Christmas Prep

Wow... I can't believe how soon I leave! My school's TAs (tutorial assistants) are on strike, so a few of my classes are cancelled, leaving me with most of the afternoon with nothing to do. I took the opportunity to get some things ready for the DR! I took a picture of the vitamins (see earlier post) and then got Xmas presents ready. I have SO many donations that I am not sure I will be able to bring everything. The most important things are 1) vitamins, 2) Christmas presents, and 3) gifts from sponsors for the kids. I can't bring presents for all the kids I love, but I did get a little something special for my 2 favourite families whom I have become especially close to; Daniela's family; Daniela is the mother, and her kids Ariela (19), Frangelis (8), and Dany (5)... and Sonia's family; Andy (13), Andrieli (13), and Yoandi (10). For Frangelis I got a Barbie, underwear, and socks. Dany is getting toy cars. Andy and Yoandi are both getting mini sticks and underwear, and Andrieli is getting underwear, a headband, and a craft. Not much... but something to show them I care. Both mothers are getting framed scrapbook pages that I made, that you can see below.



I also took the time today to put together cards for a TON of DR kids (Christmas cards, with pictures I printed out from last year inside). And then I packed up Christmas gifts for my sponsors kids in Uganda and Ethiopia! For some reason I was in a Christmas-y mood today!

Vitamin Update

A huge thank you to everyone who donated Shoppers Drug Mart points to launch a Vitamin program for the Dove Missions kids. I now have 7800 vitamins to bring with me this Christmas, and we plan to launch the program the first week of the New Year. With the amount of vitamins we have, there is enough vitamins for half of the kids (so, around 40 kids) to last about 8 months. We have not decided yet if we will decide which gets are included by gender (either all the girls or all the boys) or by age (all the kids 9 and under). It would be AMAZING if we could pull together even more vitamns... enough, eventually so that ALL of the kids can have a vitamin a day.

If you didn't get a chance to donate before, but would still like to, it's not too late! Just go to the Shoppers website and click on Shoppers Optimum, and then Transfer Points (http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/optimum/transfer_points/index.html) you will have to enter in your card information, and then put in my card info. You will need the last 9 digits of my card, which are: 893 742 330

We are going to hold a nutrition class for the mothers before we give out the vitamins. This will teach them the importance of vitamins, and how and why their kids should take them. We will bag the vitamins with 7 per bag, and hand out a bag per child every week. This way, they will be reminded to take them, and we can track that they are taking the vitamins, rather than just handing out whole bottles.

DREAM

Melissa, Sam & Nicole

I went to Toronto last Friday to meet up with my "Dominican sisters"! We had such a good time and sat and caught up for almost 8 hours! I met Melissa and Sam there, and then we were also really excited that Nicole could come as well for a few hours. She has made appearances on this blog before as she was my roommate in Hero Holiday 2008, and I first met her in Hero Holiday 2007. It was soooo good to see all three of them and we are going to try to do it again soon. We talked about everything in general, but of course spent a lot of time talking about humanitarian work (not just in the DR- but travel plans, etc.) And we reminisced and laughed about all our funny DR stories. We did lots of talking about what we want to accomplish this Christmas trip, and long term when we go back in May (Melissa and Sam are coming for four months- I am going for who knows how long... a year maybe?) I will post more about the goals later on, closer to my Christmas trip so I can keep them in my head when I am there! But for now, just wanted to share some photos of some of my favourite people! It was so great to see them and chat and catch up- I hadn't seen Sam since the end of May, Melissa since the end of June, and Nicole since August 2008!

Three Cups Of Tea

Right now I am reading a book called "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson, about educating girls in Pakistan. I have read it before, but I am learning more from it now. When I move to the DR in May, my main focus is going to be education. I am willing to spend as much time as I can with the kids... I want them to be excited about learning and I want them to realize the importance of their education, and to go on to teach the next generation.

“Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go to search for work in the cities… But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls” (Three Cups of Tea)

I also want to slow down my life. I want to ENJOY life more and live in the moment. I spend too much time worrying and stressing.

“Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them” (Three Cups of Tea)

I am going to do just that... I am going to spend more time talking, learning about, and making friends with not only the kids, but their families. It is SO much more important in their culture than it is in my own, and I want to learn from that. So those are my two goals. I have a lot to learn and it is going to be a big change, but I think it is going to teach me sooo much and I have a feeling I will fall even more in love with the DR than I already am :) ... if that is possible!


In the meantime... 2 months until my Christmas trip! Life is busy here with school, working 2 jobs (plus my online business), volunteering, and spending time with friends/family. I am working hard at learning Spanish and feel like I am getting there! It will be a lot easier to learn when I am in the DR and have lots of people to practice on, but for now I am trying!

Shoppers Optimum Points

Hey everyone! I am heading back to the DR this Christmas, and again in May. I am going to want to start a vitamin program for the kids that I work with. Many of them are malnourished and get sick often. Children's vitamins could really help.

I am trying to collect as many Shoppers Optimum points as I can to purchase the vitamins before I leave in December. My goal is to collect enough vitamins to start 5 children on a 6 month program; this will be about 900 vitamins. I will try to bring more in May, to add more kids to the program and to extend it past 6 months.

If you have any Shoppers Optimum points you can donate to this, thank you so much! It is really easy. Just go to the Shoppers website and click on Shoppers Optimum, and then Transfer Points (http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/optimum/transfer_points/index.html) you will have to enter in your card information, and then put in my card info. You will need the last 9 digits of my card, which are: 893 742 330

Thank you SO much to anyone who can donate their points!

*ADDITIONAL INFO: WOW... I am already at 120,000 points- thank you to everyone!! That is almost $200 worth of vitamins!!!! Thank you also to those who posted it on their facebooks... The more points, the more kids we can provide with vitamins!!We are going to hold a nutrition class so the parents know the value of their kids taking the vitamins. We will also moniter it- handing 7 vitamins out weekly. The program should start in January, after I go to the DR and bring all the vitamins. I hope to bring enough for at least the first 6 months of the program.

Angry Boy: A Haitian Adoption Story

Please go to THIS BLOG and read the post about their son, who was adopted from Haiti. It is a really heartbreaking story. The mother, and writer of the blog, is asking that readers spread the word and post this wherever possible; both to help her find a new home for her son, and to raise awareness about RAD. My heart breaks for the whole family, but in particular for him. I see so many of the kids I have worked with in the DR, Haiti, and Ethiopia, in Angry Boy's eyes. This is reality for SO many kids around the world.

KIVA: Global Lending In the DR

I love using my blog to spread awareness about awesome organizations. Throughout the year, when I am not travelling, I ususally keep a different blog where a lot of my posts are dedicated to just this. I haven't had the motivation to keep that blog up, since I got home from the DR, which is why I have been posting over here more than usual! That said, I wanted to post about an organization that I LOVE.

It is called Kiva, and it is a micro loaning organization working all over the world. I really believe in giving a hand up, rather than a hand out. After working closely with organizations in the DR and Ethiopia (as well as on message boards for the organizations I sponsor through in Guatemala and Uganda) I can tell you that this is a lot harder than it seems! It is so EASY to spend our money and buy food for a family. It is a lot harder to think of ways so that in the future, they will have this money themselves to feed their families. Kiva does an amazing job of doing just this.

Their website says, "Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need." Simply... you lend money to somone around the world to help expand their business. Eventually, they pay the money back to you and you can either lend it again, or put it back into your pocket!

I put $50 into Kiva about 2 years ago and lent it to a woman in Nigeria to expand her general store. Once she paid me back, I lent that same $50 to a man in Ecuador, and then later, to a group of women in retail in Haiti. Now that the Haitian women have paid me back, today I lent that same $50 to a group of women in the Dominican Republic:

Ramona is the group coordinator of the group Las Rosas (the roses). The group is based in Los Alcarrizos, an industrial town north of Santo Domingo, where running water and electricity utilities are unreliable at best. It is here that she makes her home with her husband and four children in a simple structure comprised of wooden walls and a tin roof, a home she owns but to which she does not have the title. With this loan, Ramona intends to continue expanding her business of selling shoes door to door to various customers in her neighborhood. She has over two years' experience in this business and will use her loan to purchase large quantities of merchandise at better prices. With the profits her business provides, Ramona intends to invest in school supplies for her children and continue investing in her business. Her long-term dream is that her children grow up to be important members of her community. She thanks you all for your support.

