Hunger in Our Midst

Last year, our sponsored kid exited the World Vision program. We didn't renew by taking on another child. Due to this fact, it dawned on us today that we should probably look around for charities to which we could donate. It was relatively easy to find causes to support. Now, with a credit card, it's possible and effortless to complete transactions in a few, short clicks. The Canadian Red Cross, even provided an official tax receipt in the form of a PDF within seconds of our donation.

Some of our contributions were to organizations we'd helped out during previous years. This is one cause which was new to us. I had no idea the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society helped so many people! As well as cash, I probably should donate some of my time to them.

Postage is Passé

It is quite rare when I send a letter through the post now. As I first worked overseas before email, I did quite get into the habit of correspondence through the mail. In the 80's and early 90's, putting greetings on paper and then into an envelope did not seem unusual. After the purchase of my first PC in 1985, all letters were typed. At first, they were produced on a dot-matrix printer. I fondly recall the noise all those little pins used to make when striking the ribbon and paper. Nowadays, of course, little personal correspondence takes place on paper. I can count the number of stamps I buy annually on my fingers.

Several times per year though, I write the old-fashioned way to our sponsored kid. The World Vision folks translate and also pass along several photos which I put into each envelope.

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December 16, 2008

Dear Isuru,

Although we are sending this letter in 2008, we’re pretty sure that it won’t actually get to you until after the new year. We hope that 2009 is a safe and happy one for you, your family, and friends.

In the last letter we sent pictures from a trip to the Grand Canyon. Since that time we have worked but also gone on other trips. Some people enjoy staying comfortably at home, while others like to see other places and things. We are the second type. We’re older now and work hard to make sure we have time to visit different parts of the world.

In the pictures this time, we went to Italy. We were there back for a part of September and October. The country has a lot of interesting cities to see. We ended up using train passes to see a great deal of the country. The picture of Jay shows the Tower of Pisa. It was built hundreds of years ago on ground that was not solid. So, it is not straight. It is a very famous symbol of Italy. Lots of people pretend that they are holding it up by taking a picture with their hands up in the air close to the camera. The other photo is Dennis near the famous Roman Coliseum. The big, round sports arena was built in ancient times.

On the day I am writing this, the temperature outside is -8 degrees Centigrade. If you could feel the cutting wind, you would think it is very, very cold. Usually the weather in this part of Canada stays a little warmer because we are next to the Pacific Ocean. The water usually keeps winter at least near +8 degrees Centigrade. Usually it rains during winters near our apartment. If one goes up into the high mountains that surround Vancouver, one can find snow all winter though. In fact, next year, in February of 2010 the international Winter Olympics will be held here.

Hopefully, everything is going well for you. Give our best wishes to all the people you know. You must have grown very much since we visited you so long ago. We may visit Sri Lanka again in 2009 but are not sure.

Be good and help your family.

Your friends,

A Gift of Electricity

December is when a majority of charitable contributions are made. Although yesterday I specifically mentioned our aversion to buying Christmas gifts, we do seem to remember various charities at this time of year.

We have a fairly strong relationship with World Vision due to having sponsored a child for many years. We saw, first hand, how well the organization worked on a trip to the dry zone in Sri Lanka last year. Some charities deliberately, even if unknowingly, set up a scenario for sustained need to ensure their organizations remain intact. We saw, however, how World Vision projects are set up with specific criteria and exact end-dates. Targets are set and goals must be achieved before the program is completed. That seems reasonable and makes their help superior in many ways to government programs and other NGOs.

From World Vision's Canadian Gift Catalogue, we found a new, interesting project. For a cost of $150, people can donate:

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Solar Panels for a School or Clinic

Sunshine is a clean, free and plentiful source of energy. The gift of solar panels and equipment will bring light, operate equipment and provide heat to schools and health clinics where there may be no electricity. This is a terrific, affordable and eco-friendly way to help people in need and honour an environmentalist.

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By chance we have a friend who turned 50 years old this week. So, rather than dedicating our donation as a Christmas gift, we have decided to honour Ed!

Celebrating Pumpkins and Ghosts?

Please consider an early jump on celebrating something useful today. Consider visiting and donating from the World Vision catalog.

   

I am always greatly annoyed when I see adults making a big brouhaha over Halloween. First off, it's a celebration of .. what exactly? Most people are unaware of the origins. Secondly, it may be suitable fun for children under the age of ten, but I find it extremely sickening to see aging baby boomers and their adult children wasting time and money over it. If one cannot find more constructive efforts, perhaps it's time for the re-alignment of personal priorities!

