Bubbles II…an answer perhaps?

Posted on September 6, 2015 by johnageddes

As a result of my last blog entry, friends have responded with information about a local organization that is working to help Syrian refugees come to Canada – Kingston area in particular.

The group recommended by two of my friends is the Four Rivers Presbytery at Seeley’s Bay.

Lori Rand reports:

A small group of us here in Kingston are mobilizing. We are partnering with a local organization that has brought one family to Kingston in July, and are in the process of getting ready to receive another family at the end of September. They are currently in a bunker in Lebanon. Learn more about who they are and their story here.

This incredible work has been done by Dawn Clarke, a Minster at the Perth Road United Church, and a team from the Four Rivers Presbytery in Seeley’s Bay, and the Kingston Islamic Society. They still need $25,000 to make this happen – to sustain the financial one-year commitment to the current family, and have the funds for the second family. The hard work of receiving approval from Citizenship and Immigration Canada is already done, but missing link is the financial resources.

Here’s where you can donate. This money goes directly to getting this family to Kingston and supporting the family that just arrived. If you are more comfortable writing a cheque, information can be found here in the left hand column.

Rick Cairns adds this information:

John, I can assure you that aside from the cost of printing some pamphlets and setting up a website, this group is putting every single dollar raised toward sponsoring and settling these families.
An overpaid CEO, you ask? In fact, Save A Family From Syria is a 100% volunteer group.
As far as having “a concrete plan in place to actually bring a refugee family or families to Canada”, you’ll be pleased to know that one family is here, with children starting school next week, and another family (with 4 children) will be arriving in the last week of September.
It is the intention of this group to continue to sponsor more families in the future.

I have reviewed all this and made a donation to this group. I will await other responses to see if there are more local groups doing something similar. I encourage you to look into this one, however, and open your hearts and your wallet to help them achieve their goals. It’s the Canadian way, is it not?

Once again – Here’s a quick link where you can donate right now using a credit card to a local group actively sponsoring Syrian refugee families to come to Kingston area. Tax receipts are issued for donations to this cause.

Bubbles, not bodies, on the beach…please.

Posted on September 5, 2015 by johnageddes

I would like to think that there is something that I could do to help the Syrian refugee situation that seems to have suddenly burgeoned into a major humanitarian crisis. Of course, this is not really the case. The situation has been escalating for months, if not years, and the bandaids that the western world has applied to this gaping wound have done little to save the thousands who are scrambling for safety and security or the many who have already died in their attempts to find freedom for themselves and their families.

It is almost embarassing to see our Canadian electioneering politicians using this as campaigning opportunities. I am definitely not a Conservative or Harper supporter, but our collective anger toward the current government, expressed as “why has our Canadian government done more already?” is counterproductive and also answered by the reality that most of its citizens, you and I, have been somewhat oblivious to the problem, sidetracked by the millions of our tax dollars that are being spent to investigate and prosecute Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallen. Pathetic, isn’t it?

I am not that confident in the promises of any of the political parties running in the upcoming Canadian federal election. They all promise more. Those promises are a bit hollow given past government aid and the obvious logistical legal hurdles that any refugee or immigrant has to jump to get into Canada. We are not the country with open arms and hearts that we would like to think we are. And it doesn’t matter if individuals are willing to donate to local initiatives to help bring refugee families to our communities if the government red tape is impeding that.

I have looked at several charity websites but can find no specific plans that would assure me that my donated dollar is going directly to help a refugee family from Syria. I have written a letter of inquiry to one local initiative but received no response yet. I have found a couple of websites of groups that say they are motivated to help Syrian refugees but exactly how they plan to do it or what their financial is to accomplish this is not evident.