Not only does Kiva really show how far a little bit of money can go, but it really focuses on giving a hand UP. The fifty dollars that I initially "donated" has gone to helping four different entreprenurial groups in 4 different countries! And you don't even have to think of it as donating, as you can get the money back and put it right back into your pocket once it is paid back. SO.... go check out the website and make a loan! They also have gift certificates which you can give to friends for gifts (it is the same as giving them money... they just have to do something good with the money before they get it!)

http://www.kiva.org

Luis and Jacoba

My friend Rana was in the DR and Haiti shortly after I left. She got a chance to spend a day at the Conani orphanage in Santiago for kids with special needs. I LOVE this place and while I visited in both the summers of 2007 and 2008, I did not get a chance to go this year. Seeing Rana's photos really made me miss it, and if I don't get to go during Christmas, since I will only be there 2 weeks, I will most definitely be going to visit in May. I have three favourite kids there; Luis, Jacoba, and Rosie. Rosie is a sweetheart... she is 8 (9 now?) and was left at the orphanage in a garbage bag as an infant. Her smile can light up a room. I didn't see any photos of her, but I did see photos of my two other faves, Jacoba and Luis! Jacoba is the princess of the orphanage- a baby girl with Downs. Luis is an absolutely brillant kid. He can not speak, but he understands absolutely everything and is just so, so smart. He has a really special bond with a teenage boy in the orphanage, and despite their 10 year age difference, you never see them apart!

Here are some photos to share!
2007.... I am holding Rosie and my friend Jon is holding Luis.

2008... Luis and his best bud. Luis alone. Me holding The Princess herself.




2009... Luis (look how big he has gotten!!). Luis and his best buddy, and Rana holding Jacoba.




Melissa and I talked a lot about how we wanted to go back and visit, but it just never happened! After seeing the photos, I really want to go back though and love on the kids!!! The orphanage is run through Conani.

My Friend Sonia

I sent a map of the world off to Liz for the Club building, as well as a card for her to deliver to Sonia and her family. I can't stress enough how important she and her kids are to me- I think of them all the time. In the card I wrote a little message to each of the kids and to Sonia and told them all how much I miss them and how I always think about them. Liz said Sonia read it out loud and cried. I missed her so much when I heard that! There are a lot of kids in the Dominican Republic that I love and miss and think about, but I think it is different when you get to know an entire family. There is only one other family (Frangelis, her mom Daniela, her brother Dany and sister Ariela) who I have gotten to know as a FAMILY in the same way I have gotten to know Sonia, Andy, Andrieli, and Yoandi. During my 2 weeks in December, and when I move there in May, I am going to make more of an effort to be on "Dominican time"- to visit, to spend time with, and to enjoy the company of each child I meet and their families... not only the Dove Missions kids, but all the people I will work with and get to know. I think it is so important in the Dominican culture, and something I struggled with in the past not being used to it- always wanting to be on the go, always rushing around and doing a million things at once. I didn't make an effort to do that with everyone in the past May and June, but I did make the effort with Sonia's family, just spending time visiting in their house, and I am so happy that happened because the friendship I have built with them is really important to me and is part of the reason I continue being drawn back to the DR, rather than travelling to other countries, and I know Sonia really appreciates knowing all the people who care for her and her family, and who would be there to help if ever need be. It is one thing to go to people living in poverty and give them food, give them shoes, give them clothes, etc. but I think they appreciate friendship and support a million times more. I am really looking forward to my time in December, as I am going to make that my main goal... to better get to know the families and to spend time visiting with them in preparation for May.
The photo below is of the framed pictures in Sonia's house. Melissa and I gave them a photo album of photos when we left, and they took out their favourites and framed them.