Not All Mail Comes Via Gmail

Today, the Canada Post delivery lady brought several items about which I could blog. First, the 2008 Property Assessment arrived right on time for the new year. I tend to think of the apartment as a place to live and not as an investment. I have to admit the one-year increase of over 14.5% is sufficiently better than those boring, old GICs (Guaranteed Investment Certificates). As we're not planning on making any property ownership changes in the forseeable future, the assessment is of little significance. Actually, the assessed value does determine my property taxes. So, my fingers are crossed that everybody else in our city got assessments with equal or greater levels of increase.



The other envelope provided a better visual for my eJournal and images. It contained a letter from our World Vision kid. I've talked about him in the blog in the past. In fact, there is an entry from the day we met him on September 6, 2006 when visiting Sri Lanka. The World Vision staff wrote out the note in Sinhalese and provided the English translation too. As Isuru grows older, his messages grow more complex.

To: World Vision Lanka

Jay and I sponsor a World Vision kid whom we were fortunate enough to visit during our last trip to Sri Lanka. That was exactly a year ago! He's ten years old now. We try to make sure to correspond regularly.

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September 5, 2007

Dear Isuru,

We wanted to send another letter to you. Although we are in Canada today, it was exactly one year ago that we visited you. We think you have probably grown bigger in one year!

In a previous letter, we sent you a photo of our visit but cannot remember exactly which one. We’ll put another in with this letter and hope it’s not a duplicate. There are also two other pictures taken here in Canada.

One shows Jayantha in a small park with the city of Vancouver in the background. You can see the edge of the water because it is a port city. Lots of big ships carry products to and from different Asian countries. The second picture shows Dennis behind a group of students he taught this summer. In order for these people to study courses well, they need some more practice studying the English language. Most of them have come to live in Canada from many different countries.

This year we will not be travelling to Sri Lanka. Instead, we are going to spend a few weeks visiting some central European countries. In fact, we fly into Germany in only one week. You can check on a world map or globe and find Austria and Hungary as those are some places we’ll visit too.

In your last letter you said that you liked all your school subjects. We hope you still do. Is there one that you like the best? What time do you have to arrive and when do you get to leave? Also, how many other students are in your classes? Who are your best friends and what are their names? Maybe you can tell us some of these things in your next letter.

We hope your grandmother and all family members are healthy and fine. Please give all of them our greetings and respect. Be good.

International Post

It was past time to write our World Vision sponsored kid today.

Dear Isuru,

Hello. We got some information for you. We know it takes a long time for mail to travel so we want to say two things: Happy Singhalese New Year, and Happy Birthday too!

It seems like a long time ago when we visited you. It was very nice to come to your home and meet you directly. The food was very nice too. We appreciated that day very much. We will remember it always.

The year of 2007 has been going well. Time seems to go very quickly now. In Canada it was been winter recently. The weather would seem very cold for you, but people here get used to it. We need to wear more clothes in the winter and keep a fire going in the home during this time of year. In the next few weeks things will warm up though. The flowers come and the trees will grow strong. How is the weather there? Is it dry or have you had rain?

You are spending your time going at school now. How is the fifth year class now? Do you have any subjects to study that you really like? How are your friends?

I am still teaching too but they are all adults. Most of them have come to Canada to live and need to learn more English. After they finish my classes they take more training at my school to learn how to do many different kinds of jobs. Many are between 19 and 30 years old. So, I guess one is never too old to learn new things.

Give our greetings to your grandmother and the people we saw in your village. We hope everybody is in good health. We also hope you are happy and continue be a good boy.

Your friends,

If You're Over 10 Years Old ...

... then you look absolutely ridiculous in that costume.

I have to admit I now find Halloween extremely embarrassing. Americans are expected to spend close to $5,000,000,000 on the poor excuse for a holiday this year. Five billion! Halloween should be for little children but baby boomers and their spoiled offspring just refuse to grow up!

Someone has gone to great time and expense in setting up a scary scene in front of my strata building. I can't help but shake my head in thinking there'd be better ways to volunteer one's precious hours on this earth. As for the cost, I hate to be a party-pooper, but it'd be better sent on a donation on something that helps humanity. Here's the link to FAQs at World Vision Canada.

Special Thanks

To "canosponsorvisit@worldvision.ca"
Subject Re: #2837-9295 visit in Sri Lanka- confirmed

Diane,

We've been back in Vancouver since Sunday. I'm afraid that my head is still functioning in another time zone. Yet, I wanted to thank you so much for your assistance in letting us get to meet our sponsored child in Sri Lanka.

I am extremely impressed with the entire organization. It was a wonderful experience.

We brought along a number of Jay's family and made quite a day of it. The area is so completely different than from where we stayed. It's amazing how much geography can be packed into a little island.

I am so grateful to the staff in the Anamaduwa office. I was extremely impressed with how the day was organized. Special thanks to Ruvini who acted as our translator and guide. She is the perfect example of a woman in the 'helping professions'.

If possible please forward our heartfelt thanks to the entire office there. It was a part of our journey that we shall never forget.

Dennis S. Hurd
(View More Photos)

Connecting Isuru’s World to Ours

Today, hardly feeling dehydrated, I got up before six. The house awoke, including elder sister and Lal who had come yesterday from Nugegoda. Our planned driver arrived promptly before 8:00 am with a different fellow. The original van driver that the family often uses, had a breakdown. He showed a substitute friend the way to the house.

We boarded and were off to visit our sponsored World Vision kid. The 'we' included the driver, Jay's dad, both sisters, brother-in-law, auntie, Jay and I. We thought we could make a day out of it and our sponsored kid would feel happier with lots of Singhalese speakers around. He lives in a dry-zone area which is day-and-night different from here.

The road up to Chillaw is quite good where it not for all, not in any particular order, people, dogs, 3-wheelers, trucks, busses, bicycles, vans, and motorcycles. It's clearly size which determines who has the right of way. Luckily, being in a 10-12 passenger van meant there was a lot of pecking order under us. Distances are deceiving here. On the map it doesn't look very far. When you see the sign says it's only 80 kilometers, I doesn't appear very far. Yet during the heat of battle, the truth comes out.

We had no trouble getting to the Anamaduwa World Vision Office. We had made the appointment for 11:00 but arrived at 10:45. The office doesn't receive that may sponsor visits. In fact, they said perhaps only ten per year stop. So, it was quite an occasion for celebration. First we were brought to an a/c room where three staff attended a PowerPoint overview of the project. I am now even more impressed with the World Vision organization. Implementation of the particular project started in 1996 and has an exact end-date. They coordinate with government and outside organizations. The project people were truly helping individuals interested in the lives of the people from the area.

Then, we went to see Isuru. Although it was only 20 kilometers from the project office the journey seemed like much more. We exited the tar roads onto the red, dusty dirt of the area. Many parts of the project area are not only dry but the water is saline making it impossible to raise much in the way of crops. The landscape seemed so different from what we left in the morning. That is something I feel with reoccurring amazement each time I come back to visit; namely, how much geographical differences there can be in this island country. We pulled into the yard. Clearly Isuru has on his best clothes. He was as cute as a little seven-year old boy can be. He was respectful but quiet. He spoke softly. People prompted some response by asking about school and his mom.



It seems his dad had drinking problems and abandoned the family. His mother had a job in the Middle East. Although back now, she was in training to go back to the Gulf for a housemaid job. The Sri Lankan government has instituted training schemes for women such as this. They need to know how to operate a dishwasher or vacuum cleaner.

He lived with his aunt and there was an uncle around the area too. The coordination by the World Vision people was superb. They organized a simple, but huge meal of rice, local vegetables, and fresh-water fish

Trying to irrigate the area is another scheme in the World Vision project. As well as providing ample water for irrigation in dry years, the water reservoirs can act as habitat for fish farming. I guess it has been a particularly important project. When leaving, it was nice to run past the man-made lake to see several kids swimming in an otherwise nearly desert environment. Unfortunately the night before, villagers from a neighbouring area came to steal the fish and a fight broke out and a policeman was injured.

It was a very pleasant time. Our main guide (and occasional translator) was Ruvani. To me, she embodied the helping professions. She was keenly interested in all the people involved although surely it can be trying work at times. We left Isuru's by a patchwork of back roads. This is how we saw the above-mentioned reservoir. In addition we stopped at a cashew factory. Another World Vision project, it assured farmers fair prices for the cashews. It also provided casual labour for dozens of local women who'd have no other employment possibilities. Cargill's a local but global company is involved extensively in food products and has agreements to purchase. This in another example of the 'strings' that World Vision 'can pull' because of its clout. A final example of that would be the individual accounts for the sponsored children. The Bank of Ceylon in the closest large city has set up accounts of the 3000 sponsored children of that project. There are all sorts of matching schemes to get parents involved in saving for their children. But in the end, at the end of their schooling, they have a fund. It's enough for the talents to be able to count on continuing education further afield. Or it might be used as means to secure a loan to buy a tractor of other means of support.

Huge grand schemes garner the attention but the real benefits can come from continued small actions.

We didn't get back til after six o'clock. I was happy to be back. I admit feeling a bit guilty taking a ten minute shower, after seeing old men on bicycles hauling the pots of water they needed.

Our World Vision Kid

We have completed plans to visit our sponsored child next month. We have independently arranged for a van and driver to take us to the World Vision office in Anamaduwa, Sri Lanka. It will take us approximately two or three hours to get there from Minwangoda.

I first made mention of our sponsorship in February of last year. That month, I also blogged the text of a letter sent to Isuru. On two occasions, I blogged drawings of an elephant and a village that we received.



Making the arrangement was a bit complicated as local police checks were required from here. I suppose this is a wise way to protect the children. The Canadian office was very helpful. They were in contact with the local site. Someone from that office will provide access. This is the planned itinerary for September 6th.