In the past I have donated to the Humanitarian Coalition but I think that this is appears to be a clearing house for donations to Care Canada, Oxfam and Save the Children. They take their cut for promotion and it would seem to make more sense to select the other charity directly and donate to it without the 15% cut that this group takes just to be a relay. FYI, in 2014, Care Canada had a revenue of over $100,000,000, 31% of it from government. It spent over $35,000,000 in salaries (one is over $250,000) and another $4,000,000 on consulting and professional services. Oxfam had revenue and expenditures in 2014 in the realm of $23,000,000 with four employees making more than $120,000, $1,800,000 in fundraising expenses and about $650,000 in professional and consulting services. I run an unrelated charity funding infrastructure work in Africa and I know that admin expenses are definitely necessary in order to carry out the charitable work. I am also aware of the need for accountability to donors and disciplined accountability for expenditures. I think that folks should take some note and be aware of where exactly their money is going when they donate to a charity. You can search for current information on any registered Canadian charity on the CRA website ( http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/lstngs/menu-eng.html) It is worth a look.

I wonder how I can best help people fleeing from Syria as refugees.

Now.

Please help me by suggesting a registered Canadian charity with a track record of spending at least 80% of their money directly on their charitable programming (in this case, the direct support of a refugee family or families), don’t have a CEO making $100,000, and have a concrete plan in place to actually bring a refugee family or families to Canada (not just the will to do so). I will be happy to investigate it, lend support and encourage my friends to do the same if I can be assured that my support will be effectively spent.

Bubbles in the sand on Ellington Beach, PEI

Bubbles in the sand on Eglington Beach, PEI

Feeling proud…

Posted on September 3, 2015 by johnageddes

When my grandson turned six, he decided that, instead of having kids bring him presents for his birthday party, he would have them bring a bit of money that he gave to me to take to Kenya to share with school kids there. I was able to buy a soccer ball and books for three schools with the money he collected. I also took a photo of him to each school.

When I returned to one of the schools a year later the children asked me “How is Noah Budd?” They knew that he had helped them and were wanting to send greetings. Last year it took me by surprise when I was in the office of yet another school and saw Noah’s photo on the wall. I was delighted to make Noah aware that these children were grateful and appreciative of his generosity.

In May, Noah’s sister, Emma, sent me $10 of her birthday money and this afternoon, in the mail, I got a note and $10 fromtheir sister, Maia, who turns five today, money for the CanAssist African Relief Trust.

I am so proud of these kids (and their parents) for sharing their good fortune with others.

I have also gone to elementary schools where the kids have been very enthusiastic and motivated to help others in Africa. Ms Paré’s Grade 4-5 class at Glenburnie School gathered $1300 this spring and this money is now being put to use to construct school furnishings for the St Catherine School in Kenya.

CanAssist has also had generous support from children at Sweet’s Corners School, Rideau Vista School, and Inglewood School in Toronto.

These kids seem to just realize that with really very little effort and sacrifice on their part (mainly enthusiasm and motivating others) they can make a really significant difference to the lives of children in Africa.

I am moved and proud of all of them for their altruism and I hope that their parents and neighbours and aunts and uncles can take a lesson from them and reach out to help others both at home and in the developing world – because we can assist.

Kids at the Kanyala Little Stars School in Mbita Kenya sing a song for Noah Budd.

Easy supper – Pasta Genovese

Posted on August 29, 2015 by johnageddes

I saw some fresh green beans on the market today and some new potatoes and it made me think of a pasta dish that my friend Gloria always serves me when I visit their family in Italy. The Genovese word comes from Genoa, a city in northern Italy on the Mediterranean Sea where, probably, this recipe either originated or was adopted as local. There is another meat dish with the same name. Don’t ask me how these two very different pastas have the same name.

There are variations on this but here is how I have ended up doing it. A very simple meal, vegetarian, making use of fresh vegetables from the fall garden.

Pasta Genovese

Ingredients:

New potatoes

Green beans

Pine nuts ( lightly toasted in the oven)

Fusili pasta ( I use this but I think that the recipe may be more “original” with a long thin pasta like spaghetti or tagliatelle.)

