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I just wanted to share this with you.
The other day someone suggested I take a look at this video and I have to say it touched me. Having been to Africa myself I can appreciate the meaning of the video. Going to Africa changed the way I view my life here back in Canada. No matter what comes into my life I will not let my circumstances dictate how I should feel.
Ignite Conference Burma 2009
Wow is all I have to say about my trip into Burma!
I know I haven’t posted anything since my return but I did want to post a little update out of how things went.
I arrived in Bangkok and had to spend a few days there while we waited for our travel visas into Burma, while I was there I was told that I would be the guest speaker at a 3 day Children’s Ministry Conference. Needless to say this was small shock to me as I have never done anything like this before in my life. But God willing it all went without any problems.
The conference took place in the mountains at a place called Pyin OO Lwin where 100 children where registered to attend the conference. As the days when on there where more and more children who showed up at the conference so they could participate with the others.
It amazed me, the amount of energy that these children had!! I attempted to keep up with them, but when you sit behind a desk for 7 hours a day…. it is difficult to be up dancing and singing for 6 hours!!
If you would like to see more pictures and some video please follow this link http://thailandburma.shift8.ca where you can see some of the additional things that we did while we where there.
Burma Aid Wide
Hello Everybody!!
Well I have about 3 weeks left before I venture off to another far away place. I will be packing my bags and making the journey over to Thailand and Burma for a few weeks.
I was asked to join a friend of mine, Mike Kerychuk from Reaching Kids Internationally, to come and work for a few days with youth who are attending a bible college. As well we will be visiting families that have moved into an abandoned dog shelter (the conditions of the shelter where so bad that the government has closed down) and working with Mike to see if there anything we can do for these families.
I will be working on a few different projects while I am away on this trip.
The first will be the actual project with working with the students in Burma and Thailand.
The second is with a local group of grade 5 students and seeing if I can comminicate with them while I am overseas as well as I’ll be working with them on using technology.
(For more on this project please see this site http://thailandburma.shift8.ca/)
Lastly I will be looking at how a sub $500 netbook can be used in the field for missionary work for missionaries with very limited budgets.
Also while I am away I will be trying to keep Bryna Jones – Public Relations Coordinator for Streams of Hope updated on what I will be doing while I am away.
You will be able to follow her posts here at http://streamsofhope.wordpress.com/.
Ok this may sound weird but I was just trying some new software on my mac mini that will turn it into a media center and I installed the TED viewer and just happened to stumble across this video.
I am ever so impressed with this and would love to try one out to see how well it works ( and yes I will go to a swamp or something and actually drink the water from it, video tape the entire thing and post it here )
This device could simply erase the problem with non drinkable water around the world.
I am planning a trip to Thailand and Burma at the end of September and I would love to be able to bring a few of these with me on my mission trip (one for me to use and few extra to leave with the children that I will be meeting). I haven’t budgeted for something like this for this trip and if anyone is so moved to help either by sending a monetary gift or purchase directly and have delivered, I would be extremely grateful.
If donations don’t come through in time, there is another trip that is being planned in February/March time frame (one that I will not be going on but I could get a few people to take these with them) As well I do have a contact that lives in Thailand that makes regular trips into Burma and the surrounding area that I could send these to him and he could distribute.
http://www.htistore.com/lifesaverbottle6000.aspx
Nathan McCready C\O
Desert Stream Christian Fellowship
535 Dundas St. E.
Belleville, ON K8N 5P6
Canada
For more information here is the original post on TED
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pritchard_invents_a_water_filter.html
Repost: http://streamsofhope.blogspot.com/2009/07/interview-with-dave-toycen-president-of.html
Author: Bryna Jones
ME: What can people/groups in Canada do to help?
Dave: Canadians wishing to donate to our efforts in eastern DRC can do so by calling 1-800-268-5528, or by visiting www.worldvision.ca. Those wishing to take action and keep up to date on our efforts can do so with one of the following tools. We also have a vast array of resource available at www.worldvision.ca/congo including prayer points for those who believe in prayer.
Join the Canadians Concerned About Congo Facebook group for updates, actions and discussions.
Check out WorldVisionCanada on YouTube for videos from Congo you can embed on blogs.
Follow CongoAlerts on Twitter for timely updates on the current humanitarian disaster.
ME: Do you have any stories from your trip to DRC that you would like to tell?
Dave: One of the most inspiring children I met was 16-year-old Jonathan*. Jonathan is a former child solider who is now the president of a Child’s Parliament group that World Vision supports in the region. The group was formed in order to empower children to be part of peacebuilding initiatives in their community and has already had a significant impact. Just after the group was formed, the children realized that many homeless children were ending up in the local jail, kept with adult criminals. The group petitioned the local authority and had 15 children successfully freed from the prison and placed in care with host families in the town. The group has also instigated a watch group for girls fetching water so that during this vulnerable act of walking to nearby rivers, the girls are flanked by older boys who stave off potential molesters. It is children like Jonathan that remind me that sometimes children’s courageous acts can embarrass adults into doing the right thing.
*name has been changed to protect the identity of the child.
ME: Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Dave: I think it’s important that we remember there is always hope even in the most dire circumstances. I met a mother named Esperance who was at one of our health clinics waiting for her child to be treated. The little one is malnourished, suffering from diarrhea and although slowly recovering after six weeks of treatment, still fighting for her life. Esperance told me that her family is short of food, especially since her husband was shot while trying to flee violence and is now disabled. The family depends on Esperance to tend a small plot for food and take care of them physically. Amidst all of that pain though, Esperance – her name literally meaning hope – told me of her dreams of a future where the war will end and her family can start producing their own food; a future where her children will be safe and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Esperance with her child, and Dave
Our sincerest thanks go out to Dave Toycen for this interview, and to his amazing staff, for the work they do bringing awareness and aid to the world’s most impoverished people. You truly inspire us!
