Give a Child Life

All of us have moments when we feel the real stir within us.

Late next week, I’ll be heading to Kenya, meeting again with the owner and village elders for the building in Thika. Just handling the trip logistics has been time-consuming and frustrating—all the hotels under $200 a night were fully booked. I had to call every day or so, asking if a vacancy had opened up.

That’s one thing about doing this kind of work—everything takes longer than it does in the U.S. You can’t check the Internet for room availability. You can’t book a room on a web site and pay with a credit card. You can send an email, but it’s rather like speaking to a black hole. Everything has to be personal. It works best if you have someone in Nairobi who can call or stop by the hotel every day, asking if a cancellation has occurred.

We used to do business like that in the States. We would take maybe 20 minutes or so to write a letter, then drop it at the post office and it would arrive a day or two later. Now we dash off a message in seconds, click send and our email arrives in the blink of an eye. Technology has speeded up, not slowed down, our lives. We don’t have more free time; we have less.

What’s ironic is that technology hasn’t changed us. We have the same cognitive limitations we did 400 years ago. Multi-tasking is increasing and most of us are having problems with information overload. Walk down the aisle of a grocery store and count how many different types of cereal exist. Our world is becoming increasingly differentiated and fragmented, primarily because of technology. Yet within us we yearn for wholeness and simplicity.

That’s why giving to others is so important. It takes us back to our core. It reminds of who we are and what really matters. It stirs our compassion and connects us with others. It increases our sense of connection and purpose.

All of us have moments when we feel the real stir within us. Look for those moments. Hold onto them. They make you what you are.

A little something to make you smile :)

Every year the children at the El Zaite preschool in El Salvador put on a cultural demonstration. If you’d like to smile, check out their video on YouTube.

Give a family medical kit or food package for Christmas.

Want to do something really special this Christmas? Give A Child Life is putting together family medical kits and food packages for the young children in El Zaite. It will be a tough holiday this year, with many children suffering from constant hunger. When kids are hungry, they’re more likely to get sick. And their mothers can’t afford even the most basic medicines. Give a child hope. Go to  www.giveachildlife.org (check greatest need) or send your check to Give A Child Life, P.O. Box 554, Silverado, CA 92676. You can make a difference! Thanks.

Family Medical Kits (50 Needed): 

No.	Description	Price
1	Alcohol 250 ml	$1.80
1	Wound disinfectant	$2.00
1	Cotton	$1.50
5	Gauze	$1.00
10	Band-aids	$0.50
1	Bottle of liquid tylenol	$2.50
30	Acetaminofen tables	$1.00
30	Flu tablets	$1.00
30	Anti-inflammatory tablets	$1.50
1	Anti-diarrhea bottle	$2.00
1	Bag for kit	$2.00
	Total	$16.80

Family Food Kits: 

Count	Description	Price
5 pounds	RICE	$2.50
5 pounds	SUGAR	$2.25
5 pounds	BEANS	$4.00
1 bag	OIL	$1.50
1 bar	EXTRA SOAP	$1.75
	Total	$12.00

Because he cared about the children.

Great weekend at the Silverado County Fair. The group of friends who organized Give A Child Life’s booth and made items to sell set up Friday afternoon. Early Saturday morning, I was at the volunteer fire station, climbing into the back of a 1973 Cougar to be the Grand Marshall of Silverado’s annual Unparade. It ended at the Community Center and the fair began.

Over the two days, I talked to several dozen people about Give A Child Life.  The most poignant moment for me was Sunday afternoon. I was sitting in the back of the booth, trying to stay warm in a piercingly cold wind. I saw a man in a sweatshirt walk past the booth and pause. He looked thoughtfully at the picture of a hungry baby. Then he reached into this pocket and dropped a few dollars in the donation canister. He didn’t even glance my way.

Because he cared—and because you care---little children in El Salvador will have a much better Christmas this year.

Silverado County Fair ~ this weekend!

Big weekend coming up. It’s the Silverado County Fair, the event that launched Give A Child Life last year. A two day event, the Fair features country music bands, artists, children’s games and lots of food. A group of friends once again is setting up part of a booth on our behalf. A big attraction will be artwork by children at the center in El Salvador. We’ll also have handmade totes, African necklaces, greeting cards and FREE COOKIES. Last year we raised around $700. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by. The fair is at the Silverado Community Center, 27641 Silverado Canyon Road, in Silverado, CA, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. until dusk on Sunday.

All of us are much better than we think we are.

