Donation Location #1

I wanted to keep those of you who bought some of my projects updated on where the proceeds went throughout the trip, so here's organization #1. This week Liz, Katie and I were volunteering at TCDF - EcoLogic. I'll attach a link to their website, which specifies the vast number of projects they have going on, but I'll also try and give the best synopsis I can from our perspective. 

We found the organization online when we searched for organic farms to volunteer at. We were drawn in by the holistic and community-oriented goals of this project: a self-sustainable haven where proceeds went to educating and meeting the medical needs of disadvantaged rural Thai children. 

We arrived in the small village of Paksong situated in the jungly part of Thailand somewhere between Bangkok and Phuket. Immediately we were greeted by incredibly friendly and enthusiastic staff (volunteers) and it took no time

to feel at home here. We took a tour of the place, which includes a dorm and guesthouses, restaurant, organic gardens, a natural housing project, and a school. During the week the school is used for the special needs kids in the area. It's difficult enough as a person with a physical/intellectual disability in Canada not to slip through the cracks, even with all the social programs and funding in place. You can imagine how much harder it is in Thailand, with significantly less government help in place (though they are recently taking strides to provide special help and EAs in schools in more populated areas). These kids have a place where they can be together and communicate, and perhaps more importantly receive vocational training and microloans for small home businesses. On the weekends it's a free school for all the village kids for supplementary English, art, and music classes. 

We spent our time volunteering in the gardens, weeding and watering and planting coconuts, and helping out with the recycling program they have here (Thailand doesn't really do recycling as a whole); Katie and I also volunteered planning games and doing English classes in the school on the weekend. They work to use their own organic vegetables in the restaurant and for school meals as much as possible, and their goal is to one day exclusively use their own vegetable and chicken and fish. 

I could go on and on about the wonderful things their doing (I haven't even touched on their huge scholarship and medical care initiatives) but I highly encourage you to take a good look at their website. This place is run completely by volunteers (even the CEOs haven't had a salary in the whole ten years since they started the place), and the ones that do get paid are the Thai people from the community that they hire for cooking and running the gardens. Unfortunately though, they will have to start dismantling the programs they have if they don't start getting consistent funding until they can become self-sufficient.

We donated money that went to some much-needed gardening tools, as well as two pairs of glasses for the kids that go to school here (we saw one of the girls needing glasses reading a book, and it was only possible to do so if she held it an inch in front of her face :P). Katie, Liz and I would really like to do what we can to promote this place in Canada, because the only real promotion they do currently is in Holland. If you're interested in supporting this place, check out the website and the different projects and needs they have: you could sponsor a scholarship for one of the children, or help purchase a pony for their equentherapy program, or help with the salaries of the cooks and gardeners, or countless other projects. 

It was really cool to visit this place and see the awesome work they were doing, and thanks for helping this wonderful project out :)

 http://www.thaichilddevelopment.org/

http://tcdf-ecologic.jimdo.com/english/tcdf-the-foundation/?mobile=1

Casa Gee and the Rest with Wee...

