Popeye and the Late Night Snacks
Laughter.Pure, innocent laughter.Gut spasms and sucking for air.Looking around and enjoying the fact that other people are thinking the same thing; that they are enjoying it as much as you. Feeling like we belonged there with them in that moment, we didn’t want it to end.We were tucked away from the world with them: outside a quiet village in Northern Thailand, far away from harm, predators, and those that didn’t want them. We were sitting on a grubby tile floor, munching on snacks, listening to the crickets outside the windows, and waiting to see something very exciting: the first official cartoon on the new TV set that the orphanage had just had donated. This was about to be a major life moment!
Have you ever wrestled with how to re-create a moment for others to know your experience? You want to be able to re-live the moment over and over again, yet sometimes you struggle to recall what it was about that memory that made it so awesome. In the world in which we live and work in LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute), the moments of realization never seem to stop. You begin to live your life in light of what you now know: Watching a North American teenager laugh hysterically as they are being tickled and chased by a child in a village we are working in, the warmth of a hug around your knees as you are trying to explain to a group with you that the project they are working on is going to help a child like the exact one attached to your leg, the constant wrestle with attempting to communicate how insatiable poverty is and how heartless, cruel and relentless exploitation can be. These moments of laughter, shock, frustration and even intense hatred at evil can help to motivate us all to reach higher levels in what we are capable of doing. But these moments are fleeting, and I want to remember the rawness of emotion when my reality collides with theirs. I want to see the world through the eyes of others, and I want to be able to paint the picture for those who are yet to see.Working in a children’s home is hairy and chaotic at the best of times. Especially if you are a group of North Americans who 
are there to help for two weeks and don’t speak their language. But in that place at that time, underneath the buzz and hum of so many people living so simply together, there was also a steady rhythm of trust and hope. There was a feeling of belonging, of safety, of acceptance. And best of all, there was Popeye.Our Hero Holiday group had just helped finish some projects in their home and we helped to create an industrial strength TV stand that would be able to survive the many little hands that would be tempted to be all over it. We had searched all day desperately trying to find a copy of Kung Fu Panda for them to celebrate the new TV with. Kung Fu Panda was hip, it was funny, and it somehow seemed to be a little more their style. All day the rumours of Kung Fu Panda were floating around the home and the pressure was on. But all we could find was Popeye – in English. So that night, with sweaty palms, I stood up to explain to them we couldn’t find Kung Fu Panda, and we were going to have to settle for Popeye. I waited to see their disappointment…but it never came. Instead, they cheered and clapped when I said we were going to watch Popeye! Why? Because they didn’t honestly care! They were so excited to be with us and to see a real cartoon, they didn’t care about the fact that Popeye has been around for 90 years, and that he only mumbles in English. They only cared about the fact that we were sitting there on that floor, sharing snacks and holding hands in anticipation of how he was going to defeat the evil man and the white shark that were after him. They were caught up in the amazing feats and antics of Popeye as he downed the spinach and took on endless evil. They were watching a new hero emerge on that 48 inch TV screen in front of them and they were drinking in every moment.
Sitting on that floor that night, squished in by 80 warm little bodies, I became a fan of Popeye, of snacks, and of life. What a gift. To be able to sit there and enjoy that moment, though the world was still going on around us, for that night, we were all sharing the same experience, the same warm memory, the same laughter. And like a thick blanket on an October evening, it surrounded you in its warmth. It was what we all needed more than anything else: to know that we belonged there.Next August, Hero Holiday will be returning to Thailand to work with this amazing children’s home. You can be a part of the experience! We will be finishing new projects to help this home as they continue to grow. There are currently over 80 kids being sheltered from their former nightmare of sexual exploitation and slavery, and together with them, we can create more space to save more lives and create a new future.
On Sunday, we presented 3 families, who had been living in tiny cardboard shacks with 5 to 8 people each, keys to nice new fully furnished houses that we had build in just 4 days!! These families were so happy and grateful for their new homes that it made it quite an emotional experience for our team members. To celebrate, 2 of the families came out to the beach with our crew. Although they only live about 10km from the beach, they had only been to the ocean once before (as they don’t have the means to afford transportation there), and they were so excited to go swimming and spend time with us on the beach. They kept asking us to print them a group picture of everyone on the beach, so that they would be able to remember this special day. What a great way to top off such a momentous day!
The house builds are coming along nicely in Mexico. We are getting ready this morning to head out on our final work day on our 3 house builds. We have the walls up, roofs on, and just need to do some of the final touches such as a second coat of paint, and installing doors and windows. Last night was our dance party… some of the costumes got a little interesting, as did some of the dance moves to match! The biggest problem we are having here is the very sporadic internet service which makes it hard to send regular updates!
whole team when I say that we had a wonderful (or should I say, “maravilloso”) day at the Arroyo Seco Clinic. My Spanish has improved from none to very poor so at least its a step in the right direction. The language barrier isn’t as much as a problem as I thought it would be, though it would nice to be able to communicate with the local people in a 
bit of their own language (especially when I was trying to console a child who was terrified of the dentists). We have amazing doctors and dentists that we have been working with at our clinics. I got to work with the dentists today and although personally I have never liked visits to the dentist, I have a new found respect for the profession. They were able to relieve a lot of people’s pain today by pulling teeth which made a big difference for the patient. The dentist even let me pull a tooth. It was so exciting!
