Peace

Definition #1 from Dictionary.com:  the normal, nonwarring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world.

 

I spoke with Dani Walker, HALO Ambassador to Uganda yesterday.  She said that as a result of the recent bombings, there is still a sense of unrest in Kampala.  Since Uganda is normallly a peaceful place, people feel on edge, security is heightened and lines of people are being searched at public places.  

 

Sounds familiar.  Airports in the U.S. - The security lines, the searching of people and the multiple soldiers getting on planes to fight for peace. They remind me that there is unrest in our nation, that we are still at war.

 

Everything from the state of our nation to our relationships to our immediate surroundings impacts our peace. 

 

Definition #6:  freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquillity; serenity.

 

Peace is freedom.  Freedom of the mind.  Freedom of the soul.  Sounds like a good thing to strive for.

 

  

The beginning of something great

Its funny - when you paint, you find paint in the weirdest of places the next day.  Yesterday we gave HALO Denver Center for Youth a makeover.  HALO rented a house that is undergoing a lot of work in 5 Points, downtown Denver.  I found paint in weird places today...

I dislike painting.  Mainly because I am not good at it.  But I felt charged up yesterday, thinking of how many kids will walk through those doors and feel safe, comforted and ready to learn.  I could almost hear their voices. And I forgot I was painting.

Pictured is Nikki Cady, HALO Denver Director.  She is 100% volunteer and works full-time on HALO.  This Center was her vision last year.  This year it is happening.

Its the beginning of something great.  Volunteers and Interns have started to apply to work at the Center.  The community is starting to buzz about it.  There is an energy in that house already.

To read more about HALO Denver, click here.

Good people

There are a few simple facts about HALO. One is that we rely on good people to improve the lives of children in need. We rely on them every day.

If you haven't looked at our website lately, take a peek: www.haloworldwide.org It is run by our volunteer marketing team, a brilliant group of passionate individuals who find time to give the children of HALO a voice.

We are in the process of reviewing applications for fall internships. The applicants are good people looking for a way to give back while gaining experience.

At any given time in a day there are numerous good people from all walks of life giving their time or resources to HALO. From our full time Ambassadors to our one-time event volunteers to our donors - we rely on every single one of them to make HALO kids like Samson (pictured) have a brighter future.

Put simply, my job is to ask for help. Help with our operations, help overseas, help in donations, help in time... Its a vulnerable position to be in. But each time I ask, if I start to hesitate, I remind myself of the good people who have been helping HALO for years. And if I don't ask, they may not ever get the chance to use their skills for the greater good.

Uncomfortable

I had a lunch with a friend the other day that reminded me of the first time I traveled to a developing country. Our conversation took me back to when volunteered for 6 months in Honduras at the age of 22. I now realize now how lucky I was to have had the opportunity to experience life outside of what was real to me at such a young age.

I recall riding through the streets of Puerto Cortes for the first time, shocked by the tiny family shacks and heaps of trash on the side of the road. I remember the barefoot children sitting on their porches sucking Coca-Cola out of a plastic baggie with a hole bitten in the corner. I recall the smell of my skin after working a blistering day in the sun at a trash dump.

I woke up every day knowing I would be in an uncomfortable situation at some point. We did all sorts of projects from cleaning up the town hospital's yard (full of medical waste nobody should see) to helping the well drilling team explain to locals that using the water pump was a good thing - that allowing a donkey to drag a bucket up the well would contaminate the water (since the rope dragged in his excrement and then back into the water for the people to drink).

I was lucky. My days made me grateful, angry, uncomfortable and they invigorated at the same time. I was emotionally and physically exhausted every night. But I slowly started to realize that being uncomfortable made me feel so alive.

I started to develop a broader emotional spectrum. My happiest happy was stretched to be happier. My saddest sad became much sadder. I started to realize that in order to fully experience life, we need to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations. Its a simple as forcing ourselves to talk to someone in an awkward social situation, confronting a loved one, or it can be as big as taking on a role to make the world a better place.

There are many things about my job that feel uncomfortable, like asking people for funding or drinking 2 month old milk from a gourd because it is considered a delicacy in Kenya. But in order for HALO to reach our potential, these things must be done. Being uncomfortable makes us better people. Once the uncomfortable becomes comfortable we have learned something new.

