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Month: March 2009

I can only feel hopeful. Hopeful that the work of one can provoke others to do the same and change another one persons life.

Buenos Dias Todos!Good morning Everyone!As you may or may not know, we have been graced with the privilege to build another house for another family next door to Isaiah’s new home. As Isaiahs’ house was completed yesterday, we were able to start on house #2. Half of our group went to put on the roof for house # 2, while the other half went to pour a cement pad for a house to be built later this month. I was apart of the group that roofed house #2. When we arrived on site we first began with the traditional greetings between us (the workers) and the family we are building for. Today was different than the other days as we were greeting a little lady named Natalia and her husband, Jose. Natalia and Jose currently live in a home no larger than 7 by 4. For most, this is the size of a queen size double bed plus a little space on each side to get out of bed. For others, it is smaller than their bathroom. And this for Natalia and Jose, is home. What they have is very little, but they have worked hard to gain it. Living with a single bed for the two of them and a small stove with one element. Beside the 4 x 7 humble abode lie 4 garage panels making a 16×16 square. There is no concrete on the ground as a floor nor a roof to cover their head. These two have worked hard for their money to save enough to buy their four walls.When exchanging a familiar ‘ola’ with Natalia, each and every one of us received quite possibly the tightest hug we have ever felt.  Only with sincere gratitude and greatfulness could such a little woman create such a strong impact on all of us.At the end of our day, after assembling the two panels made from 2 x 6’s and sheeting to support the shingles, we were surprised by a meal that Natalia prepared for all of us to show how thankful she was that we built her a roof and a floor. She prepared a very large pot of rice with some of the best seasoning I have ever tasted, an even bigger pot of chicken, and several tortillas. Jose also bought us a variety of Fanta and Coca-Cola for us to drink on our breaks and for this meal. I was blown away with how grateful these two people were, willing to spend probably more than 2 weeks worth of pay for one meal that was not even for themselves. Natalia was near tears when we went to thank her for the meal. When we did, she gave us another long and full embrace.Mexico has led me to look at things a little different.  I don’t understand how I am supposed to feel here. I don’t know how I am to hug Natalia and have her bless me with graces from God for all that we did, and then minutes later leave her to live in her 4 x 7 home while I return to a hot shower, overflowing plate of food and a hot cup of chai tea. How can I sit here enjoying all that I have, knowing she is less than a 20 minute walk away, most likely praying for all of us here at the Hero Holiday house? Not praying for her life to get better, but thanking God for a roof that she long deserved, but for us to be protected and safe. If Natalia is not praying, I could probably find her shivering in her sleep from the brisk cold air in Mexico  night.Other than these immediate feelings here in Mexico, I am frightened half to death about how I am to feel going back home to Canada. In 4 days, I will be on a plane returning home to a society where we are given everything and you never think twice about having a roof over your head. I am most definately included in this.But now what?How can I not feel terrible thinking about what Natalia might be doing at this very moment?Well for one, does she feel sadened by the life that she has? No, she does not. If Natalia sat at home feeling sorry for herself because she was not born into a wealthier family, or was not given the opportunities that most are given in North America, then she wouldn’t have gone forth in life working hard for her money and saving what she did with her husband to build her 16 x 16 home. And now, she has a roof over her head, something I don’t know if she ever expected to happen.We can’t feel guilty. Sure, it is tough to see how much is waisted in our day to day lives, and see where there are so many that desprately need help, but I am on a path of learning how to help one at a time. We can’t help everyone; it is impossible to put a roof over everyones head, but I can put a roof over one families head, and eventually more over time.I cannot feel guilty. I can only feel hopeful. Hopeful that the work of one can provoke others to do the same and change another one persons life. (Kayla)