Pesto (I buy it ready made up and use about half a jar in the recipe. You can make your own from olive oil, pine nuts and basil if you are adventuresome.)

Parmesan cheese on top. (when I visit Gloria in Italy she always takes me to a local market where I can buy a huge hunk of aged Parmesan to bring home with me.)

Shopping for Parmesan at the San Michele grocer.

Method:

Prepare the potatoes and beans. Scrub the potatoes and cut them into cubes, maybe one inch in size and cut the ends off the beans and slice them into smaller bits.

In a large pot add a tablespoon or so of sea salt to cold water. Put the potatoes into the pot, cover it and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for a couple of minutes then add the green beans. Let them boil for three or four minutes then throw in the pasta and cook it for about 8-10 minutes or until the pasta is “al dente”.

Drain the lot and dump it into a large bowl. Add half the bottle of pesto and turn the ingredients in it until coated.

Serve it onto a plate with grated parmesan cheese. (and a few tomatoes for colour.)

I don’t measure the ingredients, just throwing in a balanced lot. Leftovers store well in the fridge and are even more tasty the second day when the pesto has leeched into the potatoes.

Thinking of you, Gloria, as I enjoy this treat.

The hills by San Michele, Italy

Sharing good news from Kadok Secondary School in Uganda

Posted on August 17, 2015 by johnageddes

I started today with a delightful email from a school in rural Uganda that we are helping through the CanAssist African Relief Trust. At this remote area near Kumi, the community is trying to improve educational opportunities for students of secondary school age who have no local school to attend.

In Africa, most kids who go to secondary school, attend boarding schools. This is deemed to be a better education as the students are kind of corralled at the school and not as easily distracted by other activities or even household duties demanded of them when they are at home. For girls this is also thought to be more important so that they are not subjected to sexual advances or even abuse. Unfortunately the cost of attending a boarding institution is prohibitive for many.

In some communities there is an attempt to provide day schools when boarding facilities are not close by or out of the financial reach of so many. Students attending these schools sometimes feel like second class citizens. When I visit them I let them know that day schools are by far the most common form of secondary education in Canada and are by no means inferior.

Parents and community members at Kadok are trying to build up classes for teens in their district. They are quite prepared to sacrifice to have their kids become better educated. The school operates out of some temporary buildings and rooms at the back of stores along the village street.

These are the deplorable sanitation facilities previously the only accessible toilets for the students at Kadok Secondary School.

They have had no sanitation facility that can be used by the students at the school (or by others who live along this street or frequent the village for shopping). CanAssist is building latrines to help with this deficiency and hopefully improve sanitation for both the pupils and the community.

This progress report is a real treat to me and I hope that our supporters find it equally delightful. This is only one of many projects currently underway with CanAssist funding.

The total cost of this will be about 20,000,000 Ugandan Shillings ( approximately $8000 Can)

The work for community projects like this one is all done by hand. And with bare feet!

In July, CanAssist mounted a challenge to our donors and were excited with a response that netted over $20,000 in donations, a number that will be matched by the Sasamat Foundation in Vancouver.

The Kadok school will be the first of many communities that will benefit from these gifts to CanAssist. They have already received half of their allotment and today sent photos of the progress so far. Notice that the work is all done manually and with no access to safe work gear.

Paul Abunya reports some of the challenges they have encountered including:

During the digging of the pit, the bedded rock got blocked reducing the speed of digging.
Also trucks could get stuck on muddy grounds as we were ferrying building materials.
It took time for the beam and Nero cement to set. Extending days to put the slab since its rainy season.
Despite the challenges we have accomplished the following:
1. There is overwhelming feelings and support from the community.
2. Community has donated more land for the expansion of the school.
3. There has been continuous increase in enrolment of students.

Things are moving ahead. Labourers in the community are being provided with some small work, construction materials are purchased locally and eventually the community will have toilets for the first time.

Thank you to our CanAssist supporters – feel good about what you are doing to help.