Our community raising our future

I somehow made my 6:00 a.m. flight from Denver to Kansas City. I don’t know why I feel invincible when I book early flights like that. I think, “4:15 isn’t that early, I am sure people in the Army do it all the time.” News flash – I am not in the Army.

While in Denver I have watched our HALO Center for Youth come alive. With the help of Nikki Cady, Denver Director of HALO (and our new mascot, her son Jaxon - pictured above), we leased a house in the downtown area of Denver called Five Points. It is a troubled part of the city with thousands of at-risk, homeless and foster youth. The center will serve as a safe haven for children in the area, offering art therapy, educational workshops taught by local volunteers and an after-school tutoring program.

This fall I will get to see a team of interns and volunteers serve the children of the community by sharing their life skills. This is the good stuff. Getting to see our communities raise our future - watching kids transform each day and work through issues we are unable to fully understand. The best thing is imagining the number of children and volunteers who will be reached at the center in years to come.

How it happens

This morning I received an email from our orphanage director in Kenya. Stephen wrote "We have a very desperate cases of two boys. They were happily leaving with their parents but unfortunately their mother passed away. Since they were left with their father, things were not very bad even though he was also sick. The father died recently and they were left alone at a place called Meru, very far from Timau. They had heard about their grandmother who is staying at Timau slums area and they came to look for her." He went on to say their grandmother is not fit to care for them and they need a place to stay.

Last year when I was in Timau, Stephen introduced me to the similar case of brothers, Alvin (pictured) and Kevin. They too had lost both parents and were in desperate need of shelter and care. At the time we had 26 boys in the home and having 28 would really stretch us. Then reality sunk in. If we don't take in these boys, nobody will. We made it work. Although it wasn't in our budget to care for them, we said yes.

Now Alvin and Kelvin have 26 other brothers around them, support from their caretakers and doing well in school. Here we are again. Somehow Stephen has made space for 2 more. He asks, "I do deeply feel troubled about their situation. If you would please allow us to take them in as residential orphans, this will not only help them get a new home but also their lives will be out of danger..."

This is how HALO has grown. I know saying yes will mean more work, more commitments from our donors, more mouths to feed. It means we will provide food, water, shelter, clothing, education, art therapy and vocational training until they are able to live on their own. But how can we say no? This is why every dollar counts. With the help of our donors we are able to take children from living in fear of where their next meal will come from to living in a safe haven of support.

I have given in

For the past few years people have advised me to blog. I keep hearing about the importance of Facebook and Twitter. I have finally given in. I signed up for Facebook. And Twitter. I realize it is my purpose to communicate what we are doing as an organization. I have witnessed incredible, improbable outcomes that are a direct result of our supporters' commitments. It would be an injustice if I kept these stories to myself.

I have made this blog part of my goal to intimately share our successes, challenges, stories and goals in hopes of connecting you to our mission of improving the lives of children in need.


Good Morning
Yesterday morning I woke up to a text from our ex-HALO International Ambassador to Uganda, Kristen Vogel. It read, "Did you hear about the bombings in Kampala?" I got out of bed, went to cnn.com and saw that 74 people were killed in a terrorist attack on Kampala during the World Cup. What went through my mind? The children we support. And then I thought of Dani Walker. Our new HALO (Volunteer) International Ambassador arrived 2 days earlier. Welcome to Uganda, Dani. Here's to the start of your 2 year commitment.

Dani's role is to oversee our programs, relationships and finances in Uganda. Once the phone lines were cleared up, I got through to Dani. Her response confirmed the reason she was selected for this job. She was completely calm, practical and had an overall positive outlook on the situation. She informed me that the children in our five supported homes are fine and that our partner organization, Cornerstone, made her feel comfortable and safe.

One integral piece of HALO is our commitment to forming partnerships with organizations that work on the ground successfully in the countries where we have programs. Cornerstone has served the Uganda for 35 years and have an undeniably strong reputation among the community. Our partnership with Cornerstone gives us peace of mind during times of crisis. Their experience and resources gives help us provide the most effective programs to the children we support. Our partnership also allows graduates from their Leadership Academy to serve as mentors in the homes we support.

It gives us the privilege of working with Ugandans who have the personal goal of raising up their own community. Today I feel grateful. Grateful that Dani was the right person for the this very important job. Grateful that Cornerstone is part of the HALO family. I spent the day grateful...and saddened for so many who lost a loved one in the attacks.