Fundraising

Many friends and family have been asking me about how my fundraising is going. I thought I’d take a minute to explain on my blog how CDIA fundraises. Like all other NGOs (non-government organizations), CDIA relies on donations to fund the work that they do. Unlike many other NGOs, they do not require that those who work in the field raise a predetermined amount of money before they are able to serve overseas. When someone donates to CDIA the money is put together in one ‘pot’ so to speak and with the donated money the entire project is funded. More specifically salaries are paid, supplies are bought and repairs are made. A budget is created with the hope that if CDIA needs are made know and we are doing His Work the funds will come. CDIA will operate within the blessings it receives.

That being said, this year the budget has increased considerably with a third person (myself) being added to the payroll. As well, there are many students at the school who do not currently have a sponsor to pay their tuition and food expenses.

The Lord has greatly blessed CDIA financially in the past and we are confident that He will continue to bless us. We are extremely thankful to all the people who have made financial contributions in the past and who continually sponsor a child on a monthly basis.

As I mentioned on the side of the blog, if you are at all interested in making a contribution to CDIA or sponsoring a student at Adoration Christian School, please check out CDIA’s website to find out how to donate.

Summer in Ontario

Getting ready to go.... m'alle

In less than two weeks I will be in Haiti, hopefully enjoying a hot summer night! I have been super busy tying up some loose ends before I go. I have to apply for a permit to live in Haiti once I am there but many of the documents I need have to be completed here. So I've been to the police station, the OHIP office, the bank etc. And who knew it was so much work to change your address with every organization that you've ever received mail from?
I am thankful that I've also been able to fit in a few visits with friends and family. I spent a weekend at a cottage with friends and another weekend with my family. Needless to say, the time is flying by. I have to admit that I'm getting pretty excited. I hope that I'm not being overly optimistic and only remembering the parts I love about Haiti, but I honestly can't wait to be back. It's been too long (the last time I was there was March 2008). I can't wait to sit with my friends and colleagues and hear all about what's happened since I was last there. I look forward to the heat,the never ending sun (yeah for Vitamin D) and nights of sitting on the roof talking about nothing and everything. I look forward to fresh mangoes and Pate and rice and beans. I look forward to new challenges and new adventures.

Random Pictures

Home never smelled so sweet

I am home safely and have spent the last hour relishing unlimited internet time. I've sorted through some mail and chatted my parent's ears off. It's great to be home.
Yesterday's travels went relatively smoothly. I had 10 minutes in between trains to jump off, buy myself a ticket and then get back on the train, a seemingly simple task except when you have two large suitcases and there is often not an elevator or escalator in sight. Regardless, I managed to purchase a ticket with a few minutes to spare. I made it to the airport with time to spare and then discovered that my plane was delayed. I was quite concerned that I would miss my connecting flight in Frankfurt but despite only having 15 minutes I was able to make it, unfortunately one of my suitcases did not.
So I'm home, one suitcase lighter, but feeling good. I slept well and am excited to be attending my church this morning. I hope I have an uneventful month of visiting with family and friends and relaxing in preparation for a busy two years ahead. Pictures to follow...

For everything else there's Mastercard... except in Holland!

In case you haven't noticed, I can't seem to get spell check to work on this computer so I apologize for any spelling errors, which I know are lurking around but I can't quite find them.
I had a nice day in Amsterdam today with my cousin. We walked around, saw the floating flower market, did a little shopping, had lunch with my old friend from University and managed to avoid the rain until we arrived back home. It was a warm and sunny day and a beautiful day to be a tourist. Over dinner, my cousin informed my aunt and uncle that I needed to buy a train ticket back to Brussels and perhaps we should go tonight since the station will most likely be closed in the morning. So off I went with my uncle to buy myself a ticket. We arrived at the station only to realize that they don't sell international tickets there and they don't accept credit cards. Some confusion ensued as my uncle speaks very little English and my Dutch is not much better. Next we tried the ticket machine, it wouldn't accept my credit cards or debit card or cash. We drove to another train station that had a different machine. My uncle was able to purchase me a ticket for tomorrow morning that will get me to another city in Holland and from there I will try to buy a ticket to Brussels. When we returned home I had the thought that perhaps the train station tomorrow will also not accept my credit cards (strangely I had no problem using my credit card in Brussels) so I asked my uncle to take me to the bank to get out Euros just in case. So now I have enough Euros in my wallet to get me safely to Brussels, now I just hope that the station will be open and a real live person will be there to let me buy a ticket the rest of the way. Here's hoping....

