was rumbling everywhere. It was like Haiti was an elastic band, someone had stretched it very long and then cut it in half. No body could walk straight and buildings were crumbling to the ground. I looked up and the sky was gone, there was no sun there was no blue all you could see was grey dust. Many people thought this was the end of the world, the sky was gone buildings were toppling over and people were dying. It was a very frustrating time for me, I didn't know what to do. After I went to the church and it was completely collapsed, If I had gotten there I would be dead. I returned to my home and the room where I stay was flattened if I was there too I would have been dead. My family was okay but my room was destroyed. I feel very lucky that I was in that taptap at that time if I had been where I was supposed to be I would be dead. On that day every Haitian suddenly became a Christian they all believed it was the end of the world and that they had better believe in god. This was a very frustrating day for me...

Fanfan's story is incredible, the way he described it was very unique and the details he could remember was incredible. Fanfan is very lucky to be alive today it kind of makes you realize how lucky we are to be alive.

Delivering Water

2010-05-07T16:49:00.001-07:00

Cite Soliel is the poorest slum in Haiti. It is actually a section of Port au Prince. Today I got to deliver water to a small part of Cite Soliel. I went with Fanfan who is friends with the guy that runs the organization Healing Haiti based in Minnesota. The organization pays to have clean water delivered to Cite Soliel 6 days per week all year. The water is used for bathing, toilets, cleaning, washing clothes, and cooking. We went to the well around 930am there is a pipe coming out of the ground that goes over the road and has two spouts where the water is delivered to the trucks. An endless line of water trucks were there when we got there, the trucks are lined up the entire day waiting for their turn to fill up with water. One truck will pack under the spout and the water starts spewing out, it actually never stops spewing out the truck drives under it while its pouring out then backs up to line up the whole of the tank with the falling water. It was quite a system. When water begins overflowing out of the tank the trucks behind honk like madmen and the truck moves along water spilling everywhere it was quite fun to watch. After getting some breakfast around the corner and waiting for an hour and a bit our trunk came from a previous delivery. We got in the truck and waited about 45mins for our turn to fill up. After we filled up we slowly and precariously drove away trying not to spill any water. We drove to Cite Soliel to the zone we were delivering and people began to line up with their buckets. When I got out of the truck all the kids starting yelling photo photo! So I took some pictures and we got to work. They handed me a hose coming out of the back of the truck and the water starting spewing out full blast. Fanfan would stand in front of me lining up the next bucket and I would fill it up and so on for about an hour. As you can imagine everyone wants to get some of the free water before the truck runs out and so there was one fight that started from a guy butting in line and a lot of pushing and slapping from people shoving their buckets under the hose and trying to run. After an hour the water trickled to a stop and there were still at least 30 people in line. It felt pretty bad having to leave but the truck comes back to that same section at least once per week. Cite Soliel was basically a bunch of concrete shacks with tin roofs no one has electricity no one has toilets no one has garbage bins as you can guess there is no clean water other than what is delivered. It was one of the poorest places I've ever seen. We drove over a river that was now a river of garbage literally. One one side of the bridge there was black stagnant water and on the other there was no water just garbage filling the river bank as far as you could see. I have never seen anything like it, I don't know how they are supposed to fix a sanitation problem at this scale as it would cost a fortune to have all this garbage removed and they would just have to move it to another location. It was incredible to see that the kids are still running around smiling and having fun despite the conditions they are forced to live in, it really gives you a perspective on your life and how we in the developed world really have nothing at all to complain about.

Heartline Ministries

2010-05-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

Today I went with Jake and Becky (who I met at the guest house) to visit a clinic run by Heartline ministries. The organization is run by a man named John and his wife. Before the earthquake they ran a children's home and a women's home. After the earthquake the need for immediate medical care became urgent and they turned the children's home into a temporary clinic. The clinic part was basically a bunch of beds with a tarp above held up by PVC.They had about 15 beds all with injured kids or people in them. The patients usually are treated at a hospital and then there after care is done at this clinic. They had many nurses and PA's working there all volunteers. When we got their we gave our selves a little tour and then a lady came in holding a baby. The baby wasn't hers but her friends. The baby had accidentally fallen into a boiling pot of rice and beans and had very bad burns on it's butt. Pretty much all of the skin was burned off. The clinic is no longer taking patients as it was not meant to be a permanent clinic but rather an emergency clinic after the earthquake. Since it was a baby they treated the baby and the sent then drove them to a nearby burn unit. The rest of the day I worked with a physical therapist who is volunteering there. I got to do a lot of work with one boy who had his arm smushed in some rubble for a long time and so the circulation to his arm stopped and tissue began to die. The physical therapist has done a lot of work with him and he can now actually bend his fingers reasonably well which is a big improvement. Then we helped a lady who had her femur broken in the earthquake and is very scared to bend her leg now. The bone is healed enough that she can walk on it she is just scared. We did some exercises with her with some resistance bands and got her to bend her leg 90 degrees which was a big improvement. The physical therapist said that it is different in Haiti in that you can't just tell them what to do you have to get to know the patient and find out what they want to do and works for them and so he decided to offer the lady some sandals. However she had to take 5 steps in order to get the sandals. After a few hours of convincing she stood up with some help and walked those five steps which was amazing to see, it was her first time walking since the earthquake. The rest of the day we went on a tour of the whole operation with John the man who runs it. Heartline also has a womens home were they help women that have no jobs. They have a sewing program where they teach women how to sew purses and after practice they can sell the purses. Heartline provides them the material most of the time and the women put together amazing bags and purses and they are sold online and in their store in Haiti. Each woman has their own code attached to the bag label and when they are sold they receive a certain portion of the profit. It is a really great way to provide women with income to pay for housing and food and support their families. Heartline is a really great group doing so many good things for the community here. I haven't decided what I will be doing for the next two weeks but I may go live at Heartline and help them out we will see!