CanAssist African Field Representative, Daniel Otieno visited the school in May 2015 to confirm project details.

A Kick and Push Grand Slam

Posted on August 10, 2015 by johnageddes

The lead line in the Kingston Kick and Push Festival programme booklet says “This will be no ordinary theatre festival…” They were right! I was excited earlier this year to see that Kingston was to host a summer festival of five theatre pieces scattered I both time and venue around the downtown core. I vowed to see them all and this weekend I fulfilled my goal.

All of the theatrical events (not quite right to call them all plays) had interesting production features and all told stories in varied ways.

A Chorus Line is a fairly typical Broadway-type musical that lends itself well to be presented by young aspiring singers and dancers. I have always enjoyed the productions mounted by Blue Canoe, the company that put this show on at the Grand Theatre in mid-July and this was no exception. Lots of enthusiastic talented young folks giving a polished set of personal vignettes as they audition for a dancing role in a show. A most enjoyable evening.

Jacob James and Sophia Fabiili in a scene from Shipwrecked! An Entertainment.

Shipwrecked is a three-actor tall-tale about an adventurous life on the high seas. I really liked the imaginative presentation that immersed the audience in the story. The audience was literally washed over by a huge wave, flooded with ping-pong ball pearls, taken to meet south seas natives and introduced to a very friendly dog named Hugo. Kudos to Brett Christopher who directed this show for his creativity and to the small cast that included my friend Jacob James who returned home to Kingston for this show. A delight.

Zahshanne Malik, Audrey Sturino and Zachary Arndt in a scene from Totally Nana’s Ride – one of the Autoshow playlets.

Autoshow was a series of ten minute short plays that happened in and around cars in Market Square. I particularly like the one called Totally Nana’s Ride that happened by an old Dodge parked beside the Bank of Montreal. Some of these playlets were better written than others. Three of them ended with death, which was a bit of a downer. The street noise sometimes made it hard to hear the dialogue sometimes. Some of the plays actually had one or two people get right into the car where the action was happening. At one point a homeless woman passing across the square wandered into the middle of the action and for a couple of minutes actually joined our small audience group to peer into the back of the car where the action was happening. This, of course, added to the whole presentation, rather than take from it.

Tall Ghosts and Bad Weather is a play with some historical background and was presented after dark outside in the graveyard beside St Paul’s Church on Queen Street – the same graveyard where Molly Brant is buried. It was a curious mix of modern day and a hundred years ago, all intricately entwined as actors from both vintages came in and out of the mix, sometimes almost bumping into each other as they moved past one another, seemingly oblivious to the presence of each other. The atmosphere was great and the actors did a good job of presenting the story. A particular credit to them was that, despite three of them being in Autoshow, which I had seen an hour earlier, I did not recognize them in their transformed characters in the graveyard. The Stone Cellar group that produced this play is a local troupe that specializes in historical dramas. Will look for more from them.

My favorite, however, was Ambrose, a personal journey through nooks and crannies inside and outside the Grand Theatre, once again with a series of vignettes all revolving around the theatre magnate Ambrose Small, who disappeared mysteriously in 1919. His ghost, it is said, still haunts the theatres he owned, one of them being the Kingston Grand. In this theatre adventure, audience was taken one at a time through one of two tracks of stories. I spent ten minutes alone with a psychiatrist, lying on a couch and answering questions about my deepest secrets, had a drink at an abandoned bar in the lobby with a sexy distraught woman who managed the theatre, read love letters with one of Ambrose Small’s showgirl paramours, watched as a young masked woman talked with me about taking risks then proceeded to scale part of the wall inside the theatre, huddled under a blanket with a slightly crazy recluse in a creepy dark machine room, and got tied up by three young phantoms after climbing down a fire escape into the alleyway outside the theatre. Could you ask for more in an interactive theatrical production? I understand that some folks actually bailed out at some points, finding the personal involvement too intense. But if you were willing to immerse yourself in the improv nature of this show it became just so much fun.