I’m not the type most people would think as fearful. I’ve flown halfway around the world in planes practically kept together with baling wire. I’ve walked through starving masses begging for food. I’ve traveled alone all over the world at all hours of the day and night. But in the past few weeks, I’ve come to realize the power of fear. Even in me. A silent, spreading poison, fear makes us believe that we will lose something if we don’t act quickly. It tells us that a small lump could be cancer or a cold will turn into pneumonia. Fear makes us watch our words, because if we say the wrong thing or use the wrong tone, another’s feelings may be bruised. Fear shapes everything from our offhand remarks to our deepest, most hidden thoughts on the nature of life and death.

I can’t even begin to imagine the great fear that a child living in desperate poverty feels.

Now imagine…what if you stopped living in fear? What if you no longer worried that your money would run out? Or that you would get sick? What if you truly believed that people liked you—really liked you---just for who you are?  What would you do differently? How would you behave? Would you be a better person or not?

Sometimes it’s good to lift our eyes off our day-to-day experiences and reflect on who we are and why we do what we do. My personal belief is that at the bottom, all of us are much better than we think we are. We all can love and be loved. We all can share and have others share with us. And we all can reach out with compassion to one small, hurting child and make a difference.

The new web site for Give A Child Life has launched!

The big day has finally arrived. After months of work, the new web site for Give A Child Life has launched. Check it out at www.giveachildlife.org. Don’t hesitate to send in your feedback—we want to hear from you. The whole purpose of the site is to keep up relationships with the GCL Family—and that includes you!

 

So much work went into this---from Alex and Laura Bennett doing the design work and visualizations to Bethany Nicoson going over every small detail to myself writing and re-writing the text. By the time we finished, I felt as if we had completed a book. And it’s not over…the beauty of the web is that constant revisions are easy. And there will be revisions---because we want this site to work for each of you.

 

Look it over…think about it…and get back to us. Now that the Web site is up, we can re-focus our attention and concentrate on developing programs to help the most vulnerable kids in the world. Thanks for caring!

Creating a better world.

Reading the paper last night, I saw that police in El Salvador had arrested Mara 18 gang members in the Brisas del Norte neighborhood in Zaragoza. Responding to the brutal killing of Franco-Spanish journalist Christian Poveda last Wednesday, they rounded up more than 30 gang members across the country. 

Every time I visit El Zaite, the child care center that we support, I stop in Zaragoza. The nearest town to the center, it’s where I meet with the doctor who treats our children. It’s where I visit the women’s cooperative that governs the center. It’s where I pick up and drop off local community workers.  Two trips ago, when I asked the staff to set up visits to children’s homes, they carefully avoided the gang-infested area. But I met children under five who daily walk through the danger zone.  

It’s hard to live in a world filled with violence. It’s even harder for a small child. Fear, anger, suffering…they create a toxic blend that washes over a child’s mind and can damage a child for life. The toxins can take away a child’s ability to control impulses; they can provoke violence, and they can make it hard to form attachments. Creating a better world begins with helping small children. And that’s what Give A Child Life is all about. 

Each of us can do something to help.

This morning when I went on my daily three mile hike through the wilderness surrounding my home, I looked behind me. I wanted to see what mark my shoes left in the loose dirt. Next to a sole patterned with diamond shapes, mine had curving, flowing lines….but only at the heel. Apparently my tread pressed deeply on the heel, while my toes touched only lightly on the ground.

Staring at the mark, I reflected that all of us wonder about the footprints we leave behind. Yet what matters most is not the set of prints. After all, the winds will blow, the dust will stir, the rain will fall and other footprints will step in the same path—rather it is the act of making the prints that matters. It is the moment when the heel presses down, the toes lift, and the soles connect to the most solid of surfaces, the Earth.

We have nothing but the present.  Let us dedicate the present moment to caring for ourselves and for others. Let us remember that right now, millions of little boys and girls are suffering and hungry. But each of us can do something to help.

To have an open, not a closed, heart.

On my morning walk today, I reflected on the importance of gratitude. Eighteen years ago, I was sitting at a table in a Stanford cafeteria, getting to know my colleagues. All of us had just started in the Ph.D. program in the communication department. The university not only covered our tuition, it also provided monthly living stipends in exchange for doing research or teaching.  With incredible unanimity, we felt a profound sense of gratitude. Each of us knew well our individual failings…each of us knew that we were not better or even smarter than others…but somehow this wonderful abundance had fallen upon us.  

It feels good to live with a sense of gratitude. To be thankful, not bitter, for what we have. To look at what surrounds us, not what eludes us.  To have an open, not a closed, heart.

I felt gratitude today when I looked at the pictures below. Carlos, our director in El Salvador, sent me pictures of children reading the books GCL provided.  I feel so grateful that I, with the support of friends like you, am able to help open a new world for these children. Feel good when you look at the pictures. Your compassion is making a difference.