Happy New Year! You Tube clips from ACTION, Romania

From our colleagues in Romania, still going strong with the Association we helped Found when we were there. "Give this Christmas Away".

Christmas Greetings

Joy to the World

No matter what your faith might be, Christmas is a time of year to think about Joy, Love, Peace, Angels and Giving. Our wish this Christmas is that more people will enjoy these gifts, which are the real meaning of life.

We would like to give you a gift. It is a true story of a Christmas angel that you can download here.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year!

Fundraising for Children in Need

Robert twisting balloons for the children.

On October 27 we once again helped fund raise for Children in Need, along with the charity Home-start Barnet. We contributed our face-painting and balloon modelling talents, to help raise about £200 at the Colindale Grahame Park Community Centre.

Funded by Children in Need, Home-start Barnet provides a safe place for youngsters to play every Thursday and Friday while their parents take part in courses such as first aid, healthy eating and emotional health and wellbeing.

I also volunteer for Homestart one day a week, by supporting a family with children under 5 years old.

You can view the complete article from the Barnet Times on-line newspaper here.

Two of the children I face painted.

Making a Difference in Ecuador

Recently I had the pleasure to meet up with two old friends of mine: Jenny and Gonzalo. They have a volunteer work in Ecuador, where Gonzalo is from and were here in the UK for a while to help care for Jenny's elderly mum. Now they are returning to Ecuador and we will be helping to support their work there.

In Ecuador, there are no such systems as the NHS, nor government benefit programs. So the people depend on NGOs and Charities for some of their most basic needs, especially the poor.
 Gonzalo and Jenny will be shipping down supplies of inspirational and educational books in Spanish, that they had been able to aquire while they were here.

Gonzalo's brother, who is a doctor, also gives of his time and expertise to the needy  in his country. Here he is giving a free medical check to a handicapped patient.

Activities include a training course for other volunteers called 12 Founation Stones. Here are photos of the graduation of those finishing the course.

"Chocolatito" is the name of a program for deprived children, which often involves the apprearance of a clown!

What Would YOU Have Done?

Londoners volunteering their services cleaning up after the riots

I live in London. Like so many Londoners these days, my mind is often thinking of the recent riots. Now that things have quieted down there is a lot of reflection  going on, questions of "why" and "what can we do to prevent this again", etc. Most of the rioters were youths under the age of 18 and it's a very complex and deep issue.

In this mood, I was on the bus yesterday, in a hurry to get to my appointment.Three young people got on the bus, the first two showing their passes and sitting down and there was quite a discussion going on with the third friend and the bus driver. It turned out that he wanted the driver to let him travel for free. He was 15, he was saying, and entitled to free travel, but he was robbed and had no proof of i.d. or any money to pay for a ticket. His two friends also had no money to lend him.

Was he telling the truth? It sounded unlikely.But who knows? So there I was, going through all sorts of emotions, wanting to help in some way, realizing that the bus  driver had a perfect right to not allow him free travel without proper i.d. The bus was full and I quickly scanned the faces of all the other people, wondering what  they were thinking. They were all the silent majority, keeping a stiff upper lip.

 "What should I do?" I asked myself. "If he is telling the truth, how horrible, that no one believes him and no one wants to help in any way. That is the sort of thing  to really get someone discouraged and perhaps alienate them against adults, or people who might be a bit better well off them then, etc. And if he is scamming, he will probably do it again anyway."

I finally decided to give him £1 and told him that he can ask other people on the bus to chip in, so that he can pay his fare, and we can get on our way.

But he refused my money and said he didn't want my money,he wasn't a beggar and he wasn't poor--he just was robbed and didn't have his i.d. By this time he was pretty  angry with the driver and getting ready to get off the bus.

As he got off the bus, his two friends got up to go with him. But the girl (also about 15 years old), first turned to me, looked deeply into my eyes and said a very  heartfelt: "Fank you!, fank you!"

I still don't know if they were for real or not. But I hope that by my action I helped them realize that humankind can still believe in each other and help those in  need. I wanted to impart to them that there always is hope and to not give up, no matter how hard and unkind the world might be.

I tried my best to make a difference in their young lives.

What do YOU think?

What would YOU have done?

Please share your comments below.

One Day With God

Photo by Norman Sandhous 

     There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with cookies and a six-pack of root beer, and he started his journey. When he had gone a few blocks from home, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park near the water, just staring at some birds.
     The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer, when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him a cookie. The old man gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. His smile was so incredible that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Once again, he smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but
they never said a word. As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was, and he got up to leave. But before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, and ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. The old man gave him his biggest smile ever.
     When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked her son,
      "What did you do today that made you so happy?" The child replied: “I had lunch with God.” But before his mother could respond, he added,
      "You know what? He’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”
      Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and asked,
      “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?”
      He replied,
      “I ate cookies in the park with God.”
      But before his son responded he added,
     “You know, He’s much younger than I expected.”

Author Unknown 

      You too can be God to someone today!

Love from a Child

Drawing by Nico, thanks to Children's Hospital Boston

Don't think that you have to be in an exotic country half way around the world, where the "natives" walk around barefoot in order to help and make a difference. There are so many ways to reach out to others where ever you are.

Although I have lived in third world countries with primitive conditions where I did my best to make a difference,  now I live in England, where I still do my bit to make a difference in the lives that cross my path. It's not impossible!

The other day I volunteered my services as a face painter for the Fun Day party for a charity that I help with. When I arrived I was surprised at how many children were there. The organizers told me that they also were surprised at how many showed up! As soon as I was set up and ready to go, I had a queue of children wanting their faces painted so I got to work.

The event was taking place on a estate in a rough and deprived part of town and I quickly realized that probably most of these kids don't often get the chance to have their faces painted due to economical reasons and it was a real high point for them to get it done. Some of them were a bit "rough" and didn't have the best of manners. But, hey, having raised 5 boys myself, and having a lot of experience taking charge over rowdy boys in the classroom, I was enjoying their spirit and enthusiasm, even if they were shaking the table :"Hey, stop shaking the table--it feels like an earthquake!"

Two brothers who left a mark on my heart came a bit late and wouldn't leave my side, afraid to miss their turn, talking every minute. Have you ever tried to paint someone while a 7 year old is tugging at  your sleeve to get your attention? Finally it was his turn and he then said, "I'll let my brother go before me, since he's younger than me". When his younger brother sat down, the older sibling said to me: "I'll help you by holding his head" and he then proceeded to clamp the head of his brother in a vice like grip. It looked so funny and it actually was a bit difficult to paint the poor little guy that way, who meekly complied. Finally it was his turn and before I knew it, I was packing up and all the kids were gone.

The other organizers were asking me if I was tired as it was none stop, but I could truly say that I wasn't. Truth was, it was an inspiration to me to be able to help in this way. It wasn't only the kids that were happy, but the parents too, many of whom would never normally be able to make their kids happy in this way. My reward was not only the resultant happiness of the children after they were transformed into a butterfly or tiger, but the interaction with them and the reminder of the innocence of children and the simplicity of spirit they possess and the easy way they express love and appreciation. This expression of innocence from them was especially touching for me knowing that many of them faced difficult challenges at home and their life ahead would not be a bed of roses!

 No one handed me a pay envelope at the end of the day, but a little boy with special needs (there were several of them there) handed me an envelope with his scribbles on it, as a token of his appreciation. It was enough.

Help Japan 2011

 I would like to direct your attention to some associates of mine who have a Charity in Japan whose main purpose is disaster relief.

Here is what he says:

"This is Josh DeSantis, from Mt. Rokko, in Kobe, Japan.
I would like to introduce you to our appeal to aid the victims of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake.
I am one of the Chairpersons for a nationally registered NPO, Hiyaku28. One of our objectives as an NPO is aiding in disaster relief. We have opened a new project called: HELP JAPAN 2011
We have set up a website: www.helpjapan2011.net 
Our particular target is to aid in the PTDS (post-Traumatic Distress Syndrome), meaning visiting those who have been left homeless in temporary housing facilities, those who have lost loved ones and those whose livelihood has been affected by this disaster.
The Japanese government is much better prepared to handle the immediate crisis than in the past. The search and rescue operations are ongoing and it seems the National Defense Force and Police and other relief organizations – who are trained for such things – are doing their best at this time
It is the aftermath of the initial crisis that we are focusing on. The Kokoro-no-Care, (literally - Heart Care) that will be needed for the weeks and months after the initial crisis.
We expect that there will be many people who would like to help in some way – either as volunteers, or with a donation to aid volunteers, etc.. We have already begun to receive phone calls and emails from people in Japan and worldwide, asking how they can help.
We would like to ask if you could assist us in broadcasting our website and our program to anyone you know"

Please look at their website and help out in  any way you can!