Hey there hi there ho there folks... hold on tight for an incredibly informative uninformative tale of our journey told by Liz Stott as Madi has begged me to catch you all up on our adventures up til now.
I arrived in Guatemala on February 9th and made my way to Rio Dulce where Madi was already volunteering the following day. I was so glad to see her since I had been travelling alone in Guatemala for the first time the day before. The very next day I joined Madi at the orphanage and got a big taste of what I´d be doing for the next month. Wow. I was so overwhelmed. The kids could be very sweet or a handful right from the start. My lack of Spanish was a real kicker too. Kids catch on quick and can easily take advantage of that disadvantage. I wondered how I was gonna do this with so little ability to communicate and really regretted coming with no knowledge of the language. (Madi´s Spanish is quite good if you didn´t know yet, she´s very modest about it though. I´d be screwed if I didn´t have her with me)
My first weekend was really tough with adjusting and missing home. Madi was quite concerned for awhile I think cause I was a real downer. When Monday came however, I decided it was time for an attitude change and that things would be better from now on. Madi and I prayed together that morning and I immediately felt some peace. From then on things were different and great! The changes that take place at that place with the kids and with yourself are awesome!
While Madi was working with Hilmer during the school days, I was assigned more odds and ends jobs. My first week I taught library classes with another volunteer who spoke almost no Spanish as well. That was almost a joke but great in the long run. Some kids gave me a really hard time at first but with standing my ground, the next day they were my best friend basically. Tough love I guess.
Casa Guatemala is a bit of a blur for Madi and I. It went by way too fast and was much too short a time to be with those awesome kids. I can´t speak for Madi but I know the changes I experienced were incredible and I give the credit to God. I started out wondering how I was going to last a month there and ended wishing I had more time. I started out with an attitude that these kids were crazy and were gonna tear me apart but ended loving them and missing them more than I could have imagined. They are truly awesome kids once you get to know them. The sad thing is that Madi and I were just starting to get to know some of the kids and only just meeting some when are time there was quickly coming to an end. You wonder how I could get to know kids with no Spanish do you? Well I did manage to pick up somewhat of vocabulary while I was there even if it´s only good with kids and you´d be surprised how far a smile and a game of basketball or jump rope can go. I definitely was constantly wishing I knew Spanish though so I could truly talk to these kids and be funny and show my personality but even without all that my experience there was amazing and I definitely acquired some favorites out of the kids. (Again, Madi is great with the kids and is basically just as funny in Spanish as she is in English. She could make those kids laugh, so jealous!) Madi and I also taught gym classes while we were there and did some tutoring with young kids and other odds and ends. Our last week there we just spent as much time as we could with the kids and soaked up every last bit of that place that we could.
Sorry guys this is taking longer than I thought... All in all we love those kids to death and were really sad to leave them and we miss them and that place. It was like leaving home again. As Madi said before the volunteers there are truly amazing and we have so much respect for them. They are basically full time parents to 30 kids at a time. Wow that´s more than most of us will ever do.
Since leaving Casa G, we have been on the move! We have almost seen all of Guatemala at this point plus Belize. The major sites anyway... From Rio Dulce we literally skipped(yippee) over to Caye Caulker, Belize and spent a few days relaxing and soaking up A LOT of sun. We also did some snorkeling which was AMAZING. It´s so beautiful there.
Missing Guatemala, we headed back to Flores which is a beautiful little island town right near Tikal, which was next on our to do list. Waking up at 4 am we headed off on a tour to spend the morning with the Mayan ruins of Tikal. (For more intelligent and informative info you´re probably better asking Madi) All I know is that it was incredible! So beautiful! The place is massive with huge temples and ruins that you can climb. The park spans over many kilometres and there is so much to see. Our guide also informed us that when built, there were no trees between these ruins which are now overgrown! We were surrounded by jungle! 85 percent of the ruins are still overgrown as well, covered by dirt and trees. It was breathtaking in the morning surround my mist. The view from the highest temple was also amazing. I highly recommend a trip to Guatemala guys. It is a gorgeous gorgeous country.
From there we bused down to Lanquin which is located near Semuc Champey, which I believe is a national park with breathtaking pools of water. I know that doesn´t sound like much but the place is unbelievable. So beautiful. We took a tour which included jumping off of various high and scary things, a cave tour, and the pools. The cave tour is like nothing we´d ever done before. Our group was large so the one hour tour took two and was a quite an experience. Everyone was given a candle and you all enter the pitch black cave following your guide with nothing but your timy candle. At times you walk, wade, even swim(still holding your candle!) deeper and deeper into the cave. It´s quite beautiful all lit by candle. As the tour went on you climb, jump, slip and slide your way through. The water was cold and with only stubs of candle left we were all quite glad to see the light of day again. So cool. (no pun intended)
Now we are in Antigua, which is a very beautiful little city. We´ve been to the market and were overwhelmed with beautiful Guatemalan fabrics and jewelry. Next we plan on going to Lake Atitlan and fly out to Peru on March 26.
I have fallen in love with Guatemala and will be very sad to go but we are both very excited to see what awaits us in Peru.
Please keep praying for Madi and her incredible journey here, if you feel guilty, I guess you can include me too. We are truly blessed and are having an awesome time! Thanks for putting up with me, I´ll make sure to get Madi back on this thing for next time!

