Home Again

We have now completed one of the greatest experiences of our lives

As the photo indicates, we have arrived back on U.S. soil with New York city in the background.  As we flew from Paris to New York and watched the television monitor with the small plane inching its way across the ocean,  we realized that it was slowly taking us back to our familiar life from a world we never knew before.

Already, it was beginning to feel removed from us, as though what we had experienced was surreal - but it wasn't.

We both knew what we had experienced was absolutely real, and although we could leave it behind physically by boarding the plane, we really couldn't leave it behind in our hearts.

We saw poverty that can't be described in words, and we came to know people that were bright, happy, grateful and respectful. Their greatest desire was for their children to have a chance to have a better life. Although we were stunned by the magnitude of the problems, we were so impressed with how Canadian Humanitarian is really making a difference in the lives of individuals and families.

Now we face the challenge:  what do we do with what we now know and understand?

Of all the pictures we took, the next two are our favourites.

They show best what a special opportunity it has been to get to know, and work with, these children.

We saw confidence in the eyes of the young people and we saw hope in the eyes of the guardians. 

Thank you Canadian Humanitarian for changing lives - especially ours.

Awash, Afar

On Saturday, we traveled about 600 km to the city of Awash in the Afar region.

The roads there were bumpy, and very dusty. It was about a 12 hour round trip!  In Awash, we met with another school project.

Education Center in Kality

We spent some time at the Education Center in Kality, a sub-city on the outskirts of Addis.

Not many of the side streets are paved, and the rainy season can really do a number on them. It's a pretty bumpy ride!

Audrey, with some of the children we met at Kality

We had a brand new pair of shoes for every child in the Kality Education Center

As you can see from this old pair of shoes one child was wearing - they really needed them!

This girl was washing her feet in preparation of putting on her new shoes.

We also had backpacks to give to every child - they waited very patiently for their names to be called to come up and receive one!  Each backpack also had a soccer jersey in it, donated by people in St George Utah.

And back into traffic to make it home at the end of the day. This is pretty normal traffic flow here!

Snow in Gindo!

Beza Entoto

We spent most of our time in Ethiopia working in Canadian Humanitarian Education Centers, but every now and then we would take some time to see what other humanitarian work is going on in the country.

The Beza Entoto outreach project was an interesting place to visit.  This is a program that has been started in Ethiopia for women who have HIV.  The social stigma of HIV is so strong that these women are rejected by their families, have nowhere to go, and are unable to find work.

The Beza program takes them in, gives them a place to live, and work to do making beautiful jewelry and selling it. They have a clean, safe place to work, and the jewelry they make is high quality and very creative and unique.

They sell from their well displayed store at the back of their workplace, and also export large orders outside of the country to the USA.

Each woman has a story to tell of her rescue from despair.

Kid's Hope Education Center - GINDO!

We loved our time out in Gindo!

This is the water source for Gindo - it is about 3 km outside of town, and produces 250 gallons a minute.

Back packs with school supplies in them were provided for every child in the program

They really liked the backpacks!

Here's the bus we rode on from Addis to Gindo

Our Chain Reaction Presentation

Today we wanted to share with you some of the content of the presentation that we have been giving to the children in the Education Centers here in Ethiopia.
We explain that Vern Hyde had a dream to ride his bike across Canada, and help build an Educaiton Cetner in Gindo, Ethiopia.  He was joined by his wife Dena, Mark and Nola Bishop, and ourselves.

All six people made a major commitment to help realize this dream.

We outline four secrets that helped us to be successful, and that they can also use to help them succeed at their goals:

1. Have a goal!
2. Plan and Prepare
3. DO IT!
4. Believe

As a fun break, we give the children a chance to try riding a bike with a stationary trainer. We show them a number of photos of the beautiful things we saw, and the people we met as we rode across Canada, and we speak of the many lessons we learned along the way.

A key point of the presentation is when we explain that the REAL Chain Reaction between Canada and Ethiopia began long before we decided to start the bike ride.

We show the children how a chain - typically used for pulling and support - is made up of a number of links.

The first link of Canadian Humanitarian Chain began 19 years ago when Dr Dick Northcott first came to Ethiopia.  What he saw touched his heart, and he wanted to help.  He told his wife Deborah, and she too wanted to help, and she became the second link in the chain.  More links have continually been added.

In 2003, Canadian Humanitarian was formed.  Then a program for 40 children in Guelele began. Then another program for 50 more children in Alemgena. By 2007, 250 children were being helped through Education Centers. 

Now a strong chain linking Canada to Ethiopia has been formed!

We explain that all of the links have been connected to help the children of Ethiopia, and one of the links represents each individual child.

We teach them that what the rest of the chain will be like depends on them; what they do, the goals they set, how hard they work, and if they do their best to help themselves and others.

We give each child a chain bracelet to help them remember that they are one of the links in the chain, and all of the other other links are there to help - their guardians, the teachers, sponsors, and volunteers, Canadian Humanitarian.

We conclude by saying the hope of all those involved in Canadian Humanitarian is that they will build a magnificent chain with their lives.

Bed-Making

One of the programs for the guardians in Gindo town is bed-making. They construct beds out of simple wood framing, and strips of old recycled tires.

The beds are quite comfortable! And they get the families up off the dirt floor at night time, away from bugs, rodents and lizards, so they can sleep peacefully.

Welcome Gindo!

The children gave us an exhibition of song and dance.

The guardians came to watch as well, and were so happy!

We gave our Chain Reaction Bike Ride Presentation, along with chain bracelets to each of the children to remind them of all the people who helped along the way.

We were also able to help give out backpacks that were donated to Canadian Humanitarian by the Herschel Company. The kids loved all of it!