Earlier in the summer I also enjoyed the Salon Theatre’s Walking in John A’s Footsteps that runs twice daily downtown throughout the summer.

I was disappointed to see the audiences for these many fine productions so small despite the most expensive ticket being $25. How can we expect to have this wonderful, creative, immersive theatre in our community if we don’t support it. I didn’t see anyone I knew in the audience any of the five nights I attended the different shows. Where were you?

With photos shamelessly lifted from the Kick and Push Facebook page!

Summer day by the lakeshore.

Posted on August 4, 2015 by johnageddes

The long weekend at the first of August had perfect summery weather here in Kingston although it seems that some of Ontario experienced severe thunderstorms. I spent a few hours yesterday by the lake taking about 300 photos of folks enjoying the day. I won’t drop them all on you but hope this few gives you a taste of the day.

Lazy summer weekend in Kingston

Posted on July 27, 2015 by johnageddes

I have been a bit lazy about blogging over the summer. Outdoors. On the move. Every once in a while, pulled out my phone to grab a photo. So since a picture is worth 1000 words, here are a few thousand to illustrate the sultry weekend we have had in Kingston, Canada. Summer doesn’t last long enough!

Canada Day Challenge 2015

Posted on June 30, 2015 by johnageddes

For the past week I have been thinking about kids and birthdays. Here’s why.

My granddaughter, who turned seven last month, has liked shoes since she was two – genes she got from her grandmother. This has made birthday gifts easy for me as I promised her when she was two that every birthday, until she was 20, I would buy her a pair of shoes. She anticipates her birthday now, thinking about what shoes she will get and our ritual has morphed into me giving her money so she can do her own shopping. We both look forward to this exchange and I am rewarded by her giddy anticipation of shopping for shoes.

But she is also aware that there are kids in Africa who have no shoes at all. She has seen and heard of the children that I have visited in East African schools who walk to school barefoot and who suffer from blisters and jigger infections.

Most kids in rural Africa don’t have much by way of birthday celebrations. Cake and presents are beyond the means of their family. And ice cream? Well, in rural spots there is no electricity, let alone refrigeration, so ice cream is not something that they ever get to experience.

A week after her birthday, Emma sent me $10 in the mail to put toward helping kids in Africa through the CanAssist African Relief Trust. She wanted to share some of her birthday shoe money with kids who had none. I am so very proud of her for her generous concern for others.

Canada’s birthday is July 1. It always gives me pause on Canada Day to reflect on how fortunate I am to live in this country. We take for granted so many of the things that people in other parts of the world struggle to find – security, clean water, access to education and health care, and decent infrastructure.

When kids hear about this they seem to understand and their hearts and minds immediately want to reach out to do what they can to help. It is an immediate, instinctive and enthusiastic response to the obvious need – a recognition that they can, indeed, assist.

In the past few weeks, students in Mrs Pare’s grade 4 class at Glenburnie School have enthusiastically had fundraisers at the school to buy school furnishings for a small remote community school in Kenya. Earlier this year, CanAssist funded construction of three classrooms and a latrine at the St Catherine School in Siaya district of Kenya where previously 100 local children learned under a mango tree in the valley. The Glenburnie pupils want to help by providing money to have locally-constructed bench desks built so the Kenyan kids can get up off the cement floor.

Last week, students at Glenburnie School chatted live online with CanAssist Field Representative Dan Otieno in Kenya. Dan was able to greet each one personally and thank them for their contributions to help the St Catherine School.

And there is a bonus for the Glenburnie class donation. Their aim (and they are on track to achieve it) is to give CanAssist a check for $1000 on July 1, Canada’s birthday. What a grand way to celebrate the wealth that we have and share with peers in Kenya. What’s more, the Sasamat foundation in Vancouver has, once again, offered to celebrate our Canadian well-being by matching all donations to CanAssist in July up to a total of $20,000. The children’s donation to St Catherine’s will thereby be doubled to $2000 – good news for everyone.

