Laura's Letter, Vol. 2, Issue 6, September 2008

Rwanda
Rwanda was amazing! I don’t even know where to begin to tell you about it, so I am going to put in a few of my journal excerpts and a bunch of photos. Hopefully that will give you a taste of my African experience!
July 16: What a dream to be in Africa! There are the lovely things - the smell, the tropical fruit, the people, the heat - and the not so lovely - politics, scandal, scary food and water. The camp prep is going well. Yesterday I went shopping for supplies and got to watch while the paint was mixed to the exact shade of purple... by hand!
July 18: It is so beautiful here! I am sitting at the bottom of the school buildings looking down into the valley. The hills are so lush and green and go on forever. It is hard to imagine the bloodshed and horror that they have seen.... It is good to have the team here. I really like our team - I am especially thankful for Kellie and Mary - and I am excited about everything... except that everything that we do, the closer we get to the end!
July 24 (excerpt from camp lesson):
Patience: Kwihangana How much patience should we show to others?
“May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other.”
Romans 15:5a
July 19: Today we went to the village where the houses are being built. It was very surreal. It felt very uncomfortable all us white people in a big bus trucking up there like we were on a safari of some sort. One of the most humbling things in the world for me was to have a brick I was carrying taken away from me by a girl, half my size, no shoes, covered in dust and dressed in rags...
July 23: Every time I am in the big group I feel overwhelmed. All these precious kids singing and dancing. My heart almost doesn’t have room for all of it. God, expand my heart... Today the morning went really well. The afternoon felt like I was beating my head against a wall. It was so frustrating! Kids stealing beads - the energy level skyhigh. It’s a crazy feeling to be on the other side of the world and have it feel normal... life is still life. I still get frustrated and kids are still just kids!
July 31: It was good to see the kids again (camp reunion) but sad, because it is the last time. The rematch football game was this evening... intense! There was this little boy, I think his name was Vittoire, and he broke my heart. So thin. His eyes were so cloudy. By himself. All alone, just wanting to be part of the excitement. When I asked his name he kind of smile. And I almost cried. I gave him a fruit bar. I probably wasn’t supposed to (I didn’t have enough for everyone) but how could I not? The look on his face did me in. As he left he grabbed my hand and said goodbye. It is so hard to let go of these kids and leave them at God’s feet... I know one fruit bar won’t make much of a difference. God hold onto him... Tonight Jen and I rode on the motos to the coffee shop. We had a great time! On the way there my moto almost didn’t make it up one of the hills and the driver basically had to walk it up! I love it here - it makes me feel more than I’ve felt before; there is so much pain and yet there is still so much joy.
August 1: Widows - I don’t even have the words... One of them was my age. Raped at 17 and forced to live with her rapist... all with AIDS. I don’t know what to say.
August 5: Last night was amazing. The drumming and dancing was incredible. It really feels like we’ve made friends here. Today was difficult - saying goodbye. Especially saying goodbye to the widows. It is almost incomprehensible to me that some of those ladies may not be around when we come back. God keep them. It has been such a wonderful time in Rwanda. So many amazing people!
I hope I get to come back.


And Now?
I wrote in my last journal entry in Rwanda that I hope I get to go back, and it seems that I might actually get to! I am tentatively planning to go back in the new year to further explore some options that came up for future work there, and the possibility of combining that with my studies at SFU. Your continued prayers are greatly appreciated as I look in to these exciting opportunities.

