The Shack Experience – Day 3 – The Fields

Today the students had an opportunity to work in the fields along side many Mexicans. They woke up real early to prepare for the day and walk down to the highway to meet me there. I picked them up at 5:45am to be at the strawberry field at 6:00am. Once we got to the strawberry field we were told that the was no work for the day but we should wait around because maybe the boss can find some work for us. I thought this experience was great because it is the way it is for so many field workers; some days there is no work. If there is no work, then there is no pay and you have to dive into the little bit of savings that you have, or not eat. We waited a while and a man in a white pickup drove up and told us there is some work in another field. We drove to the other field and they were cleaning the irrigation hoses out of the rows in the field, from under pea plants. This was the job of the day. It was dirty and smelly from the chemicals that were used during irrigation. The students dove right in, gaining a few friends during the day, teaching them how to pull out the pipe and wrap it up properly. Some of the girls in the field seemed to like some of the our boys and were giggling and trying to talk to them all day long. By 10:00 the fog had lifted and the sun started to shine. I think at that point the students were tired and ready to go home, but they persisted. They told me at lunch time, that this job was hard, but still better than picking rocks. At 3:00pm the day was over and they were ready to go home. They were tired, a little grumpy and their hands hurt but they had gained a new respect for the people that work everyday, for years in the fields. Tomorrow they wake up, head to the beach and go clamming in the cold ocean water.

Shack Day # 2

Today was day 2 of the School of Leadership shack experience, where the students had the opportunity to work a common local job, rock picking. Have you ever been to public places and noticed the perfectly smooth black rocks that are often found in planters and in other for other landscaping purposes? There is a good chance that those rocks have come from this part of the world.The students woke up this morning, made some eggs and tortillas over an open fire, then met me at the highway at 7:00 am. We drove down to the beach and met up with about fifteen other workers to pick rocks for the next 8 hours. They had to dig through the rocks, find all the similar rocks of the same size, same color and with few blemishes. They loaded 20 bags of black rocks throughout the day. Each bag is worth about 80 cents, so therefore they would have earned a total of $16 for the whole day. Not a great daily wage divided by five people. Talking with one of the workers that was on site, he normally fills about 25 bags per day, which is still not a great wage. By the end of the day the students were exhaust, with worn out finger tips. Most of the students found that the hardest part of the job was staying focused and motivated on the task. They found a great respect for the workers that do this for a living day in and day out.

School of Leadership 2010 – Shack Day # 1

Today was the first day of The Shack Experience. This is where the School of Leadership students try to simulate a first hand physical and emotional experience of living in poverty.  For seven days they live in a shack that they built themselves out of cardboard, sticks and other scrap that they have found on the streets. The wake up early in the mornings, start a fire, make breakfast, make a lunch and head off to work for they day. They walk to where a bus would normally pick up workers, and that is where I meet them and take them to their jobs. Each day the students have a different job that is typical for the local Mexican people.  All jobs are hard labor and offer very little satisfaction upon completion.  They will be spending a day working in the fields picking strawberries, a day sorting through river rocks and packaging the nice ones, a day clam digging in the ocean and also a day cleaning out a bean field.Today was their first day, they woke up at 5:00am, prepared for the week and were at their shacks by 6:00am. They walked 3kms to drop of their pretend children at school and then met me at the highway. I took them down to the beach and they spent the first few hours loading the truck full of rocks so they could later place them in different areas around the yard. After a few loads of that, they were able to have a lunch break and then right back to work. A few of them swept our large drive way, others sorted through nails, others dug a trench. At 4:00 pm, I drove them back to the highway, gave them their pay and off to the grocery store they went to buy food for supper, breakfast and lunch. After all of their pay deductions for the day, like rent, school supplies, and water bills, they were only left with approximately $15 for food for all five of them. They ate a bit of spaghetti for supper and then got ready for bead. They said they were pretty worn out from the day. Partially due to the heat but mostly they were not used to the work. I think they are looking forward to the challenge that is ahead of them. They seem pretty excited about the days to come.

