Romania 2009 Home & Program visits...

Friday, Nov 7: We arrived in Bucarest, (RIN Hotel), and had a wonderful dinner with Aurora and Dragos!
 
Saturday, Nov 8: Devos out of Chapter 5, (The 3 Greatest Commandments), from The Hole In Our Gospel lead by Rosario. It was fun to hear her story of immigration from Bolivia and her perspective on global poverty. Drive to Cluj with a stop in Sighisoara, birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula. Fun times!

Sunday, Nov 9: Devos from Chapter 10 (What's Wrong With This Picture) of The Hole In Our Gospel lead by Kathy. Sponsorship visits! My sponsor family is doing well, although the mom is unexpected pregnant with triplets!! It's been such an honor to sponsor them for 8 years, and visit them 3 times. Wow Triplets! We were all excited, but also talked about the challenges. For a family that only made $70 per month when the mom was working, this is going to be very difficult financially.

We also got in a quick visit to Bannfy Castle Ruins.

Monday, Nov 10:

Morning: Double Devos! Chapter 4 (Towering Pillars Of Compassion and Justice) from THIOG, lead by me, and devos with the Cluj ADP team lead by Vali Sabua, what an amazing leader! He shared about Jacob wrestling with God and losing, but being blessed. The injury to his hip is translated into Romanian as his 'agony' and Vali did a nice job tying it to "The Agonies We Live With".

First Home Visit: Roma family visit demonstrating a nice partnership between the Orthodox church and the World Vision Cluj Team.

Second visit to a father who has liver cancer, and a 11 year old son. The mom is working abroad as a prostitute and sends them money regularly and visits them a couple times a year. They live in a converted pigpen/horse stable. We all wondered what would happen if the father doesn't make it. Obviously poverty/desperation can rob people of respect. This was a very hard story to hear. I won't show pics of this one.

Third Home visit and lunch: Pentecostal dairy farmers. Wonderful success story of a family that was responsible for 18 cows under communism, and now basically do the same thing, but reap the rewards of their hard work.

(Mary with the Grandmother)

Monday Night: Overview of Youth In Transition program with Edit the program manager & psychologist so that we are ready to meet with the teens Tuesday. Remember the 1990 20/20 show? Yeah, these are the teenages & early twenty year olds that were raised in that system. She explained the attachment disorders/trauma associated with institutionalization, and how the program works with teens to prepare them for life on the outside, and how to deal with the issues they face. She is a saint. These kids are in such desperate need of help. They call World Vision their 'mom & dad'. We discussed the program funding challenges for a long time and how we can all help her get the resources she needs to continue this important work.

Tuesday, Nov 11: Devos from chapter 25 (Time, Talent, Treasure) of THIOG with Phyllis. Her perspective is profound because of her life experiences.

Morning home visits with the Bus(h) family (spelled Bus, pronounced Bush). The girls walk 3.2 miles to school through the beautiful Carpathian Mountains (we clocked it on the odometer). Their dogs go with them to protect them on the walk because there are wolves (wow). We were all amazed to hear their struggle for education. They are in the sponsorship program but have never had a sponsor - we all agreed to fix that problem!

 Lunch with a sponsor family (wow) what a lunch (6 course meal).

Tuesday Night: Youth In Transition program visit. We had a great time with the teens from YIT. They asked why we cared and how we were able to come so far to help the people of Romania. We each shared a short version of our testimony and tried to encourage them to have a goal, stay in school, and trust in God.

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Devos with Kevin, Chapter 8 (The Greatest Challenge Of The New Millennium) of THIOG. The family visit today was particularly compelling. Annie Maria is a 26 year old mom, with 6 beautiful kids.

Her husband left her, and she has no income. The local Church has helped her by giving her a small 2 bedroom house to stay in for the winter, but it has to be used in the spring for another situation. There is no running water. The babies (twins) are just 4 or 5 months old. The highlight was seeing her excitement when we asked about her sponsor. She went and got the letters from Nicky Strang. (wow) great sponsor. (postscript - I spoke to Nicky tonight and told her all about the visit and sent her a link to the pictures. She said it was the highlight of her year). Our heart went out to Annie Maria.

Thursday: 9 Hour Drive Day! Instead of long devos we all just read and considered Psalm 103.

"The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed...

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love...

Friday, Nov. 12, 2009. Devos with the Bucarest (WVR Headquarters) Staff. We lead devotions by sharing about what we had seen. Sam Vorhees was also there and shared a bit about leadership challenges. We prayed for Anna, a girl abducted from one of the WVR program sites. They had credible evidence that she had been abducted and taken to italy (likely for prostitution).