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: March 6th, 2009

I have never been held so tight in my life…

I have never been held so tight in my life, than this past Thursday evening as we thanked a woman for a simple, yet beautiful meal.The weight of what it is that students every year do while on Hero Holidays had not hit me until this past week, as I watched and worked with a group of 5 young Canadians, a few bright adults and my fellow school of leadership students. All of us brought together for a common purpose. To give a deserving man a home fit for a human being, so he can be rest assured that at the very least…his family will sleep comfortably at night. We all worked side by side through blaring sun and freezing wind, ignoring our hammered thumbs, tired arms and sunburns to get the job done. These students impressed me with their big smiles and unwavering drive to get the job done, showing that even a small amount of people can do big things if they have a good reason. The person who impressed me the most throughout our first Mexican house build of 2009 though was none other than the homeowner himself.From long before our group pulled up on the work site, Isiais had been working along with Hero Holiday staff to prepare his plot of land for a new home. Isiais has worked with Hero Holiday in the past, coming back on days off to simply help out. Every night before leaving work he would thank whomever was his boss at the time for the opportunity to work. Then he would go home to his family, living in a house of cardboard, tarps and plywood. He was truly appreciative of the little bit of work we can give him and is willing to do anything to help. Now as Hero Holiday attempts to give back to Isiais for his hard work, to help him and his family out a little bit he still insists upon being a part of the process. A truly grateful man, he simply wants to put a piece of himself into his home and I get the impression through our little bit of broken conversation that he would not sit back and let us do all the work anyways. As many hardworking men operate, he is not the type to sit back and not help…especially when most of the people on site are little Canadian girls. And so he stood next to us and hammered, lifted, and dug right along with us to make himself a home to be proud of. He just wanted to show his appreciation for what we were doing. No one can argue with that after watching him work and sing and teach us girls how to hammer nails properly.Consequently, every person on the build did mention how unexpected it was. Not that he was excited about it but rather that he was so happy about it that he felt the need to work with us. Although we have all met gracious people who will do anything for anyone, every one of us was taken aback by his automatic want to work with us. Growing up in North America, we have come to point of expecting everything to come easy. Hand over a little bit of money and whatever you want or need is right there. The value of hard work and determination for what you want is quite easily becoming less and less important. What happens when you don’t have the money to buy your world though? Would you ditch your pride and beg for help…or would you maintain yourself and work for it? Most of us have never been in that position and many of us never will be…but Isiais knows what it’s like to make that decision and he made it clear what his choice was this past week. He did not beg, but rather asked for help and worked for what he was being given. The shock of his work ethic gave way to speechlessness as he had no second thoughts about helping out his neighbor as well.2 women on our team had spent some time talking with the next door neighbor Natalia, who had been living with her husband in a closet sized shack next to their house. Her and her husband had scrimped and saved all their lives to build themselves a home, and were able to afford 4 rickety old garage doors for walls. Their house was still unlivable unfortunately though, because along with the dirt floor it was also missing a roof. Our 2 team members decided to pay for extra supplies to help Natalia and Jose finally move into the home they have been struggling to build for themselves, asking us all to take on a secondary project. We agreed to work on both houses enthusiastically, while feeling the stinging realization that there are too many people to try to help and right now…not enough hands. We broke our team up a little bit, as Isiais’ house entered the final stage of painting and finishing touches.As half of us headed over to Natalia and Jose’s yard to start mixing and pouring concrete for a new floor, we were refreshed and uplifted to see Isiais stepping over the barbed wire fence to help us help his neighbor. No second thought, and no complaint that his house was yet unfinished and we were working somewhere else. He wore a simple smile, offered some tips to make the work a little easier and took the shovel from my hands when I started to struggle with the difficult work. Not one of our team has enough words to describe how entirely inspiring and overly unexpected his actions were, and not a single one of us could be more grateful for his hard work, taking a bit of the weight off our shoulders … even if we don’t think it should have been on his. He taught us all a lesson that we may or may not have learned before, a lesson in hard work, determination, and hope.His work is as appreciated as the home we have offered 2 families this past week. Once the roof was put on Natalia and Jose’s home, Natalia served us up a brilliant meal of tortillas, rice and chicken. I do not want to think of how much it must have cost her to feed our entire team. As we attempted to show our thanks for such a lovely meal she blessed us each, offering her prayers of gratitude and hope for our futures. She clutched onto my side, burrowing her face into my shoulder as she tried to express how truly happy she was that we would do this for her and all the while I could only think of how much work she had already put into this.  And how much that extra pair of hopeful, hardworking hands helped make it possible, as her new neighbor worked as much or more than the Hero Holiday team.  (Kristi)