Laura's Letter, Vol. 2, Issue 5, July 2008

Looking Back
We It has been an AMAZING five and a half years with Greater Vancouver YFC, and I have had so much fun, met so many amazing people (both kids and adults) and learned a LOT. In the fall I will be beginning a new chapter of my life and ending my working role with YFC. I hope to remain connected to Youth Unlimited, as I have created some very meaningful relationships with my coworkers and the kids I work with, and I am still passionately in support of ALL the wonderful work that YFC does.
While I’ll tell you a bit more about what I am moving on to in the fall later (school - which I am SUPER excited about!), I would like to take this space to reflect on some of the most pertinent things that God has taught me, and the meaningful memories that I’ve made in my time with YFC.
Pre-Teens... What can I say? Well, to start, I wasn’t totally overjoyed when I found out I would be working mostly with pre-teens in Langley, but two years later and I LOVE PRE-TEENS!!!!!!
When I began working with the kids at Langley Meadows, I wasn’t sure how to connect with them - they were screechy, hyper, irrational, and you can’t just take them out for coffee like you can older teens!
Over the last 2 years running Art: After School, I have grown to love my energetic pre-teens. Their personalities are just starting to solidify, and they are on the cusp of becoming “their own person.” Working with them provides ample opportunity to give direction as they head towards the huge changes that the teenage years bring.
Whether it’s personality clashes in the group, rebellious spirits, or just learning to cooperate, all of it provides ample learning opportunities. I actually got to the point where I enjoyed the days when there was conflict because it always turned in to such a great teachable moment!
Opportunities to travel have also created very meaningful memories. I have been able to travel to Mexico, Reno (not so far away, but a different culture none the less!), Scotland twice, and now Rwanda. All of these travel experiences have taught me so much. From, to navigating rush hour Tacoma traffic in a 15 passenger van full of teenagers, to leading a group of teens, to learning how to operate, adapt and be flexible in a foreign country - God has used all of these experiences to clarify and direct me in the path that He has for me, as well as build things in to my character that wouldn’t otherwise be there.
God has also used the other staff, volunteers and Lifeteams students to bless my life so much. I cannot even express to you the privilege it has been to work with such amazing people. YFC is a beautiful family of truly incredible people, and I am glad that family ties don’t break as move on to something new. Even though I will not be working for YFC any more, I know that the friendships that I have made will continue and the wonderful people in my YFC family will continue to be blessings in my life.
God is good... and He has truly used my time with YFC to not only mold and shape me in to more of the person He created me to be, but He has also truly and madly blessed me more than I ever imagined He would when I began my time with YFC.
As I move with confidence in to a new phase of my life, it is not without a great deal of sadness that I leave my work with YFC behind. I would like to thank you so much for being a part my experience here at YFC, and I would like to ask you to continue to keep the work of YFC in your thoughts and prayers. The work that is being done by this organization is invaluable. The difference our staff make in the lives of young people is immeasurable. And the support of people like you is irreplaceable.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Baptism
Another of the highlights of my work with YFC has come this year through my role as a mentor to D., one of our Student Leaders in Langley. It has been wonderful to get to know D. and to watch her navigate her way through high school, trying to be a faithful follower of Christ. D. has also been a huge help to me this year at Art: After School, and so when she invited me to her baptism, I was thrilled.
Baptisms are always moving, but even more so when you’ve had the opportunity to walk alongside someone for part of their faith journey.
It was really great to watch D. up there, with her family in the crowd, proclaiming her faith in Jesus. She is an amazing young woman, with a supportive family, and I am excited to see what God has in store for her life.

What’s Next??
Starting September 2nd, I will be a student again! I will be studying International Studies at Simon Fraser University. I love traveling, and desire to work more on an international/cross-cultural level. I have long had an interest in empowering those in situations of powerlessness, and am passionate about helping people be who they were created to be - beautiful, wonderful creations of a loving God. At SFU, I am specializing in International Security and Conflict, and am interested in working to end slavery and human trafficking, as well as in the rehabilitation of those who have been involved in such situations.
Come September (after one more letter with YFC to update everyone on my Rwanda trip!) I will no longer be required to send out updates as a part of my job. Despite this, I have really come to appreciate you as a support team, and I believe there is much value in sharing stories, so I have decided to continue sending out updates twice a year. Please let me know if you would rather not receive these letters, and I will take you off the list.

Laura's Letter, Vol. 2, Issue 4, May 2008

SLAM!!!
We had a really great time in April talking about Changes. August, Charlotte and Jessie came up with a wonderful month of discussions and projects.
“Be the change you want to see in the world,” was the quote that we based much of our discussion on, and became the inspiration for our Poetry Slam.
At Art: After School we like to try and expand the kids’ definition of “art” to include not only painting and drawing, but also other forms of creating such as poetry. Talking about changing the world was a great opportunity to introduce poetry as a form of expression.
We explained to them that often participants in a poetry slam use it as an opportunity to “speak out” against something that they feel strongly about, and emphasized the need to respect other peoples’ ideas. For a bit of fun, we also showed them a bit about rhythm and how drums are used in poetry slams, and that people snap their fingers instead of clapping to show support for a poem that they particularly like.
After giving them time to create their poems, we had a little slam of our own. It was so fun watching the kids perform with the drum, and snap madly after each performance.
I’ve typed out a few of my favourites for you to have a look at. I’ve tried to type them out exactly as they were written so please keep in mind that English is not the first language of many of our kids. And reflecting the multi-culturalism of our group, one boy attempted to incorporate three different languages in his poem!