Morning visit - Sector 5 Placement Center (Orphanage). WOOOWWWW! What a miracle. 2 years ago we visited this same location. It was a very tired and sad facility. One person on the trip even had to walk out during the tour because it was so difficult to see, smell, experience. World Vision had just gotten approval to partner there with the staff and overhaul the facility and programs. Did they ever! You would never imagine it was the same place. The facility is beautiful, the programs are well staffed and organized. They showed us what they called their continuum of services, starting with a maternal shelter, and then a preschool, then counseling and services for parents of Children With Disabilities, and then the residential living area for 60 children. This was spectacular, and I'd imagine as good or better than anything we could do in the U.S.

I told Mariana the program manager that...

"We underestimated your ability to perform miracles"

She laughed and said it was all God.

For the afternoon visit the team broke up and saw different things. My group went to a very dangerous area of Sector 5 (the most impoverished sector of Bucarest) and visited a family that has 9 children (and the mom is pregnant). The apartment was roughly 10 feet by 6 feet (incredibly small). No bathroom. The fathers first comment was, "no one would help us until World Vision did". Both parents and the youngest child have Hepatitis C, and the government, because of confusion about their address, would not provide them with any services. World Vision stepped in and is actively working to get their paperwork straightened out so they can access governmental services. When we prayed for the mom she began crying loudly and thanked us. The sponsorship worker said they became aware of this family because one of their program beneficiaries said, "I'm poor, but this family needs your help more than me". And she took the World Vision worker to meet the family.

Saturday, Nov. 14 2009. Debriefing Day!

The schedule included:

A. Trip schedule recap & review (Wow, it's amazing how you can forget whole sections of your itinerary from just a few days prior. The hole in my short term memory)

B. Personal Reflection Time, answering 8 questions:

1. My experience has been...

2. For me, Romania means...

3. I will be going back home to...

4. When I go back home my prayers will include...

5. An area I have seen God work in my life is...

6. I see the Gospel differently because...

7. The thing about my experience I want to share most is...

8. I have seen God at work in (list each team-mate and give an answer)...

C. Follow-Up Items - what promises did you make, (or decisions) to who?

1. A wall adapter for my sponsor girl's new electronic toy (done)

2. A new (GN ) for my sponsor family

3. Orchestrating full funding for the YIT Program & visit of Olga & Edit

4. Contacting Nicky Strang the sponsor of Annie Maria and her 6 kids (Done, that was fun).

5. Get the trafficking DVD for Trinity off the Meero site

6. Get video greeting of Edit & Olga & Kristina finished for donors

7. Send a copy of all my pics and video to Trinity

8. Finish the expenses

9. Bring a track jacket to Johnathan next time I come

Romania 2009 Trip Slideshow

The Trinity Presbyterian Team visited Cluj Area Development Program from November 5th to 15th 2009. This is the 6th trip to Cluj for the church, and my 3rd! Here are the highlights in picture, enjoy:


Find more photos like this on Cluj Partner Pages

My favorite pics from Esther's Needs Care Center

(Yes, I took all these pictures, (the best work I've ever done)...

Zambia March 2009

Find more videos like this on MPPC Lusaka 2009



Find more videos like this on MPPC Lusaka 2009



Find more videos like this on MPPC Lusaka 2009



Find more videos like this on MPPC Lusaka 2009



Find more videos like this on MPPC Lusaka 2009

My Tijuana pics from August 08

More of what I thought I wanted, but realize I can't handle...

More home visits with Caregivers...this time in Lesotho - the Mountain Kingdom.

First home, we visit a widow that is HIV positive. We meet her four beautiful children - all of them are also HIV positive. We hear her story, and try to encourage her. We pray for her, but the whole time each of us were trying not to cry (at least it seemed that way to me). Her caregiver helps her a lot. And all five are on medication.

Second home, a child-headed household situation. The older sister is 22 and has AIDS. She cares for four younger siblings, and three cousins. All the parents are dead. She was so down emotionally, but we spent a lot of time there, helped stack up her firewood, and plant cabbage seedlings in her garden. She was really grateful. She said she has wanted to plant something in her garden for a long time but has been too weak. When we left she told us she loved us. That broke my heart. The caregiver, in this case, lives right next door, and checks on them every day. But is that adequate?? I guess it has to be.

Third home, a young man 26, full blown AIDS. We walked up carrying a blanket as a gift and the Caregiver smiled and said, "he was just saying how cold he was this morning". We had also brought an umbrella for the caregiver, then it started raining pretty much as we handed it to her. Amazing.