Bike rides and movie making

I am enjoying my time in Holland immensely. Last night I went for a bike ride with my aunt and uncle all around Helmond. We stopped at my cousins Alinda and Patrick's home for a cup of tea. It was wonderful to see them, their English is very good so we were able to have a lovely conversation and get caught up on each other's lives. Today I spent the day with Marjan, Jeroen and their children. Although I can not understand their children, I found their stories and antics highly amusing. They found it very amusing that I did not understand Dutch and told their Mom that my English sounded very silly to them. We went for a walk in the village and bought a few groceries at the local super market. The afternoon was spent relaxing, watching the children swimming in the pool, and I caught up on my journal writing.
Tonight, the whole family came together for dinner to spend some time with me. My cousin's children quickly discovered that I could take small movies on my camera and for the rest of the dinner begged me to "take a picture with sound"and then show it to them. I now have MANY videos of them chatting away in Dutch. Hopefully my dad can translate them when I am home:)
Tomorrow Marjan and I will travel to Amsterdam and enjoy the sights there. In true Dutch form we bought water bottles and raisin buns for the train ride, because the food will be too expensive on the train:) We will hopefully meet up with a past University roomate of mine who currently lives in Amsterdam. I look forward to visiting some old familiar sights.

The Mother Land

Our flight out of Freetown was uneventful and everything went according to plan. We enjoyed our last Star beer in the airport restaurant and opted to not pay extra to sit in the VIP lounge, although the comfy couches were inviting.
It's so good to be back in Holland. It's been too long. I couldn't sleep on the train because I didn't want to miss any of the sights. It really reminded me of travelling Europe, except this time instead of a well packed backpack I had two large and heavy suitcases. Not ideal for train travel in Europe, in fact my suitcases caused me to miss one of my trains as I couldn't run from one track to another fast enough. I saw the train pulling away just as I arrived on the platform. Thankfully another train left 30 min. later and my cousin only had to wait an extra 10 minutes for me.
For some reason I was confused about dates and I thought that today was Thursday and that I only had one full day in Holland, but today is Wednesday and so I have two full days in Holland. Today I will relax, have a nice nap and tomorrow I will spend some time with my cousin Marjan and her kids and Friday Marjan will go with me to Amsterdam. I'm very thankful that it worked out for me to spend some time here with family.

Farewell Sierra Leone

Well it's goodbye Sierra Leone and Hello Holland. Tomorrow is the BIG day, we don't fly out until 7pm but we're leaving the hotel at 10:00am, welcome to Sierra Leone! The last few days have flown by. What a whirlwind of activity. Here's a few highlights to share with you. Thursday night was "Sierra Leone night". The participants put on quite the show with traditional dances and skits and a professional dance/drumming team was hired. We loved the entertainment and were enjoying ourselves immensely when one of the drummers took a python out of his backpack. This broke up the party quite quickly and everyone scattered. We were forced to spend the rest of the night in the bar with our co-tutours, what a drag!! Friday night was our second "Canada Night". We started off with a weak rendition of our National Anthem in English and French, which the participants loved. We played floor hockey, a trivia game, watched a slide show, played musical chairs and then danced to Sierra Leone music. Overall another success. Saturday night was the closing ceremony. Several dignitaries attended and it was quite the formal affair. We were presented with gifts and we presented several gifts to those we have worked with for the last few weeks. We ended with a dinner and then we went out with our co-tutours for a farewell reception. It was a nice ending to a wonderful time. Sunday we relaxed, we went to a church near by the hotel in the morning. It was quite the experience, although I really appreciated the message, I wish I had brought ear plugs as the noise from the microphone was tremendous. We were well received and invited back next week. Today we were back at the beach, a different one this time. The weather was gorgeous and we had a lovely day, sitting and relaxing.
Tomorrow we leave, but something tells me that I'll be back some day. We'll just have to see what the Lord has in store for my future.
I am looking forward to seeing my cousins and Aunt and Uncle once again. It's been too long since I was in Holland.