On July 9 and 10, from 10;30-2, in Kingston’s City Park, another group of enthusiastic kids are going to be busking. The “Not So Amateur Amateurs” will entertain with music, dancing and other artistic skills and the proceeds or their busking will go entirely to needy kids, including a school in Kenya. Like the Glenburnie student gift to CanAssist, the money raised and donated by these young entertainers will be doubled with the Sasamat July match.

I am often overwhelmed by the caring compassion and motivation to help shown by youngsters who appear more aware of the inequities in this world than many adults are. I wonder, when a school class of 10-year-olds can raise $1000 for students in Africa or a seven year old can share a portion of her birthday gift money, what adults could achieve if they put their heart into it.

If you would like to join these children in sharing your good fortune with young people in Kenya, your donation to CanAssist can also be doubled if made in July. CanAssist’s aim will be to use this money for school projects. July gifts to CanAssist, matched by Sasamat, will help a preschool, elementary school, secondary school and vocational school. Young Africans from the age of 4 to 24 will benefit.

Happy birthday, Canada.

Not a single story … but a real one nevertheless

Posted on June 17, 2015 by johnageddes

I simply have to share this today.

My friends Heather Haynes and Cathy Cleary have recently returned from a trip to Congo where they have been helping a group of women who have had horrific experience with war and rape and disease and poverty. Cathy and Heather have immersed themselves in attempts to assist these women. I have watched a couple of their YouTube posts and must encourage you to do the same.

My experience in East Africa has taken me to places where poverty and the consequences of poverty have impacted many lives. Lack of opportunities for education or health care, no clean water to drink and no place to defecate except a field or behind a tree or in a plastic bag that is thrown to the railroad track that runs through the slum. This is poverty beyond what you can comprehend if you don’t see it. But I cannot imagine the heart-wrenching that Cathy and Heather feel when they witness the women and children who have suffered not only poverty but emotional and physical abuse. And in this short video, I see how the children are perplexed and touched by Heather’s emotion.

Through the work I do with the CanAssist African Relief Trust, we attempt to improve infrastructure so that entire schools and communities can benefit. We rely on the generosity of Canadian donors to do this work and so far have been able to fund about $600,000 at schools, clinics and communities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. In July we will be mounting our fourth annual Canada Day Challenge where all (tax deductible) donations to CanAssist will be matched by the Sasamat Foundation of Vancouver.

Heather and Cathy are also looking for sponsorship for some of the children and women that they are working with in Congo. You can sponsor a child for $1 a day. This provides shelter, food and education.. plus health care. Women- $40 a month for two years. This provides a small stipened each month and sewing training, group support… second year is business training and exit kit. They are not yet resistered with CRA so there is not tax receipt but as the MasterCard ad says, the reward is Priceless.

Those of us who work doing this kind of charity in Africa have to tell the sad storie and show the need. But we must also acknowledge that this is not the only story with which to brand Africa. There are lots of well-educated, polite, generous, happy folks that we meet every day. The cities rival Western cities for their vitality. So a trip there is not all doom and sadness. In fact, even in the middle of poverty there is joy and laughter. Witness these vulnerable kids at the Congo orphanage singing together.

You can learn more about Worlds Collide here – http://worldscollideafrica.com

And we are always happy for your support at The CanAssisst African Relief Trust http://canassistafrica.ca. And if you donate to CanAssist in July the value of your gift will be doubled with the Sasamat match.

johnageddes

A blogging safari

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Bubbles II…an answer perhaps?

Bubbles, not bodies, on the beach…please.

Feeling proud…

Easy supper – Pasta Genovese

Sharing good news from Kadok Secondary School in Uganda

A Kick and Push Grand Slam

Summer day by the lakeshore.

Lazy summer weekend in Kingston

Canada Day Challenge 2015

Not a single story … but a real one nevertheless

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