Fourth home, a 28 year old lady. Dying. She had been released from the local adventist hospital for home based care. The caregiver was in charge of that. She had 2 children that were not with her. Her story was sad. Her husband had died, and when her in-laws found out she was sick too then pretty much stopped helping her in any way. So she returned to her home village to receive care from her own people - her mom and the caregiver were doing everything they could.

Basically, for several weeks I've been deeply troubled emotionally. I think a couple afternoons of walking in the shoes of a caregiver was too much for me to handle. I pray for them more now. Realizing that God has gifted them for what they are doing. I pray that God will do miracles and keep them encouraged. It's amazing to think that there are 59,000 Caregivers doing this right now, just through World Vision's ministry. I pray that I'll be able to share these stories so that people care...

Care that in just 3 'wards' of the Umzimvubu area there are 800 full (meaning both parents are lost) orphans that World Vision works with. And there are 17 wards in Umzimvubu in total. No one is working in the other 14 wards. No charities, no missionaries, nothing (that we are aware of anyway).

Care that by 2010 there will be 53 million orphans in Africa from all causes including AIDS.

Care that the life expectancy in South Africa is 46

Care that the life expectancy in Lesotho is 36

Care that the average income in Lesotho is $700 per year.

A few highlights from Umzimvubu South Africa - recent trip

My March trip to South Africa and Lesotho was hard. Have you ever asked for something you thought you wanted, then when you got it, you realized you couldn't handle it? Yeah, this trip I asked very specifically for the chance to walk from house to house (actually hut to hut) with Caregivers, and meet their clients. We did it for a couple days, one in South Africa, one in Lesotho. The caregivers are the heroes of our story here, not the Americans, (that's for sure).

The first home was a man dying, probably had a few months to live. He was coughing uncontrollably. He had been treated for TB already, but we (all 9 in the group) were worried about being exposed. Everyone was too scared to talk. The man was happy to great us, and have us pay him a visit. He was told that "Americans" had heard about the Caregiver ministry and wanted to come and encourage Caregivers and clients. We told him the same thing, and he was very quick to say wonderful things about his caregiver, between fits of coughing. We prayed for him, and chatted with him in an affirming (hopefully) way. This was pretty much hospice care type stuff, a difficult thing for anybody, let alone strangers, but we did it in a way that felt kind to him. His eight year old daughter watched it all quietly. We wondered what would happen to her after he's gone.

Second home, Mother of two children, widow, HIV positive. The babies aren't. She is on medication and is strong enough to even serve as a caregiver to others, and to work in the community garden. In fact, we met her a day earlier as one of the caregivers, so when we got to her home, we were confused. They explained that she was a client, (and still is), but had gotten strong enough physically to want to help, so she's a caregiver now too. That's pretty cool.

Third home, a mother of three children, one of them is severly disabled. She just found out she is HIV positive. She was devastated, wondering what was going to happen to her son. We all joined her in that concern, comforted her, prayed for her, then left.

You can see AMAZING pictures of our trip from one of the travelers, photographer Mark Kuroda. He is my hero too - for his ability to capture a moment, and share it so powerfully. Here's a link to his amazing work...

Trip visit video of South Africa and Lesotho

Wow I love the singing!!

Romania 2007

Yeah, another great trip to Romania! Visiting the work in Cluj and Bucharest was outstanding. This year we set up the pictures and video on a social network site so everyone could share easily. Cool stuff, check it out at ClujPartnerPages.ning.com

Here's the team video...

Ethiopia: Friday Morning - Visiting Sponsor Children!!

This morning was really fun as I visited sponsor children in Adama. What precious kids!

Ethiopia: Friday - BioGas!!

On Friday I had the chance to visit an innovative program being funded by an Australian Grant. It was specifically designed to improve the lives of women in the village of Wakemiya Tiyo. The project was a bio-gas cooking system that was very clever. It was just being installed for 25 families. I visited 2 of them. It was a simple system that did a lot of good!

First, it allowed the women to cook without requiring them to gather firewood, which has been a traditional chore for them. Gathering wood could take hours out of their day and deforested the local environment leading to a dryer, dustier village.




Now with the biogas cooking system - the ladies can simply turn a valve, and fire up their stovetop. Life simplified!!

The husband/farmer gets 3 big benefits - first, improved fertilizer as the biproduct of the system helps improve his farming production, second, milk from the cows involved improve the health of the family, and finally, the system uses 2 young cows - and once they are mature and fattened, they are taken to the local cattle yard and sold. The money - big money - is used to buy 2 young replacement cows, and there is cash left over to improve the livelihood of the family and pay off the cost of the system.


Financially, the system is self sustaining, the family only starts by paying 10% of the cost upfront -roughly $US20. Then the rest of the money is paid off from the sale of the cows at the cattle yard. With the system repaid, the funds can be used to assist another family. The communities goal is to have the system installed in 100 families homes.

Here's the video clip of how the methane production works...and the wife lighting the burner. Warning - This is sort of gross - but also strangely cool...

Ethiopia: Thursday morning devotions with the ADP staff

This morning was fun! We started with devotions with the ADP staff - here's a brief sample, (the song says - "there is no one like Jesus"),

Ethiopia: Thursday - Visiting Communities in Adama ADP

Today we had a chance to host a group from Menlo Park Presbyterian in Adama ADP. Together we visited 2 communities to learn about the Community Care Coalitions, meet children, and tried to comprehend what life is like in rural Ethiopia. 3 stories stand out!

First, in Awash Melkasa, the Community Care Coalition - with a total of 5 home visitors - were caring for 505 Orphans & Vulneralble children. Their greatest joy was the fact that they were able to take 10 of the children to run in the 'Great Race' in Addis, and one of their kids won his age bracket! He was a local star! His poster was plastered every where. He was now in Addis and had joined a top running club.

Second, in Adulala Koshe, the Community Care Coalition decided it was going to focus on combating harmful cultural traditions. The first 2 children we met were supposed to be married to older men - they were 13 years old. The CCC group intervened and got support by the local police department to ensure the girls didn't have to marry. Yeah! (As a side note, I met with one of the girls and her older brother on Friday morning just before they were set to go before the local judge to discuss the situation. Our staff was there walking alongside them. We tried to encourage them and tell them we were proud of them for being so brave.

Third, in the same village, the CCC group heard about 2 orphans who were getting their land stolen by a distant uncle. The CCC group intervened - stopped the land-grabbing - and ensured the girls were looked after. It was great to meet the girls and hear their stories. The CCC group was on a mission to care for children, stop the cultural practices that were causing harm, and ensure their community grew stronger over time.

Finally, that afternoon I had the chance to sit in a rural hut and meet a young mother. 24. She was a victim of the early marriage practice. She had an 11 year old son, and 2 other younger children. Her husband had divorced her, and she was struggling to survive. The World Vision staff and CCC group had begun helping her and were working with her to get her kids into school. She served us coffee as she told us her story. It was a struggle to understand what seems like cosmic unfairness. We get a nice life - she gets this.

Ethiopia: Wednesday - Time To Meet CCCs!!!

Today I drove to the town of Nazreth, also called Adama. Our program staff met me there. They were terrific!! The Area Development Program Manager for Adama - Meskerem, looks like LL Cool J if you ask me. He was a terrific host! We met Community Care Coalitions and heard about how they were making a difference. Both groups we met with were passionate about assisting the Orphans & Vulnerable children in their communities. Too many great stories to remember!

Ethiopia: Tuesday, A Terrific Day With Getenesh

Hey you old Pathways friends - Be Jealous, Be Very Jealous!! I got to spend a day with Gete!

For you non - Pathways people - Getenesh and I started in an Eastern University graduate program together. She's the Director of Finance for World Vision Ethiopia, and a wonderful and kind friend. We met in Toronto for four summers in a row from 2001 to 2004 and graduated in 2005. If it hadn't been for her (and several other finance pros), I'm sure I wouldn't have passed accounting! It was really fun to visit the World Vision Ethiopia office - meet her team - and have coffee Ethiopian style with the employees in their cafeteria.

Of course during lunch we couldn't help but talk about overhead issues, cost accounting, and the difficulties of compensation practices in countries with disperate costs of labor, and other fun topics

Ethiopia: Monday Morning - Reality Check with Dr. Doug

This morning I sat with Dr. Doug a Pediatrician from Davis as he worked in a Pediatric AIDS Clinic.

The first child - Kirby - seven years old - He's HIV positive and has just contracted pneumonia. I played with him while the Dr. explained things to the father about the pneumonia medication.

Second child - Danny - 10 years old - came in with his mom to have the results of his HIV test told to him. There was an intense moment as Dr. Doug held the results of the test in his hands - and took a deep breath before speaking...we were all on the edge of our seat. But - the result was negative - no HIV - the mom cried and cried and thanked us - we all celebrated together.

Third child - an adorable little girl - Tsion - 5 years old. She was raped 3 months ago. They are still not sure if she's contracted HIV or not. They'll test her for HIV again soon. I emotionally disconnected after this one - that was all I could take. I hung around for a while, but only until a ride showed up.

These kids, roughly the same ages as mine, are the reality.

Ethiopia: Easter 2007 In Ethiopia

Wow, first day in Ethiopia. My friend Getenesh took me to church - The International Evangelical Church in Addis. Great time! Then her and her lovely family hosted me for an authentic Ethiopian Easter meal.