Author: LiveDifferent

Date:

Something that really stands out in my mind…

Over the last few days we have all been lucky enough to spend time in Mexico experiencing the hot sun, blue skies and importantly the friendly ways of the Mexican culture. Our small group has been growing closer as we work together to complete the common goal of building a home for a deserving family. We have been working along side Isaisas, who could likely be the most hard-working, deserving and kind hearted man that I have ever had the privilege of knowing.Each day we head out to the work site where we are greeted by a friendly group of Mexicans as our work crew made up of Hero Holidays Participants, School of Leadership Students and LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) employees start the day. It amazes me how such a diverse group of people with very few similarities can come together and work for one goal. In the last few days we have put together the basis of the house, painted most of the walls, finished the roof and set up the beginnings of the ‘bano’. Although many of us have never picked up a hammer before or dreamed of laying tar and roofing shingles it seems to come to us in a way that this is shockingly easy. We have a few more finishing touches to complete before we get to work on a roof for the house next door which is an exciting new project that was announced today. The compassion of the group shines through everyday when it comes to things like playing with the kids, sharing the delicious lunches prepared for us, the gentle way in which we are taught how to do something new or even purchasing bracelets from one of the little girls near the work site. It is very fulfilling to know that each little step we make brings us one step closer to providing a home for a family and helping to bring the community closer together.the roofing crewSomething that really stands out in my mind, is the willingness to grow, share and love that Isiasas possesses. Every morning we are greeted with a warm smile and a hand shake and throughout the rest of the day he is there to help us and enable us to do the job properly. It is not hard to tell that he is putting his soul into the project in everything he does, whether it is helping the students, lifting heavy pieces of shingling or even with a simple swing of the hammer is done with a smile and often times a song. His dedication in everything he does truly inspires me to work harder. Today, we met the rest of his family and shared a lunch with them. Each member of the family we met made such a great effort to communicate with us, with little fear of saying the wrong thing. I think that we can definitely take a lesson from that, as the most important thing is making a connection, and a lot of the time words are almost secondary to a smile, knowing look or a laugh. I cannot wait until tomorrow morning to see Isiasas’ smiling face and hear him welcome us with a friendly ” Good morning ladies and gemberlies”  and to see what we can complete throughout another day under the Mexican sun.

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: March 4th, 2009

Mexico – The beginnings of a house

building processThe first day on the job site is always full of energy and awe.  Yesterday, with a group of ten students, everything was framed and sheeted.  Today they will be raising the house and putting the roof on!building process Photo Above – building a roof panelbuilding processPhoto Above – Painting the Bano!building processPhoto Above – The cutting crew.  (If this house falls down…. we know who to blame it on!)

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: March 3rd, 2009

March 1st – 10th, 2009 – Hero Holiday Group arrives in Mexico

Some students left -30 degrees, some -20, and some left 15 cm of freshly fallen snow!  Everyone arrived safely in San Diego and have now moved on to their temporary home for the next 10 days in Mexico.Group photoThis picture was taken on the drive down to Vicente Guerrero yesterday afternoon.  We had stopped at a little abandonded rest area to stretch our legs and enjoy the view.the best taco stand in the world!ummmmmmmmmm... tacos!Tacos for supper!  It is always a real treat to enjoy the best tacos around on the first night in Mexico.   The stranger on the left seems to be really enjoying his taco…Family we are building for this weekThe families current houseinside the families current houseAbove Left – The family that we are building for this week.Above Right – The outside of their current house.Below – The inside of their current house.The building of their future house has begun!  The students are out working on it right now.  I talked to the father of the family we are building for this morning before the work crew arrived.”My heart is beating very fast!” he said with incredible anticipation.More pictures to come later today!