Liz Stott

February 12 - Gilmer and Casa Guatemala

(This is a blog post that I wrote out a month ago but haven´t had a real computer to type it out on. Here it is. Please forgive the poor grammar and crazy changes in tenses, these are because of the spanish keyboard and the difficulty of retyping a recap of a recap)

A lot has gone down since the last time I posted. The main thing was that Kayla and I started taking care of a little boy named Gilmer. A few weeks ago, the church group from the city I was talking about came down to Zacapa so we could all go up to the mountains to visit the Beene´base there. So we went up and did some home visits. At one of the homes we went to we saw a little boy with one eye who was clearly starving; he had swollen feet, hands, and stomach. Kayla then explained his story to the group:

When Gilmer was a baby, he got badly malnourished which often happens in the mountains when a woman has two babies right after one another. The Beenes came across him in the mountains (with his family) when he as around 2(?) and his eye was being pushed out of his head from malnutrition and parasites. He needed surgery and was in excruciating pain - he wouldn´t look at anyone of talk, jus tsit with clenched fists because every blink was a nightmare on that bad eye. So (obviously with the permission of his parents) they took him in to get him healthy again as he couldnt get operated on until he was a bit more nurished. So he got nice and plump, and he got surgery to remove the bad eye and got a glass one put in, and went back to his family. However for unknown reasons throughout the years the malnutrition kept popping up again and the Beenes would periodically take him in for a couple months to help him get well again (please note- he has very loving, caring, hard-working and good-hearted parents and I really don`t think any mal-intent on their part is the cause of his health issues).

So back to being at his house with the church group on the home visit. If you haven´t seen pictures, he looks like a 3 year old but is actually 9. I wasn´t sure he could talk, because as Kayla held him he just swayedd his head and made cooing noises. But afer a little prompting from his papa he sang 4 songs in a row for everyone there. He has the most amazing singing voice. So anyway, Kayla asked his parents about his health and they asked if she could take him for a couple months to make him better. We went back down the mountain to get some basic paperwork and returned a few days later to pick up Gilmer. He was really happy and excited, even though the ride down the mountain was filled with narrowly-missed cliff-tumblings on the washed out road (here´s my official props to Kayla Beene, best driver in the whole wide world).

So now we had Gilmer! Me and Kayla spent a week taking care of him at the Zacapa dorms. This including finding adorable clothing, snuggling, de-licing, feeding, force-feeding (there are starving kids who are picky eaters, who knew), stool-sample taking (Kayla volunteered me for this job, I assume as an opportunity for me to repay her for getting me down the mountain alive), and lots of singing! I definitely fell in love. However, a week after we picked up Johnny the Beenes were off to the States for the month of February and I was going to be off to Casa Guatemala, an orphanage and school in Rio Dulce. So the plan was to drop Gilmer off at a nutrition center, which we were actually planning to do within the first couple days but somehow never got around to it (may or may not have had to do with levels of adorableness). So then, Rocky got a brilliant idea when she remembered that she and Michael had brought kids to Casa Guatemala years ago. Why not bring Gilmer to Casa G and I could be there with him? So we took Gilmer with us as we went to the base in Rio Dulce, and he helped us tile and ride on the jetskis (I´ve never seen a smile that big before).

And then, just like that, it was time to leave the Beenes. They brought me to Hotel Backpackers (the hostel affiliated with the orphanage, about a 20 minute boatride downriver from Casa Guatemala. This is where I would be staying while I volunteered and I would boat back and forth each day) and after prayers, hugs, and many many thanks I left my Floridian-Guatemalan family with Gilmer in my arms.

Gilmer was NOT happy to leave Kayla, but with some icecream bribery he was eventually persuaded to get in the boat with me at the hostel so we could head to the orphanage. When we got to the orphanage, he was swept up by the friendly nurses and I was assured he was in good hands as I headed back to the hostel.

The next day I headed back to the orphanage. That place is so cool. It´s in the jungle, there are always monkeys passing through. It´s an orphanage and a school, so on a school day there are about 250 kids there, as some come from surrounding villages. Of those 250 about 120 live at Casa Cuatemala, and of them only about 40 are true orphans and the rest board there for school. There are a bunch of volunteers who live there too and care for the kids (mut be over 24 and there at least 3 months). These volunteers are amazing, they work so so hard with so much patience and love, it´s very inspiring.