A leader on our trip said something that has really stuck with me, “The only difference between us, the participants, and them, the local people, is the country we were born in”. At that moment, I knew exactly why trips like this or organizations like LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) exist. To help the people of countries like the Dominican Republic get the things they deserve and have a right to: Education and Healthcare. I have these rights back home in Canada and will definitely not take them for granted. I also came to the conclusion the I am here to help change some sad realities for others and that one volunteer at a time can help. I am so thankful to be a part of this amazing experience which has without a doubt changed my life for the better. I hope everyone is enjoying reading our blogs and looking at the pictures of what we have been up to. We’ll see you all when we get home.~ Emily, a participant having a blast on the Hero Holiday DR Medical trip.
Yet another day has passed and I am never prepared for what I might see and experience in a day on a Hero Holiday (this is my second Hero Holiday DR). Today was spent at another clinic in Arroyo Seco which is a school/church that the team I was on last year helped to build. It was so amazing to return to a village I had been to before and see familiar faces. I was able to reconnect with one of the children I played with last year, and had brought some photos from Canada for her. I think everyone in the entire clinic saw the photos as her grandmother was so proud to show the gift off.Today we registered over 60 people to see the doctor/dentist, as well we did school checks which would be similar to a 
physical exam back home. I saw inside many mouths, as the locals pointed to teeth that had rotted, or broken and needed to be pulled. I do not think I will ever look at my tooth brush and floss the same anymore. I thought so many would fear the dentist, yet we saw smiles and thumbs up as they walked away with gauze in their mouth’s and a few less teeth. The gratefulness of the people here always blows me away as they many have so little but the are so happy and appreciate of what they have and receive.Yesterday I worked in a very small one room church which facilitated three doctors each with an examination chair and a small pharmacy. We saw over 100 people and gave away a ton of medicine. I am finding it difficult to think that the drugs are only able to help for 5-7 days and then they will run out and be in a similar position as to what they started in. I am so blessed to have been born in a country that medical care is covered and medication is so readily available to me when I need it. Although many of the medications we have brought down are just simple over the counter things like tylenol or multivitamins they mean so much to the people we are working with (the Flinstone vitamins are always a favorite!). I wish these people were able to have the similar luxuries that we so often take for granted.
The smiles here are contagious and I am loving every minute of this trip, even as we have little mango covered hands reach for ours. The special friends we meet and playing soccer when the holler your name to pass you the ball, or being asked when you will return again, makes this trip so worth while.~ Joni, Nursing Student on Hero Holiday Medical Trip DR
We have a great group of students that arrived in Mexico yesterday after our bus trip from Vancouver. As I type the crew is getting ready to head to the work sites for the first day of work! Some pictures are up on our Faceboook page, with more to come later (as long as the internet connection keeps working): 
It is now Day #3 of our Hero Holiday Medical trip and we have already been down and dirty with construction, a lot of pill sorting/dividing, and labeling. Not to mention a great deal of SWEATING!Everyone survived the travel day which was long but when we all arrived safely to the beautiful (and did I mention hot/humid) Dominican Republic it all made it worth the travel. Sunday morning my team (#3 woot woot!) was put to work sorting through all the bags of medicines, vitamins, dressings, an supplies. At first this job seemed insurmountable but once we broke into smaller groups and picked an area, the piles got smaller.
My group sorted through all of the multi vitamins and divided them into groups of 10s, put them into little baggies and then labeled them with appropriate instructions in Spanish. I definitely wonder if I got my vitamin intake for the day through osmosis of absorbing them in my fingers! lolThat afternoon, group 3 ventured the Sosua region on the “truck” (which is a truck with a flat bed which has seats on them and holds roughly 16… we were squished like sardines!). Our awareness tour took us to our work project to see the Community Centre where we are finishing the kitchen project that the Hero Holiday July teams started. The second part was at the cemetery where Christal shared with us Danica’s full story, the reason why we started this trip. We also paid respects to her grave site. The final stop was up, over, and around to a community which has a medical clinic built and run by a charity, Servant’s Heart, in memory of Danica. The road getting to this clinic was on of the bumpiest, and twisty rides over especially because we were riding in the truck too. Very fun over all!
Once we arrived we had a following of little children wanting to see what was happening. The clinic tour was great as being a nursing students it was right up our alley. There is a pharmacy, examination rooms, and a waiting room. Then we explored the village and discovered a baseball game being played by some of the boys in the street. This was very interesting because they were playing with half a baseball but still managing to hit pretty far.After visiting and walking the village, we drove back to the resort. This resort is wonderful and we definitely won’t be under fed. It is such a treat to wake up and eat breakfast right beside the ocean. All of the resort staff are very friendly and extremely nice. I am looking forward to see what tomorrow will bring!~ Meighan, a nursing student on Hero Holiday DR Medical
We are in the Dominican Republic and loving it so far. To be honest, the first few days were exhausting with all the travel and sorting the medical supplies. You should have seen all the donations our team came with, it filled the Hero Holiday office and an additional room being use to sort! It was amazing and they will be all put to good use.Today was our first nursing experience in a developing country and it was amazing! We held our clinic in a village’s local church and saw as many as 100 people in need of medical care. Some of us 
were working in the “pharmacy” handing out the drugs the physicians prescribed, while others were working with the doctors in making assessments, as the rest taking patients vitals as they registered to see the doctor. It was very over whelming at first with all the rush of people and the humidity, but as everyone got the hang of things it went smoothly and was a great success. It was great to see the difference between Canadian health care and the health care in the Dominican. Unfortunately, the people of the Dominican Republic and Haiti are not as lucky as we are.It was fun playing with the children in around the clinic and holding all the babies. Can’t wait for the rest of the week and the many experiences we will have!
Adios Amigos!Ashley, Abby, and Chandell, nursing students on Hero Holiday DR Medical