Give Sincere Encouragement

I am a firm believer that when you give people sincere encouragement it can help them blossom into a confident person.

I live in an apartment building. There is a family with several young children who live in the same building. I can’t remember when I last heard such loud children! Whether they are on their way to school or coming home from school, running up or down the stairs, they are constantly shouting to each other. Everything seems like a crisis or a miracle. Whatever happens, they get very excited and shout about it. They do the same when they are out in the garden playing, which is below my windows. I don’t exactly get irritated by the sound but I marvel at how loud and excitable they can constantly be!

Occasionally I enjoy watching them play for a few moments. I had to chuckle when I saw them knock down the sign that was in the middle of the grass. It read: "NO BALL PLAYING". They conscientiously stood the sign up and put it back it it's place. Then they continued with their ball game.

One sunny afternoon I was startled by very loud banging on my front door. It sounded like an emergency and I was wondering why they weren’t using the bell. Upon opening the door I saw the boy from upstairs. “You left your mailbox open!” He shouted. Inside the front entrance to the building we have mailboxes on the wall for each apartment which is kept locked with a key. Apparently I didn’t close mine correctly after I checked it so the mailbox door was left open. I thought that was a very considerate thing to tell me and I felt like rewarding him in some way. I didn’t think a monetary reward was appropriate so instead I emphatically said to him: “Thank you VERY much! You are a VERY GOOD boy!”

He beamed at me and ran downstairs. I suppose he was still trying to help as he repeatedly started slamming the door to my box closed before I could get down there to lock it. I had to shout down to him to leave it alone before he breaks it.

MY reward came the next day when he was out in the garden playing with his friend. I wasn’t listening to what they were shouting to each other, but one thing I heard loud and clear. The boy who had come to my door the previous day told his friend: ” I am a VERY GOOD boy!”

I really don’t think he hears that phrase too often but he actually is a sweet kid–just a little wild and loud.

When we are sure to praise people for the good they do, no matter how small, instead of only pointing out the mistakes, it helps them to try harder to keep doing good. This works just as well with adults as it does children!

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Meanwhile, I hope you are receiving inspiration and getting ideas of how you too can make a difference to those you come in contact with in your part of the globe!

Making a Difference During London 2012

London is ELECTRIC with Olympic activity. The mood is optimistic & supportive. The worries that we heard before the Opening Ceremony such as transportation chaos, bad weather and even terrorist attacks is all fading into the background as Team GB breaks records and glories in it's accomplishments.

Along with some friends, I wanted to use this time to try to "Make a Difference" in people's lives. We decided to get special T-shirts printed with the cover illustration of an inspirational poster. The picture shows a large heart with a globe in the middle and people from all countries holding hands around it. On the back we had printed the title: "What Everybody Needs is Love". You can download this inspiring illustration here. And an inspirational message to go with it here.

We also had short inspirational leaflets printed entitled: Play to Win. (download here).

We then ventured out to places in London with a large population of sports fans engaging with the visitors and passing out the leaflets.

So far it has been great fun and we have gotten a good reception. Often people would come up to us, requesting a leaflet.

I happened to meet  former Harlem Globetrotter Andre Bryant, who said he loved my T-shirt and wanted one like it! He took a leaflet and a few more for his friends.

We have our contact information on the leaflets so if anyone wants to find out more and get back in touch with us they can.

We are not done yet, so if you are out in London during the Olympics, maybe you will see us!

Here I am with former Globetrotter Andre Bryant.

Points to Ponder

True Values

Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men.

        -Albert Einstein

Mahatma Gandhi identified the seven sins in the world as wealth without work, pleasure before conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle.

We must understand spiritual truths and apply them to our modern life. We must draw strength from the
almost forgotten virtues of simplicity, humility, contemplation, and prayer. It requires a dedication beyond science, beyond self, but the rewards are great and it is our only hope.
                                                           -Charles Lindbergh

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

                      -Pearl S. Buck

Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have that you wouldn’t sell for money.
         -Author unknown

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
                  -Martin Luther King Jr.

Life in time remains without meaning if it does not find its meaning in eternity.
     -Nicolas Berdyaew


The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.
                                                                              -William James

Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what
we give.
             -Norman MacEwan


If life be short, then moderate your worldly cares and projects; do not cumber yourselves with too much
provision for a short voyage.
                                                         -Author unknown

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within
the heart.
                   -Helen Keller

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.
                                                                         -Albert Schweitzer

March News from Ecuador

Excerpts of End of March 2012 News from Gonzalo and Jenny in Ecuador:

Old Part of the City of Cuenca

We were able to go on two trips to two cities. Cuenca is the 3rd largest city and a 10 to 11 hour bus ride through the mountains is required to reach it.  Here we were able to do personal visitation to various families we have been visiting. We revisited a school who use our Christian educational materials and another school whose order of nuns have dedicated themselves to help educated children from marginised areas. They have asked us to consider helping to give various workshops to the parents about the parenting role later this year.

Inspirational Reading with Gonzalo

In Ibarra, a city nearer to Quito where we live, our Hotel hostess, has asked us to consider giving talks to a group of ladies.

In Quito I,Jenny gave a workshop called POSITIVE PROGRAMING. This was in an educational institution run by the government and the event was for a group of 16 daycare and preschool teachers, all women except for one.

We noticed that their faces were radiant and there was a new energy in the group as they departed. They had arrived rather restless being the last hour of their long working day and having just sat through a work meeting which ran overtime! They have asked for more talks!!
                      
Thanks to all who  contribute towards our support here. As well as some donations covering our part of our trips, at last, we are able to start on our household list of needs and begin by investing in a  second hand fridge and get foam  and material to make cushions for some chairs and sofa!!

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".

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.

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.