The first day I went and found Gilmer and spent the day with him. It was then decided that it would be best for him to start going to school. He´s 9 and has never been, so they put him in Kinder (pre-school). The first 8 days there I kind of worked as his EA almost, helping him learn to colour and make shapes in class, helping him play with other kids, etc. Gilmer doesn´t have a lot fo social skills, so these first few days were a huge adjustment and struggle for him. He has a full vocabulary but refuses to talk, even when he really needs something, just out of stubborness. So it had been a challenge to not baby him and try to integrate him, show him that he has to talk to people. He´s grown so much just in the short time he´s been there, he started talking to some of the other kids (all of which are very fascinated by him and extremely friendly towards him).

And then, Liz showed up!! I was sooo happy to see her. After my first few days volunteering she joined me at the orphanage and she was so amazing and inspiring with the kids within her first 3 minutes there.

The last few days I haven´t been spending all day with Gilmer though, so that he will learn to be like the other kids and not be as dependent (his parents wanted him to continue going to school there after I leave). This has been hard for him, he stubbornly refused to go to some classes and cried a lot. So the last few days I´ve been teaching library class with Liz. And as I´ve not only been with Gilmer I´ve gotten to know more of the other kids, who are all so amazing. I love them all. And some have had the hardest go in life but are just so joyful. I feel so lucky to be here and know them.

Right now I´m at a hospital 3 hour away with Gilmer, as I assume he´s getting some test done but I´m not really sure. I was sent on a bus and told to come stay with him at the hospital for a few days. The poor guy was wailing in his crib when I got here, he was terrified. What a sweet blessing to hold his hand and be able to alleviate some fear or sadness. I can´t believe I get to be a part of these amazing organizations and amazing people´s lives. It´s so incredible to witness the different people and organizations making such an impact, and just get inspired by what I see.
(end of February 12 Blog post)

(Beginning of present day factual insertations and update)

What happened with Gilmer was that on one of the days I wasn´t spending a lot of time with him the orphanage decided to have him taken to the hospital to get treated for some nasty lung problems and also general checkups for malnutrition etc. I didn´t know any of this but they had asked me if I could go and stay with him there so he wouldn´t be alone and would have someone he knew. I stayed there with him 3 days and then a teacher from the school came to relieve me so I could go back to the hostel for a break. Then I found out that his parents had come to the hospital to pick him up and bring him home. It was really sad to just abruptly learn I´d probably never see him again and not be able to say goodbye. But also really good, because that situation was perfect for Gilmer to see how much his family loved him that they would come to pick him up. So now he´s back home, and right now the plan and hope is for my family to sponsor him, so his family can always have enough food and medical attention to make sure he doesn´t get sick, as well as to hire a tutor so he can continue to go to school!

I´ll be amazed if this is understandable to anyone! Thanks for reading my illogical ramblings.

One Month: Church Friends, Rio Dulce, Dorm Students

These are some of the things I’ve been up to the last three weeks.

Kayla, Chelsea (again, these are the daughters of Michael and Rocky Beene, the missionaries I’m working with) and I went on a weekend church retreat for their church in the city, Intimidad con Dios. We didn’t really know what was going on, but we got dropped off by the bus by some boats and hopped on them. They took us 20 minutes down the coast and we landed at a beautiful camp on the beach. So we had a weekend of worshipping God, playing intense group games, and meeting some really cool people!