No more war in the world
Start helping and don’t do bad
Ne fais pas la guerre dans le pays
Il faut aider les gens et ne pas faire les truc mals
Don’t do bad
Don’t do bad
You should help
You should help
너를 감사하십시요
どういたしまして
~Joe

Discrimination
It’s something that destroys our nation
It’s so uncool
It makes me think about it all day in school
~Emma

Bullying is not the way to accomplish anything that they want to say,
When feelings get hurt, it doesn’t get cured in a day.
Be in the other person’s shoe.
See how it feels if it’s you.
~Amy

It’s more common than you think
It’s unfair and uncool
Girls need the same respect as guys
We are both made the same
We are equally important
So let’s treat each other the same.
~Jamie

Rwanda Update
I leave in a little under two months and I am still busy preparing. My fundraising for this trip has gone really well, and I have been very encouraged by all the support I have received. I finished the 10km run that I wrote about last letter, and was so happy to have six other people participating on my behalf.
Along with the fundraising I’ve been doing, I’ve also been to the travel clinic, received all the required shots (OUCH!!), purchased my anti-malarial medication, and started collecting all sorts of travel essentials like hand sanitizer and earplugs.
A small group from our team visited Rwanda in March, and came back with a bit of an updated picture of what we will be doing while we are there. Originally we had been told that we would be running a camp for over 500 kids, but that number has been limited now to 250, a much more manageable number, and the ages have been defined to only those who are 10-14. So now I am busily researching suitable art/craft projects for a group of that size and age.
Please continue to pray for the team and myself as we sort out all the remaining details before we leave in July.

To donate to the Rwanda trip online CLICK HERE.

Open House
We finished up our year at Art: After School with a small Open House for the parents on May 7th. It was a wonderful opportunity for the kids to show off all of the projects we’ve worked on this year. Many parents came out to have a look, and all in all it was a very nice evening of chatting with the kids and their families.
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If you want to help financially with the work in Langley,
please click here.

Laura's Letter, Vol. 2, Issue 3, March 2008

Running to Africa!

Well, not really, but sometimes it feels like it! Most of you probably already know that I am heading to Rwanda this summer as part of a team that is running a kids camp, as well as some community rejuvenation projects on the outskirts of Kigali. And many of you may know that I am participating in a 10km run to raise funds for this trip. But what most of you probably don’t know, is that I really don’t like running.
During high school I stayed fit playing sports and taking dance classes, and in university I went to the gym, but I’ve never been a runner.
It’s not that I don’t like the idea of running. It sounds like a lovely idea - alone, outside, enjoying the quiet - it’s the practicality of it that almost does me in. It’s my knees aching, my lungs burning, and that voice in my head that keeps saying, “This should be fun. You should be better at this.” But I really want to go to Africa, and if getting sponsors and running 10km helps get me there, then that’s what I’ll do!
Running the 10km Spring Warm-Up is a huge challenge for me, as are a lot of the other preparations for the trip to Rwanda. And to be honest, the biggest one looming in front of me right now (scarier that running 10km!) is the fund raising challenge.
There are some pretty serious funding deadlines to be met, and it takes almost all the faith that is in me to trust that because I believe God wants me on this team, He will provide the means for me to go.
I’ve put the list of fund raising deadlines in the highlighted box at the end of this article for you to have a look at. I’d like to ask you to help me in meeting these goals by either supporting me financially, prayerfully, or both.
I am so excited about this trip. In fact, I often have a difficult time sleeping because I’m so excited! I’m grateful to have the privilege of affecting childrens’ lives in Rwanda, and I’m anticipating the effect that their lives will have upon mine.
For more info on the trip to Rwanda, check out elevate-rwanda.com


To donate online CLICK HERE. Make sure you note that your donation is to support me in the comment section at the bottom of the online form.