Hello from the Eastern Tour!

The past couple weeks have been really busy touring all the high school/ Jr high doing our Think Day presentations. Besides staying in amazing billets, we have been visiting some tourist hot spots like Peggy’s Cove, Hopewell rocks, grand falls and old Montreal. I was amazed on how beautiful Peggy’s Cove was! It was a sunny day and windy so the waves were nice and high. We took many pictures and filmed the boy’s medieval battle on the rocks. Because it was so windy and the waves were so high some of my team members got pretty wet.The next spot we hit was Hopewell Rocks they told us that if the tide was high we wouldn’t be able to see beach but lucky for us by the time we arrived tide was down so it was safe to walk around. I was so excited and I couldn’t believe I was there. I was jumping around and dancing with joy. I then realized that if I would have been in that same situation a year ago I wouldn’t have acted this way. Being on the road has made me a more confident person. It has also showed me my values and has helped built a stronger level of respect for myself and those around me (which is very much needed traveling for hours and hours on a bus with 8 other team members).Doing the Think Day presentations has such a strong impact on each of our team members. I run the lights and you think that it would be easy to get distracted during the show but I am inspired by my team member’s personal stories every time I hear them. When my teammates share these heart felt personal experiences it makes me realized my values and wants me to be able to be that voice for those who are voiceless. I have been able to be on stage and speak to the students at a school, let me tell you it is weird to hear your voice for the first time. My leader (Meagan) interviews me about my first semester of School of Leadership in Mexico. I am able to share my experiences of culture sock and living in the shack. It’s good to be able to talk and inform the students about the reality in Mexico through a 19 year old’s perspective.The road has really made me find myself and I am starting to be that person I want to be. One that inspires change!~ Melissa, Eastern Tour / Team #2

Team 2 Hits The Road!

Hello World,

We have embarked on our tour through Eastern Canada. We actually left a few weeks ago now, but wanted to catch you up on how things have been going. Bryan, one of the School of Leadership students on our team, offered his daily journal to give you all an inside glimpse into a typical week on tour with us…who am I kidding, there’s no such thing as a typical week. But here it is, Week 1 of Team 2’s Eastern Tour. Enjoy!

Hey everyone,

Our first adventure has begun.  We have actually set off on our Eastern tour. My best friend Adrian’s team has now left westward as well. 

Last Sunday was Day 1 of our journey.  Mel’s parents and Adam showed up to see us off, and we said goodbye to Adrian and Kelsey, acknowledging shockingly that it will have been the longest time we will have been separated since August.  We pulled out of Hamilton and flew on past Toronto.  From the highway in North York, I swear I saw the CN Tower.  Once in Laura’s hometown of Oshawa, we were warmly greeted by her parents at her home.  I beat JP and DJ at Chess and Queen was blaring in the background.  We ate well with leftovers for the road.  Between Belleville and Kingston, we heard a vibration, so we pulled over to discover that we would be pulled over for a while.  A cop and a mechanic came by, but nothing really got moving until Dave and Sue, old friends of the Earles (our co-founders) arrived to pick up our trailer.  The tow truck failed, but a flat-bed finally succeeded in loading our bus.  In Belleville, we dropped off the bus at a Ford dealership and brought the trailer to their home where we caught the end of the Olympics closing ceremonies, had a beautiful dinner and got to sleep.

Day 2, instead of presenting in Ottawa, as per the plan, we hung around, waiting for the bus to be repaired, watching Titanic and playing pool, until JP, DJ and I decided to make things quicker by driving out to Kingston in Dave’s truck to pick up a new wheel and hub which we brought back.  In forty-five minutes it was fixed and we could be on our way.  We had dinner at Wendy’s in Kingston, and spent the night in a pastor’s vacant house in Cornwall, the most Eastern city in Ontario.  Good news:  The school in Ottawa will be revisited!