Orientation & presentation about area development activities at project office

Child and family visit

Project Activities

- Home Gardening Program
- School Building
- Clinic Center & Community Hall
- Agree- wells, Rainwater Harvesting Ponds, tanks
- Housing Project

This work are done in the area where child lives. If the sponsor wants to see more community activities we would like to bring him to those places too. They are: the Cashew Processing Center, Irrigation Tanks. Drinking Water Projects etc. The sponsors will be shown these development and community activities which have been done by WV, on the way to child's home.

Take on Some Added Responsibility

My personal political viewpoint favours individually-motivated charity work over the belief that governments should be responsible for all social improvement and development. I know from experience that the larger a project is, the less likely it is to be responsive or responsible.

Last spring, we began sponsorship of a World Vision kid. I think it's the perfect situation as one can see an immediate impact for an individual child. I mentioned it right here in the blog. I included a letter written to him at that time. Then, in subsequent entries, I posted the artwork of an elephant and a village that he had drawn.

Yesterday, we got the official World Vision report card for the kid. I scanned the photo that was included with the information. Maybe, it'll be possible to visit him on a future overseas trip.

On the Canadian World Vision site there are hundreds of other children waiting. How about giving it some thought?

Got Your Goat, Yet?

Tragically, they lost most photos in a house fire. Yet Joel's found a few that were spared. He was able to send me this photo of Cedrick. My Christmas gift to them was a World Vision donation of a goat in their name.

I'd suggest that it's not too late to think of someone else as the holidays approach. Their web site proposes that it is Canada's most meaningful gift catalogue. It is most assuredly available at your local World Vision site too.

Got your ducks, yet?

Refrigerator-Door Stuff

This arrived in the post box yesterday. The envelope looked like it had stayed submerged in water for a while. The drawing inside fared fairly well though. It came from Isuru. He's our sponsored World Vision child. Being able to contribute fairly directly to an individual child is motivating. It's nice to feel as though one is actually making a difference. A previous piece of art was posted as a blog entry in August.

A Little Elephant

Prompted by the Asian tsunami, we donated to the Red Cross. Wanting to make a more lasting impact, we turned to World Vision Canada at the beginning of this year.

We learned about child sponsorship at their web site. Shortly thereafter, we received the child's information packet. If you regularly follow this blog, you'll remember I added the first letter I wrote near the end of February.

Since that time, we've sent and received a few letters. It is nice to know that sponsorship really helps a specific child, as well as his family and community.

A drawing arrived last week from Isuru who is 8 years old. I scanned a small copy to include here. We were pleased to get it along with a letter someone had written for him and the English translation.

Keeping It Simple

We got the information and brochures from World Vision Canada. It contained all the particulars. Writing to a seven-year old was an interesting task.

After looking it over, I've come to the conclusion that this is the target level to which I should always aim the language of this blog!

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Dear Isuru,

It was really great when we got our packet of information from World Vision with your name and picture. My name is Dennis Hurd. I am in Vancouver, Canada. My friend Jayantha is also here and we both decided to write letters to you. What are the names of your friends?

I work as a teacher. I teach English to people who know other languages. Currently, all my students are adults who have finished high school. Some of them have come to live in Canada while others have just come to study here. Do you like school?

Some people think that Canada has lots of snow in the winter. But because we live near the water, the Pacific Ocean, we do not usually have too much. It is not as warm as your weather in Sri Lanka though. Today it is about 10 degrees but it will be only 3 degrees tonight. In the summer months it gets much warmer here.

I used to teach in the Gulf countries of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. There are lots of people from Sri Lanka who work in those places.

I have even visited your country. I first went 18 years ago. And again last year, I went back. I travelled with Jayantha. We went to different parts of your country last September and October. We had a very nice time there. I liked seeing lots of elephants because they only live in zoos in Canada. What is your favourite kind of animal?

I hope you are happy now. Do you like to draw pictures? I would really like to see one of them someday. I look forward to hearing about you too. Give greetings to your mother.

Bye for now,

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Blog: Week 78

This morning, the sun is in complete control of the sky again. This February will set weather records on this account. Yet, I'm shockingly uninspired at the moment. It does take a certain amount of fortitude to continue blogging each and every day. It seems as if I've been adding daily entries for a long time! This, just so you'll know, is the beginning of the 78th week of my eJournal and images. What about this weekend though? Have there been any interesting or unusual events so far?

Wait, there is something; we decided to make more than the previous, one-shot donation towards tsunami relief. After a few more months, the world's attention will have turned elsewhere, but some help will still be required. In order to make a more lasting contribution, we signed up to sponsor this little fellow through World Vision. That's worthy of mention, especially if it prompts others to consider sponsorship.