The really sweet thing about this weekend however was the opportunity to meet passionate young people from Guatemala who are interested in making a difference in their country. Ever since I’ve come to live with the Beenes, they’ve been talking about how the people from the city don’t know the extent of the poverty within their own country. They’ll tell people about their ministry in the villages and the people will say “What? There’s not people like that here, there’s not people without electricity or without food or clean water”. They don’t really know of the need that exists a few hours outside the city. This kind of reminded me of the situation at home with people living in the city and surrounding towns who have no idea of the extent of the poverty in the reserves just a few hours north. It really seems like God’s had a hand in the last few weeks of trying to bring together the classes and cultures of Guatemala. Kayla and Chelsea told these young people about their ministry and their immediate response was “What can we do to help?” The Beenes always have support and teams coming from the US and Canada, but they realized what a beautiful thing it would be if the people of Guatemala decided to passionately engage in their ministry and help the poor in their own country. So the more we’ve been hanging out with these people from the church, the more exciting ideas they have about how to help with the ministry. In fact, they just did an enormous clothing drive for the mountain villages and are actually all coming up to visit and distribute this weekend. How exciting is that? In two weeks they go from just learning about the situation to actually driving out and helping.

After that retreat I had the opportunity to visit the Beene’s base in Rio Dulce. This is an absolutely gorgeous area of Guatemala. We spent our time there working on the base and making sure that the jetskis and tubes were in proper working order.

After Rio Dulce we went back to the city to drop off Chelsea at the airport, as she had to go back to the states to “work” and “study”. Chelsea, if you’re reading this, I don’t buy it. Come back to us.

From there we came to Zacapa, where the dorm students were just arriving. To recap, the dorm here was built by the Beene’s so that students could come down from the mountains and continue their education past the 6th grade, which is all that’s available in the mountains. The school year is just starting, the kids just came off a three month break. I had the opportunity to meet them all last week, and they are amazing! They are so sweet and so smart! It’s tough to get to know them because of the language barrier, but it’s good bonding just to try out my spanish and have them laugh at me. This is such an amazing thing the Beene’s do here, the kids have a chance to realize so much potential within themselves. Kayla was telling me a story about when one of the girls came down for the first year. They always ask them in the beginning what they want to be or what they want as their career. The girl answered immediately “a teacher” because that’s the only job available to girls where she’s from. Kayla then tells them “No, what do you WANT, what do you love to do?? You can do it, you can be it!”

I also had a really awesome past weekend. Kayla and I had been planning on going to staff a concert event in the city (I have a good idea, let’s ask the english-speaking gringa to wear a shirt that says “staff” so people will come and ask her for help in spanish. what an ideal candidate!) We were looking forward to spending the weekend hanging out, seeing our friends, etc. On the weekends, the kids all go back up to the mountains to see their families. But there are 2 boys here who are from Rio Dulce, which is very far away, so they stay here for the weekend. So Michael and Rocky asked us to take them with us, along with another boy who couldn’t go home for the weekend. So Kayla and I, along with another girl from Zacapa, piled into the little truck with the village boys and off we went. What a cool experience, to take kids to a mall and have them use escalators, elevators, roller coasters and trampolines for the first time ever. They also got to see a concert, another thing they’ve never done before. At the beginning of the weekend, these guys were painfully shy. We asked them if they needed to use the bathroom and they just stared at us, not saying a word. By the end they were laughing and joking. They also got to meet a bunch of the folks from the church, and it was so cool to see the friendships building there, to see the young church people just loving on them and buying them lunch, and how much that meant to the boys. I realized how unaccustomed these boys were to being in the city and out of villages when we went to an ice cream place. One of the boys was inside with us, the others had gone outside and were sitting by the truck across the parking lot. We wanted to take a picture so we asked the boy who was with us to go and call the other boys inside. He walked up to the glass door and started calling the boys, going “Cesar! Mariano!” just right in front of the glass door. He figured since he could see them so clearly, they must be able to hear him. He didn’t realize he would have to open the door. Even something like glass is just so foreign. I can’t imagine how the city would have looked to them. It would be such a culture shock. And they handled it like pros, it was so cool.

Now I’m back at the dorms. Oh, and the blankets are all purchased with the generous donations of friends and family. We’re going to be taking them up to the mountains either tomorrow or this weekend, or maybe both, and handing them out there. I can’t wait, it’s gonna be so sweet!

I appreciate the prayers and support of everyone at home, and it’s amazing to see God work here. I think I’ve realized though that it’s not like you have to go somewhere, to a specific situation, and say “wow God’s really moving here”. I think I’ve come to see, as I’m here, that he’s constantly moving everywhere, breathing life into everything and every situation whether it’s perceived as bad or good. We don’t need to pray for him to start moving but just step into a life of acknowledging his breath in everything. He moves in the ministry of the Beene’s but he’s also moving in the mountains, in the city, in all of the people and nature. He’s constantly doing sweet stuff and I’m blessed when I just acknowledge that.

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12

I’m not pretending to understand why or in what context this verse was written, but I can’t shake it from my brain as it pops up every time I meet a new beautiful person or see the incredible landscape here.

What’s the proper way to end a blog post?? Like, just a “later gator” or what?

Later Gators.

Week 1. Wait, week 1??

Well, it’s been a week since I left Winnipeg. It doesn’t make sense because it feels like I’ve always been here.

I was met at the airport by the Beene family. Michael and Rocky Beene are missionaries here in Guatemala , and they do AMAZING work in a few mountain villages outside of the capital (for more information about what they do, you have to check out their website - look for Faith In Action Ministries). They’ve got four kids - Tiffany, Chelsea, Kayla and Travis. I’m here with Kayla, Chelsea and Travis currently. They are all so amazing, kind, loving, and have such a passion for helping people! It’s very humbling and inspiring to me.

Once I got in, we spent the night at their house in the city and the next morning we were off to the city of Zacapa, about four hours from Guatemala City. They built student dorms here, so that children from up in the mountain can come down and finish their high school education (as it regularly only goes until grade six). The dorm is fantastic, and the Beenes and others working on it have really poured themselves into making it a sanctuary and home for the kids. Right now the kids are still on summer break, but they’ll be coming down to stay in the next couple weeks. I cannot wait to meet them all!

From Zacapa we drove up the mountain to the village of Pinalito. Driving there and back was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. The “roads” were crazy! Actually, we drove the first half up the mountain on a two-way road that had room for one car, gravel, with precarious cliffs on every side. Then Kayla told me that was the highway, and the next half was gonna get pretty sketchy. I believed her when we came up to a river/stream, and just when I was about to ask how we were going to cross, she turned into it and I realized this was our road. It was SO beautiful! The mountains and streams and everything are just serene.

The village itself is also beautiful. It’s right in the mountains and borders the rainforest. Orange, coffee, macadamia nut, and banana trees grow everywhere! It’s so cool! The Beenes have set up a mission base there with a medical/dentist clinic and coffee factory. We arrived with a ton of care packages and items for the people there. That evening we set up a New Years event, complete with games for the kids, coffee, candy, and TONS of fireworks. We handed out the packages and blankets to whoever we could at the event. It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. See facebook for pictures, as the internet is too slow to upload onto here.

Back in Zacapa we had the opportunity to visit a lady that the Beenes knew in the hospital. She was suffering from malnutrition and tuberculosis. Her young daughter had a baby (Sarah), who was also in the hospital. This 3-month old baby girl weighs around 5-7 pounds and looks like a newborn. You can see her ribs poking through. There’s a good chance she has tuberculosis as well, and she’s enemic. Her grama (the malnourished one in the hospital) had previously been taking care of her. Her mom, who is unmarried and poor, feels unable to take care of the child and isn’t sure if she wants her or if that’s the best thing for the baby. Right now the Beenes are trying to find a home for her. Please keep the situation in your prayers, that God’s will would be done in where the child finds her home. Also, the condition of the hospital is crazy! It’s completely open air, which is a good thing for how the hospital is. They found out that the lady had tuberculosis, and they kept her in a room with another patient, they didn’t check the baby (who most likely contracted it) and put her in the pediatricia wing with other babies. There was no precautionary testing or quarantining or anything like that, it was crazy!

This place is amazing, the work the Beenes are doing is fantastic, and it’s very exciting to be able to live with them. I’m looking forward to an adventurous next 5 weeks with them.

Well hey!

Due to 2 incredibly awesome facts (I will be traveling/volunteering in central/south america and will have little time/inclination for communication; I have a large group of supportive friends and family who are interested in my life) I will be writing this blog to keep all you madi-fans updated on the status of my aliveness whilst I peruse various jungles. This also is hopefully a way to present prayer requests for myself, the people I'm with, and the places I'm going, cause I don't think I or we can do it without some prayer!