Day 3, we packed up the whole lot of food that the pastor left for us and drove the very short distance to the school in Cornwall, where the local police department was having us put on three different shows for all the local schools.  After the first one, we had lunch, and then did the last two, each one better than the last, except for some wireless microphone difficulties…  We drove back to Kingston again to stay at Ashley’s house.  He is the LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) media/marketing manager.  It was Ryan Wood and his family, the current LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) boss of everything, who came with our bus and Rachelle.  We transferred our things into the new, larger bus and went to sleep, glad to have Rachelle join our ranks, making us ten:  JP, Meagan, Christian, DJ, Hammer, Laura, Melissa, Rachelle, Nicole, and myself, Bryan.

Day 4, in the morning, some of us cleaned up the bus to ready it for our voyage.  We left, and picked up some groceries.  On our way east, we picnicked in the bus.  We arrived in Quebec, my first time.  It is really strange to be in a French-speaking land!  It is new for me.  We got some free coffees from McDonald’s and drove on through the old and new sights of Montreal.  We stopped near Trois-Rivieres for dinner at A&W, and then had our first tastes of the show 24, which would lead to a regrettable consuming addiction for us.  In Quebec City, we stopped at a McDonald’s, where we met with an old English-speaking LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)r-turned Quebecois.  We drove on through the night. I was slated for the duty of talking to JP through the night while he drove.  Just after we crossed into New Brunswick, JP and I got to sleep while Meagan took over driving. 

Day 5, we awoke just beyond Fredericton.  Once in Moncton, JP picked up breakfast groceries.  From then on, DJ did the driving.  A few episodes of 24 later, we were through Antigonish and the bulk of Nova Scotia and into Cape Breton on the Northeast tip of the province, to Sydney Mines.  We ate some local fish and chips and then arrived at our billets, a pastor family.  The band and I got the overflow billet at the house of some guys from their church.

Day 6.  It seems that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are currently under a freakish grip of snowfall that is uncharacteristic of the region for this time of year.  Anyway, this morning I awoke with a migraine, possibly due to the change in barometric pressure.  We got to our first school in Florence.  The students were quiet, but appreciative and the show went great.  We packed up quick and moved it over to the next school in North Sydney.  We picnicked in the bus before we loaded in.  Our billets sat in for this awesome show, and we went home to have dinner at their house back in Sydney Mines.  That night, we went to a get-together in town, where we experienced small-town Cape Breton fellowship and a little step-set dancing.

 Day 7, us guys slept in a little at our billet, and played a little N64 on their big-screen TV and enjoyed a pancake breakfast.  We met up with the rest of our crew and went into town.  Most of us went shopping at the local second-hand store, but JP and I walked around the harbour, contemplating the economy of the region.  I tasted the Atlantic Ocean for fun, and then JP and I took our speculation to research.  We stopped into Blue Star Traders and chatted with the owner.  It seems that the areas core industries of old, coal mining, farming and fishing have long gone, and so general desperation has dominated the area.  People rely on EI and turn to crime to get by in some cases.  It seems that this regrettable phenomenon is increasingly common in Eastern Canada.  After lunch at a local burger stand, our resident local teenager, Britney, showed us the way to an old WWII barracks on the coast cliffs.  We had a blast, climbing the lookout tower, exploring the underbellies of a rotating gun mount, exploring the barracks rooms, spelunking in a well and, for me, seeing the open Atlantic for the first time.  That night we watched 24, had chili, and relaxed for the night.

Bryan

1 week down, many adventurous weeks to go! Stay tuned. -JP

Breaking Boundaries

Breaking Boundaries; a line that roots to many different causes of conflict. What are boundaries? Sometimes they guidelines set up to protect us from harmful situations. Other times and the context I am talking about, they are things that are built up within society preventing us from things that could actually be a positive experience. They are walls that we even build up within ourselves, where we tell ourselves that we can’t do something when really if we set our minds to it we could do things that we never thought imaginable.This past week, the School of Leadership students took a break from the road tour and headed to Parkview High School. While there, we sat in their leadership class, helped at the lunch program and tutored in the different classes throughout the afternoon. When sitting in the morning leadership class, we got to know the students quite well, they had already become a family but they welcomed us quickly into the clan. These students showed me the true meaning of perseverance. Some of their stories that they were willing to share with the group were things that some of us could not imagine happening to us in a lifetime, and here it is a norm for these teenagers. You see, this school is located in one of the roughest neighbourhoods in Canada.Yet, these leadership students chose to go to school, they choose to get out of bed and get an education. They aren’t handed a lunch and sent merily to school, they choose to be there. They persevere through the struggles of their life and still choose to do something positive, they choose to speak for those who can’t speak up, they choose to be leaders in their school. I thought back to my own high school experience, where a lot of people would just skip school because they didn’t feel like going to class. My time at this school really put things into perspective for me, if these students can get up and go to school with all the struggles that they have, why shouldn’t I be able to get my work done on-time?Which brings me back to these boundaries. I always tell myself that I can’t or that its okay to be lazy sometimes, I was building up these walls and day by day the walls are slowly diminishing because of these leaders showing me meaning of true perseverance.A special thanks to the student’s teacher. He really believes in the students and is making such an impact at the school.~ Laura, A School of Leadership Student

SOL Students Spreading the Holiday Spirit

 Last week, the School of Leadership students who are touring Canada in our high school assemblies, had a break in their touring schedule. So, what better way to spend their downtime then volunteering at a local charity, the Good Shepherd. Good Shepherd assists thousands of people every year with emergency programs that provide the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, and rehabilitative programs that offer guidance, give hope, and restore dignity. They serve troubled youth, abused women and children, the dying, the mentally and physically challenged, the hungry and the homeless. Their ultimate goal is to support people through crisis and assist them in reestablishing healthy and productive lives in the community. (www.goodshepherdcentres.ca)I was lucky to get to join the students as they worked together to pass on the Holiday Cheer. Our first morning, we were working in the facilities kitchen where they prepare meals for all their volunteers (and it was yummy!), and serve a hot meal to anyone in the community who needs it. We were told that they can serve between 275 – 500 meals a day. Now, keep that number in mind when you think of how many potatoes are needed in one week to feed that many people because we peeled it! It was not really that bad because it was a great time for us to talk and have peeling contests (Cory was the fastest, but Kayla was close behind). After we finished, in record timing, we were in the kitchen cleaning carrots and wrapping sandwiches.That afternoon we worked in the Good Shepherds “Christmas Store Program”. The Christmas Store, now in its 17th year, is a valued Good Shepherd program. For 14 days the Food Bank at the Good Shepherd’s Warehouse is transformed into the Christmas Store, where more than 2,000 vulnerable families can collect a Christmas Hamper containing special Christmas groceries, winter hats and mitts, and toys for the children. Us girls (Bri, Kayla, and I) joins some lovely elderly ladies in pre packing some grocery bags. We had quite the assembly line going and were singing while we packed. The boys (Cory, Brandon, Chad, and JP) help each of the customers pack all their goodies and bring it out to their taxi or rides. They were the happiest “bag boys” I have ever seen.Our second day at the Good Shepherd was spent upstairs in the warehouse organizing toys, gum, and clothes. We were really impressed with the donations that the Good Shepherd received. Companies really showed their generosity to the people of Hamilton who need help. We finished the day off with working at the Christmas store again. At the end of the each of our days we walked home with smiles that could not be stolen. Each of us felt the necessity and joy of helping others and loved every moment of being able to help.Here are some things that the SOLs had to say about their experience. All with huge smiles on our faces, the energy of the other volunteers and the clients, made our days go by fast. Not only did me meet a lot of awesome people, we all grew and learned new things about ourselves. I’m hoping if i ever have any more time off to go back and visit and help where we are needed! ~ Kayla I met a lot of really nice clients of the Good Shepherd who were some of the most grateful people I’ve met so far here in the HAMMER. All though these people have been down on there luck and have to resort to a shelter. It was so amazing to see how gracious people can be and how lending a helping hand can make someones Christmas an enjoyable one. Helping out at Good Shepherd has actually helped me remember that this Christmas there is more happiness in giving than in receiving. ~ CoryIf you are wondering if you should volunteer some where this holiday season, then believe me, you will love it! It is a simple way to make a difference in the lives of others and to bring back into focus the true meaning of Christmas. GIVING!Hope you have a Safe and Happy Christmas and New Years!Nettie BrownSchool of Leadership and Hero Holiday Administrator

Christmas Sale! – “one” books for $15 each

We’ve got a great offer for you this Christmas season!ONE: A Face Behind the Numbers, Vaden Earle’s best-selling book on social justice issues, is available for a limited time for only $15!It’s a great Christmas gift, with all proceeds going to LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) and Hero Holiday’s charitable projects, (www.LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute).org), and is even printed on environmentally friendly paper!If you buy 5, we’ll even pay the shipping!Order online by clicking here or call all our office (1-866-432-4464). Order by Friday, December 11th, in order to ensure delivery by December 24th.Have a very Merry Christmas!LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)

School of Leadership House Build in Mexico

Have you even been so shocked that you didn’t know what to do or say? Well, that happened to me when my mom and her friend decided to surprise me when my team and I went to San Diego for some “grocery shopping”. I thought it was great that they got to visit me but then my mom told me they would be with us for a week helping us with the house build. I couldn’t believe it! I was very excited that I could share a wonderful experience with my mom and that she could see how much I’ve changed since being in the School of Leadership for 2 months. I was even more surprised though that my team and leaders could keep that secret from me.We built a house for a single mother who has 2 children, a 12 year old girl and a 13 year old boy, and we were told that just this August, Misiel, the 13 year old boy was riding his bike with his father when a drunk driver hit him. His foot was crushed in the accident which later got infected and the doctors needed to amputate most of his leg. His leg is no longer infected and he now has a wheelchair. I was very sad when I heard this story but felt better to know that we were going to help and try to make his every day life a little easier. Misiel is a boy who has lots of energy and just loves music. It made me really sad to see him watching all his friends play, because you could see in his eyes that he wanted to run and play with them.When we started building this home we could tell there was a lot of love for this family from the community, we always had lots of kids who wanted to play football (soccer) with us and some kids just wanted to help us work. The girls especially loved the paint because it was pink and purple and they would put it on their nails to make it look like nail polish. We also had help from our friends, Mundo and Danny. Mundo is our translator for our English class and Danny is a friend. Together they dug a hole for the bano, they worked really well together and learned a lot from each other. Mundo told us that when he was in the hole digging, he would tell Danny some of his life stories, and when Danny was in the hole digging it was his turn to tell stories. The kids were so happy and playful; they were a constant reminder to us why were there helping out. I really connected with a little girl named Maria, she lived close to the house build. Her father made donuts and pizza so he could make some extra money for his family, but mostly to support his other daughter who has a disability. My team and I made sure to buy donuts from him everyday to help them out. Maria was always happy and excited to see me, she made me realize that it’s the little things that matter in life.While we were building the house we started thinking of ways that would make it easier for Misiel to get around in his wheelchair. So we built them a shower and also bigger bano so he could easily get his wheelchair in and out. Brett, my leader, also thought of putting bars around his room to make it easier for him to start walking again. When we gave the keys to the house to this amazing family, everyone said some inspiring words and welcomed them to their new home. The mother and daughter had lots of tears, but they thankfully were tears of joy. My mom and her friend decided to buy big bags of rice and beans for them as well, and also at the end of the week we went around and gave little bags of rice and beans to families in the community. So far, this has been my favorite house build. I love that I got to build it with my mom and my new School of Leadership family.~ Melissa, a School of Leadership student living in Mexico and painter extraordinaire.

2010 Calendar

We’re excited to announce our 2010 Hero Holiday Calendar, “Together”. This calendar is full of incredible photos taken on Hero Holidays around the world by some of our very own photographers. Included in the calendar are excerpts from our blog, “52”, as well as some great quotes and thoughts on how to make a difference.The calendar costs $20 and proceeds from the sale of each calendar go towards LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) and Hero Holiday’s charitable projects.