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: March 2nd, 2009

Freedom’s Responsibility

Thai boysIn Northern Thailand, there is an incredible group of people who have inspired our Hero Holiday program to partner with them to help to make a difference in the world in which they find themselves. The organization is a combination of children’s homes, drop-in centres to combat trafficking, as well as outreach programs and therapy. Every day we spend with them is always an adventure, and along the way, we find ourselves in the company of unsung heroes that have impacted us beyond words.ThaiworkIn our North American culture, we are often lulled to sleep as we are over-stimulated with drama and sensationalism. We create our own romantic view of what the world must be like and we have a hard time grasping that our form of justice is not the justice that the rest of the world is measured by. We claim to believe that every child has the right to safety, freedom, and to be heard, yet our world often leaves the majority of our children living in fear, abandonment, exploitation and silence…is this what justice is? On our Thailand Hero Holiday trips, the children that we work with have faced all forms of exploitation, poverty and abandonment, and yet the thing that continues to captivate all of us is their Catchincredible capacity to love beyond that. The simple act of holding a small hand in trust can make all the difference in the world. The simple beauty of a smile and loving touch can change everything. My goodness, we have even learned that ice cream can change the world! Yet, despite all of these simple things, the problems that they face are beyond complex – they are astronomically overwhelming! Exploitation and slavery is so deep and multi-tentacled that it is hard to figure out where one problem stops and another one starts. Poverty would seem like it is so straightforward, but it is an insatiable beast that is continually devouring innocent lives around the world, and without us recognizing how late the hour is, it will never be stopped.GirlIn the world these children come from, life is unstable on every front: the good guys often turn out to the bad guys, the police take a vow to serve and protect, and then follow through with that vow by owning the brothels and trafficking agencies that exploit the women and children, and most of the population is unaware of what is happening in front of their eyes. Yet, in the midst of this, we work among a company of heroes: bright lights in the darkness that fight at this monster day after day, week after week, month after month. Every life saved makes it worth it, every hope restored is precious, and every life that is given reprieve from the pain and continual oppression is valuable. Kru Nam is one of those bright lights that has inspired us as we work alongside what she is endeavoring to accomplish with her team. Together, from the ground up, they have grown from one woman walking into brothels and stealing children out of slavery to a small, but bright light that is opening the door for others to be courageous. This is what it is to dream of what freedom can look like.Thai work2Kru Nam is a painter with a university degree in art and she has decided to use her natural gifts to bring healing. She originally hit the streets in Chiang Mai, handing over paint brushes to street children as a form of therapy, but she quickly realized that as they painted, their paintings were telling horrific stories of abuse, exploitation, and slavery. Within a short time, she realized that most of these children on the streets were not even from Thailand, but from the surrounding countries and tribes. Most of these children had escaped from the brothels in that city, and had already been victimized. Realizing that this problem was more than a regional problem, Kru Nam set out to move to the border crossing where these children are often brought through after they are sold,(often with the help of the police and other “trusted” authorities). It is here that she has set up a frontlines search and rescue operation, and it is here where hope can start to bring healing for these children.Hero Holiday helps at one of the homes that is a part of this program, as we build shelter and help make the space livable, run English and sports camps with the children, and allow our hearts to open and our eyes to see what can be done to bring them help. We will be working in Thailand from March 9-21. We will leave Canada as Canadians, but return as Canadians with an urgency to make a difference and to shine a light on the dark evils of exploitation.HouseIn the beginning of one or our Hero Holiday promo videos, we have a quote by Bob Dylan that says, “A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom”. This quote has been ringing in my ears as we continue to meet people who are risking much to do whatever they can. We are working with volunteers and staff who willingly give up all for the sake of a child’s life, and for the sake of their safety. It is humbling and beautiful to be a part of, and it is the reality of the double edged sword that action requires when you want to make a difference.This year, LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) is hoping to raise enough money to help Kru Nam and her staff build a laundry facility, as well as continue to add to their housing. If you would like to be a part of helping to provide for that project, please  contact us at the address below or donate online.LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) Leadership Development Inc.info@livedifferent.com1 (866) 432-4464Donate Link