Physical Therapy for the lady that broke her femur

Orphanage Day #1

2010-05-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today I got to go the three hands orphanage just a few minutes from my guest house. The orphanage is run by a lady named Gertrude who owned the guest house I was originally going to stay in but it collapsed in the earthquake. In the morning I met Fanfan who is essentially going to be my guide for a while. We took a taptap which I guess could be described as a small very colourfully painted bus. First of all it doesn't even stop you just wave it down and jump into the back well its moving if you don't get in then you don't get in. Once we made it to the orphanage I got shown around and then I just started playing with the kids. The first kid I met was Wolton who I coloured with for a long time. Then I met another girl whos name I don't know as she was mute. The orphanage has some kids with special needs. The kids were very cute and all wanted to hold your hand. Later in the day at lunch time I got to feed a little girl that had down's syndrome she was very cute and loved making faces at me and making me clap my hands. After that I found Wolton again and we played some more then he had a nap on me. At play time we got to draw in colouring books and we got use the stickers that I got from Mabel's labels. It was a really fun day. After that I took a motorcycle with me Fanfan and the driver... yes 3 people on an unpaved road weaving in and out of traffic it was fun! The rest of the day I hung out at the guest house. The orphanage was really fun they have so many kids and not enough people working but they take very good care of the kids they all get fed but you could tell they need someone to hold them and play with them. I brought bag of donations for them and we got to play with all the pencil crayons and stickers. Overall it was a very fun day, and I'm excited to go back!

Got Here Safe!

2010-05-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well I got here okay! The flight was only 4 hours so I finally got to watch Avatar haha. When I got to the airport every driver I talked to said they knew the manager of my guest house and would drive me there. Then two of them had a little argument over who was going to drive me. I ended up picking the first driver Jackson who only had one arm but still somehow carried my bags! The drive was crazy, for 10 minutes all you could see was blue and white tents, everywhere I couldn't see where they ended. The roads were all clear at least the ones I was on. Behind the gates of houses you could see that behind the walls the houses were all mostly collapsed. some of the guest house I'm staying at is collapsed there is still one building with the bathrooms and some beds, and the whole front yard is full of tents, I get to sleep in one tonight hope it doesn't rain! It's 35 degrees and I love it! The rest of the day I'm just going to stay around the guest house and make some calls hopefully tomorrow I will be working in an orphanage or school.

View From the plane

Tent City!

All Packed!

2010-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well I'm all packed... for the most part. I have two fifty pound bags PACKED full of donations, thanks to everyone who helped out. Some of the donations include cloth diapers, shoes, baby clothes, blankets, dolls, vitamins, and literacy supplies. The original plan was to bring these two bags as my luggage and bring my own things as a carry on, turns out a month worth of stuff weighs more than 22 pounds! Hopefully I will be able to get one of the donation bags on for free. Thanks so much to everyone that has supported me for the last 8 months it's finally time to leave!! I should be able to post about the trip while I'm in Haiti so keep reading!

Mabel's Labels

2010-04-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

Mabels Label's is a company based in Hamilton, ON that makes Labels for Kids and tonnes of other things that need to be organized. I also Work for them! Mabel's has been a huge supporter in my trip to Haiti and have provided me with many donations to help make this trip happen. They now have an event going on to help raise donations for me to bring to Haiti. As you buy stationary kits (which are great for writing letters and notes) Mabel's will match purchased kits with one for me to bring to Haiti. All the kits will most likely be going to some schools and orphanages I am volunteering at in the first weeks of my trip. These will be a great help for writing supplies for kids in school and also great fun for lots of kids in the orphanages I visit. So Check out Mabel's Labels they have lots of great products that will survive the toughest punishment.

Change of Plans

2010-04-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Since the earthquake occurred in Haiti I have had some slight change of plans. The Earthquake caused great casualties over 100 000 people lost their lives, 300 000 injured and over a million people were left homeless. Buildings collapsed, including the guest house I was going to be staying at. Before the Earthquake my plan was to help in some orphanages and schools, and maybe do some food distribution. Since then I am now trying to get involved in some clean up and reconstruction efforts and also still volunteer in some orphanages and schools. There is a great organization doing clean up and reconstruction with I may be helping out (no final plans are confirmed yet) called Hands on Disaster Response.
They have a project in Leogane where the Earthquake epicenter was. 90% of the buildings in Leogane were damaged HODR is working clearing the rubble and building transitional shelters for people to live in. Hopefully I will be helping them for the last part of my trip. They are completely volunteer run and have a few spots available for dates to help them in Haiti!

Also I have found a new guest house. The Wall's Guest House run by an organization based in Waterloo, ON called Foundation for International Development Assistance. The organization provides agricultural support for farmer's in Haiti.

Help Haiti Shirts

2010-03-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for an easy way to help Haiti, go to THIS WEBSITE and purchase a shirt. Proceeds go to Haiti relief.

http://helpendlocalpoverty.bigcartel.com/

and

http://helphaitishirt.com/

Haitian Creations is another great way to help. Heartline Ministries is selling these fair trade bags to support the women they work with.

Marathon for Haiti

2009-10-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

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.

I did it!

2009-10-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

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!

Marathon is Soon!

2009-09-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

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!

My Trip to Ethiopia

2009-08-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

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.

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

My Trip to Dominican Republic

2009-06-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Real Hope for Haiti

2009-02-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

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)