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Showing posts from 2015

Throughts from Home...

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It’s awfully difficult to believe it has now been just over a month since we’ve returned to Canada from Haiti. The week was so vibrant and visceral that returning to our respective, chilly, grey homes made the whole trip seem like a colorful dream. But although we’re back to our jobs, families and commitments, the spirit of the trip has been burning on. We gathered for a virtual meeting to discuss how we were all feeling after we’d had time to settle. Many of us think about an aspect of the trip every day. Some reflect on our solidarity hike up to Plingue, and the hope that Chalice has brought to that community. Some of us are catching ourselves noticing the conveniences we have in our lives, in our homes, and how our children get to school. Coming up to the holidays, many of us are re-evaluating how we spend our money, and how we prioritize our time. Most of us take comfort knowing that the children we, or our friends, have sponsored are continuing to receive care -- which

Pain and Suffering

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There is a distinction between ‘pain’ and ‘suffering.’ Put very simply, pain is what we experience during times of physical or emotional trials – suffering is the same, but without hope. As part of this Mission, we have been seeking to be a relief to both pain – as in the case of young Frankel – and to shine a light of hope that alleviates the despair of those who are in a state of suffering. It’s not for us to say whether any person is suffering or “just” enduring a very challenging set of circumstances, but each person we have met have made sacrifices and faced emptyhandedness that most Canadians could not begin to understand. In our time here we have had the opportunity to learn more about their hardships by taking baby-steps towards it ourselves. We ourselves have encountered challenges that are so completely foreign to our own daily lives that often all we can do is just laugh. And it is in these encounters that we have a choice to make: we could take the default

Face-offs, Fortitude, and Frankel

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(Our internet connection has been unavailable since early Saturday, thus the late post. If you haven't heard from someone on the team in a while rest assured we are all still going strong...ish :-) )  The past two days have had as many peaks and valleys as the roads we’ve been driving on. Saturday started strong at a school in Latibouli ère , and, as we had suspected, giving Pop Rocks to the unsuspecting is highly entertaining for all to see. We then divided the team, with some going on to Pr éville to paint and to “cruise”, and some went on home visits to sponsored children. The ‘cruisers’ arrived to discover that their digging tools for the day consisted of a shovel and a piece of rebar, but they persevered and made significant headway into making a latrine for an incredibly grateful family. Shout out to their translator Chancely who rescued them from the scorpion. The home visit crew had a different tale to tell. Having been told the home of Mary-Lo

And the 'Real' Work Begins...

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(This post was written on Friday...in the midst of post-meal stomach issues, we missed posting it. Thank you for staying tuned!) The day has come; today we actually rolled up our sleeves and made ourselves useful. First order of business was to sort the 30-odd bags of donations we brought with us to be divided by the site staff among the different sub-sites. A pile for school supplies, books, shoes, toys, dental hygiene, medical, feminine hygiene, sports gear and clothing…we figure the hundreds of toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes we brought will negate the bags and bags of candy…right? Then we were off on a very bumpy ride to the school in Carrefour Sanon. We passed the time by learning some Creole from our tri-lingual driver, Joel, and in turn trying to introduce him to the concept of maple syrup, which is difficult when you don’t know the French word for sap – although Joanne’s attempt with “tree blood” was pretty good. He seemed to enjoy the maple candy we gave him.