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: March 1st, 2009

Shackin Up in Mexico

There’s nothing like living in your very own home, providing for yourself…being completely independent. Or that’s the illusion every teenager lives by throughout their high school years. Pretty soon I get to test this theory, along with Charles and the other 5 students. We even got to build our own house!'home' taking shapeAs you can see, it’s a pretty low budget place.  That’s with good reason though, as we have devised a brilliant plan to live like the other half does. We’ve been living down in Mexico now for about a month, and we have seen a little bit of the reality that many people live in here. Driving home from the grocery store we will see families wandering around gathering their fire wood for the evening or next few days (this depends on how much they find), and when visiting Bonita Garcia we have been in a church with walls of cardboard and tarps. And though we live among these people, our reality is that we live in a nice big house, with running water and electricity. We pretty much own the block. We have no idea how they live, and what they do in a day. We want to understand.So for the past week or so we have been collaborating our own thoughts and knowledge to put together a brilliant, if not insane project. We will live in our own, handmade hut for 4 days with one other person. We will get up with the sun and get to work on a working project at 6am and we will work until 3. Once off of work we will be responsible to buy our own food, water and pay our own bills. We will have to search for wood, cook on open fire (mmm…nothing better than campfire food), and learn how to wash our laundry the old fashioned way (by hand…oh my)! We will live as closely in a Mexican families reality as we can…  All of us are super enthusiastic about how this will turn out, and I think we might all be secretly waiting to see who can survive it.Actually building the place turned out to be quite an interesting process of tying, tacking, folding and stapling stuff together.Tara and Nikki brought home our siding, Charles was nice enough to find a roof for us and donate some tarps to waterproofing and shower material, and we were set. We tacked a bunch of cardboard together with nails and staples and then of course our roof is an old beaten up truck canopy.  A few saw horses, a pile of old tires and some tree branches and we had a nice heap of a home. It really is quite an acomplishment though, from the heap of carboard and scraps we had in the beginning. I am sure that any true Mexican home, even made of cardboard, would be far more dependable than this one. Hopefully it can withstand the Mexican wind at the very least.   'home' taking shapeOur makeshift shack was put together in a matter of days, our shower a matter of hours (yes…we will be pouring water over our heads inside a shifty blue stall), and our firepit a matter of seconds. Everything a person could ask for for survival, and far less than any of us has ever thought of as home. We’re all set for our next adventure!Now the question is…can we do it? Stay tuned =)( Kristi)

Author: LiveDifferent

Date:

Social Justice Curriculum (Absolute School of Leadership)

classes in MexicoSo far Mexico has been a blast, but it hasn’t been all play and no work, I assure you.  Although we haven’t yet had a Hero Holiday group come down, we have kept busy with our social justice curriculum. We have class for three hours in the morning everyday, where we look at the outlined curriculum, which so far has been pretty cool. First there were tips  on surviving culture shock, understanding new cultures and the differences between them. We looked at worldview and discussed our own personal values, which got a little heated at times and pretty deep.  We’ve also covered different religions of the world. Sometimes its a discussion, sometimes we research and present to the group, but never has it felt like a massive load of work because it is all information that I am really interested in (its usually never a really huge assignment, and we get a lot of free time to do it).  We’ve only been at it for a few weeks now and so far I feel I will definitely have a greater understanding of poverty and the world when I am through. I’m very excited to get into all the aspects of it.  It is a big look at poverty, as well as looking into NGO’s and what the government is doing for aid.  This should significantly help me next year when I plan to head to university to study International Development.  This course will give me what I put into it so I am making a large effort to really understand everything that is going on in class.  In high school, I learned to pass a test. Every once and awhile there came a long an interesting subject or class that I really enjoyed, but for lots of it I finished my homework to get a good grade, how much I actually retained…well I think back to what I learned and lots of it is very foggy:)  This class doesn’t have a grade point average, but I’m working harder to do a better job and learn more because it is all something I really want to know more about.  (Tara)

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: