Recent Service & Adventure Expeditions
November – December 2024
Four of us recently had the good fortune to visit Mother Miracle School in Rishikesh, where we have sponsored children in the past, and currently have a second-grade girl who we support. The school enrolls poor children with academic promise and pairs them with sponsors who can pay for their tuition.
We dropped in on an upper-level computer class, heard the kindergartners sing, spoke with the chess club teacher, saw the students’ science projects on display, and peaked in as the younger children sat silently in rows on the floor before eating in the lunchroom. By the end of our tour, we were amazed by the highly academic school that clearly has a lot of heart.
After leading an English lesson for our sponsored girl’s classroom, we accompanied her home to meet and talk with her family. It took some encouragement, but we finally got an answer to what we could give her as a gift: she wanted a bicycle. What a wonderful present!
Over the next couple days and with the help of graduates from the school who are now studying in college, we purchased the bicycle as well as basic food supplies for several needy families in the school. A highlight for us was buzzing around town on the back of scooters, dodging cows, pedestrians, and other vehicles as we delivered the food to the families.
When our crew visited the ancient city and spiritual capital of Varanasi a week later, we bought warm blankets and several dozen meals in take-out boxes that we handed out to the sadhus (religious ascetics) who congregate on the famous riverfront steps on the banks of the Ganges River. The setting is unique, and made for a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us.
The mother of one of the girls we sponsor makes her living from a lemonade stand on the banks of the Ganges. We helped her daughters design and order two beautiful “Squeeze the Day!” signs to hang on the sides of her stand. Hopefully this will help increase her income!
Las Niñas del Pastor – Guanajuato, Mexico
In November of 2024, several of us spent a couple of weeks in the colorful, vibrant university town of Guanajuato, in the mountains of Central Mexico. A small city popular with Mexican tourists, Guanajuato offers concerts, good food, street performances, and strolling bands of student troubadours who lead mostly Mexican vacationers in song through the town until late into the night. On previous visits, we had discovered a Carmelite convent that serves as a weekday home for thirty-plus schoolgirls—daughters of single mothers who are struggling to raise them alone—as well as a separate shelter for women victims of domestic violence called Las Niñas del Pastor.
We revisited the convent and met with Sister Ana Lilia Salazar, who let us know the several needs of the girls and how we could help. She gave us the shoe sizes for each of the girls and a list of specific needs for school lunches. We spent part of a day walking around the city and scouting out where we could find the best deals on shoes. The next day we had a productive shoe shopping adventure, finding great shoes in the sizes we were looking for. The outing was the source of many interesting learning opportunities for us… seeing how we could have worked together better and recognizing some clear misses in our communication skills. After more shopping at a large grocery store and a variety store for hair accessories and soccer balls, we came home and organized all the shoes by name and size, laying them out on our living room floor.
Later that afternoon, we had a delightful time distributing soccer balls, toiletries, food for the school lunches, and new tennis shoes to all the girls. One of the younger girls, Lupita, bravely got up and spoke some words of thanks on behalf of all of them. Once we brought out the balls, the natural simplicity of saying, “Let’s play!” allowed for cultural and language barriers to drop. They divided us all up into teams, with Johor being last to be chosen for the team named “El Muchacho.” We had a blast kicking around the balls together, humbled by their athletic skills and team-playing capabilities, and joking around playing word-guessing games while practicing our Spanish and English with each other. This relatively brief part of our time in Guanajuato was a highlight for us all, and we got the opportunity to step out of the role of tourist and be part of the lives of some locals in a rich and rewarding way.
October 2024
Sacramento Homeless Assistance
During Record-breaking Heat
~ by Mopani
When I travel to the Sacramento area (1.5 hours drive away), the number of homeless people I see is overwhelming and, frankly, confronting to me.
During a particularly hot spell this past July (days and days of 108+ degrees), a friend read in the Sacramento paper that the city was ceasing water delivery to the homeless camps. They suggested this could be an opportunity to deliver water to the camps and other essentials to some folks.
We did some quick calculations and determined that we could take 60 one—gallon bottles of water, PB&J sandwiches, string cheese, hard candies, wash clothes, and ice cubes in Ziplocks per trip.
We took three trips during this heat wave. Writing this some months later, I still feel the impact of seeing how some of our population lives. They each have a story. Thinking of the people living by themselves, some with absolutely nothing—not even shoes, breaks my heart again as I remember them. What we did offered a tiny drop in a big bucket; we offered people temporary relief from their ongoing struggles. I am grateful for what I received— feeling softer, with a little more compassion for my fellow humans. I am reminded of what Justin said in an interview on this subject… something like, “It doesn’t take much. Buy a footlong sandwich and give half away.”
We would also see individuals on our drives, so we’d pull over and offer them something. We asked one of these guys, “Do you want a sandwich?” He replied, “A sandwich is great for now…but I’m trying to figure out what to do with my life.”
Of course, the need is so great that one can only wish to do more. On our last trip, three of us found a large homeless camp alongside the freeway on a dusty trail, with camps on each side. We walked several trips carrying gallons of water and supplies farther and farther, trying to get some to everyone. We found it somewhat surprising that the people didn’t pay much attention to us. They got the goods and went on about whatever they were doing (often, this was watching out for each other—making sure so-and-so got some of what we had).
These trips were very impactful for me. I saw how little people had and how grateful everyone was. A woman who saw us while driving by with her daughter stopped to say she was thankful and inspired and had often wished to do something similar.
Sacramento Ukrainian Family
~ by Renée
Recently, a friend with a house for rent received an inquiry from two Ukrainian couples who had just fled the war in their country. Having newly arrived in the U.S., they were looking for housing in the Sacramento area. When they did find an apartment that fit their multi-family needs, we offered to help them furnish it.
We were fortunate to know a Ukrainian man in our area, and when we reached out to him, he graciously agreed to act as translator in a conference call to discuss their needs. In short, they had found an unfurnished two-bedroom apartment and were sleeping on air mattresses.
Tish and I met in town the next day at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and bought two full dressers and a nightstand. Next, we found some kitchen stuff and a lamp at Goodwill. That night, we told multiple friends about the Ukrainian families and soon located a futon with frame and mattress recently marked for give away. Someone else offered all the excess kitchen stuff they had been accumulating in their house over the years. I had an extra box spring and frame in storage from my folks’ house.
It went on like that over the next two days. By the time of our scheduled delivery, we had a truck, a driver, and a fully-packed trailer with furniture, lamps, bedding, and everything needed to stock kitchen cabinets. An enthusiastic crew of five friends served as delivery people—including our Ukrainian translator who wanted to be part of it all.
I think it’s interesting to see how eagerly all the players in this story jumped at the opportunity to participate.Everyone who translated, donated goods, or packed and unpacked furniture felt good doing it.
Spending a little time and energy doing something for someone other than our ourselves can be a welcome relief from self-consumption!
After all the goods were brought into the couples’ new apartment, we gathered around the kitchen table, sitting on the chairs we had just carried in, and one of the young Ukrainian women served us bowls of delicious, home-made borscht! The simplicity of eating food together felt warm and sweet. When I later hugged these women goodbye, I felt a gush of well-wishing for them all, perhaps amplified by the knowledge of the horror that they had so recently managed to escape.
Driving away with the gladness of knowing we had helped to ease another’s burden, we had a rich discussion about how the unique circumstances had allowed us to feel our shared humanity and lend a hand to people we had never met and knew almost nothing about. As said in the song our friend Dillon wrote, “It Shouldn’t Take a Hurricane.” Listen to Dillon’s song here.
Near the Border: Helping Ukrainian Families in Romania
~ by Erin
Hiking Romania’s gorgeous Via Transilvanica trail through the countryside to Suceava, four of us wandered with nothing more demanding than putting one foot in front of the other. On bumpy dirt roads we passed horses and carts loaded with goods, then larger gasoline-powered transports as we neared the city.
Upon arrival in Suceava, we would shift gears and change our focus.
Our service work began at an orphanage that had been transported—with all the 35 kids and the staff—from Odessa, Ukraine when the war began. After an orientation meeting with the Fight For Freedom director, we played in the yard with the young children, most of whom had some degree of developmental disability or emotional difficulty. The kids reached out for our touch and our attention, sometimes comforted, sometimes frustrated, clearly in so much need of more caring and loving kindness than the spread-thin female staff (called “the mothers”) could reliably deliver.
One day one of “the mothers” (in her mid-fifties like myself) and I played basketball with the children, passing the ball, dribbling, and shooting alongside the kids. Seeing the staff relaxing a bit, having more fun, and including them in the game, I imagined the kids got a taste of teamwork they’d never had before.
Justin asked multiple questions about my prior experience with children and questioned my confidence and certainty about what was best for these kids. It was an eye opener to wonder, for example, What if my perspectives were appropriate in some context, but did not fit here?
Over the next period of time, we wondered about and discussed the potential benefits and downsides of our interactions the kids as well as the staff. While the kids may be lifted by our attention and affection, might they ultimately be even more disappointed by its loss? Might not the staff, whose load was temporarily lessened why our support, feel all the more weight when faced with disappointed children upon our departure? Could we actually “make a difference” in the span of two weeks? Could we even, at least, “do no harm”?
I had lots of opinions about how to interact with these kids, many with unique disabilities. For example, I wondered if maybe our gestures might be the only time in their life that a particular child would receive a certain kind of respect.
Along with donations of art supplies and a lot of diapers to the orphanage, we met with ten Ukrainian families whom we were able to deliver needed items to. Parts of our days were spent accumulating and organizing large stores of flour, sugar, eggs, cooking oil, potatoes, and specific items the families requested, ranging from .07 pencil lead for school to type 2 Diabetes medication.
We all got to enjoy the look of surprise and pleasure on the faces of the people who received something from us that they had asked for, or something that was unexpected.
A small boy and girl in one large family burst into laughter when we pulled out toys and art supplies for them.
These smiles and laughter got into my heart a little more than they might have otherwise, because of the work we’ve done together to slow down and learn to sometimes place “process” over “product.” That is a treasure.
For other service work project stories go to ccns-inc.org