Setbacks & Opportunities

It’s interesting how God takes things that we see as negative and turns them into positives. For instance, it would be easy to look at all the delays with our new bus as a setback, but I think God had a different idea for this time.
Being bus-less this year, our Friday night team has had the unique opportunity to take on a new role working more closely with the Community Association in Langley Meadows. On a normal Friday night we run a program called Night’s Alive, which includes gym games and a smaller room of quieter activities, but every once in a while we help out with the events that the Community Association has planned. We have set-up, run concessions, taken admission, cleaned up, and done basically whatever needs to be done, including a “science show” put on by our Lifeteams students at last weeks movie night.
One of the best things about these nights is the opportunity to get to know the families of the kids we work with. Working with pre-teens presents many challenges that are different than those involved in working with older teens, including the increased necessity for parental involvment, and these evenings have been instrumental in building trusting relationships with parents and families.
We’ve also been able to build a good reputation in the community as being involved, hard workers. In fact, at the end of the evening last week, a member of the community remarked to Danny about what a hardworking team we had.
These are all things that will be so beneficial for Youth Unlimited in Langley as we continue to work in the community, and opportunities that we may not have had if the bus had been up and running all year... but, we are still very glad that the bus is finally getting close to being on the road for Friday nights again!

Bowl Sale
We had our Bowl Sale to raise money for the Langley Food Bank on February 29th, and raised almost $300, slightly less than last year. This was probably due to the fact that, despite numerous reminders, none of the Art: After School participants came to the sale! They are the ones who really do the selling - no one can resist those little cuties when they look at you and ask, “do you want to buy a bowl I painted?”
We still have some wonderful bowls left, so if you weren’t able to make it to the sale, but would like to purchase a bowl and support the Food Bank, give me a call!
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If you want to help financially with my work in Langley,
please click here.

Laura's Letter, Vol. 2, Issue 2, February 2008

I'm Not Good at Dreaming

The Lifeteams’ students and I put a lot of time and effort into planning projects that stretch kids’ imaginations and expand on our monthly themes, so it can be especially discouraging when week after week, the same student refuses to participate. J is one of our youngest participants at Art: After School, and has shown some really great drawing ability in the past. Unfortunately, when J feels insecure or doesn’t fully understand the project, he resorts to being disruptive, running around the classroom, pestering other students and getting into things that are off-limits. This past month, we have been talking about Dreams. August, Charlotte, and Jessie have done a wonderful job of creating a fun environment for the students to dream for themselves, their families, communities and world, and have incorporated their ideas into a multi-media canvas project. This project requires a lot of creativity from the students, as they first have to come up with a dream, and then must somehow transfer that dream onto a canvas using at least five of the materials we have provided, including paint, thread, fabric, buttons, etc. From the beginning, J had some problems with this project and at the end of our first week had refused to do anything that was asked of him. I took him aside, feeling very frustrated, and told him that he needed to come up with some sort of a dream that he could put on his canvas by next week. He said that he didn’t like the project and didn’t want to do it. I told him it was unacceptable for him to wander around aimlessly while the rest of the group worked on their projects. He was to come up with a project that followed our theme, or not return to art club until the next project began. I hated to give him that kind of an ultimatum, but was frustrated and didn’t know how else to get him to participate. I could tell that he was feeling frustrated too, and I didn’t want him to have to miss art club, so I bent down to speak with him again. “Ok, here’s the deal - I really want you to be able to come to art club, so you and I will brainstorm all week and we will come up with a project for you to do next time.” He nodded and later as he left, I reminded him again, “Make sure you come up with some ideas for next week!” The next week, J approached me looking quite defeated and said, “I don’t have any ideas. I’m not good at dreaming.” His small voice made my heart sink. I had told him that he couldn’t participate if he didn’t have a project, but the whole point of art club is to foster creative thinking, not punish kids for having a difficult time coming up with an idea. So I was determined to come up with a project that would suit him. He had shown some great ability in a still life drawing project before, and often I had found him playing with the Lego (that is off-limits) during project time, so I had an idea that would utilize his drawing ability and his proclivity for construction, while at the same time requiring a bit of dreaming on his part. I cleared a space on the floor and pulled over a box of wooden blocks. “Here’s the idea...” I explained to J that I wanted him to create something out of the blocks and then draw a 3-D image, with shading, of his creation. J busily got to it, and spent his time building a magnificent bridge, even approaching me to help him with some aspects of it. He then took his pencil and paper and drew the whole thing, adding in little details like cars and birds. When he was finished, he presented his drawing to me proudly. “Can I have a canvas for next week to make my bridge on?” He asked eagerly. I said yes, and spent the rest of the day smiling at J’s eagerness. It’s situations like that one, that remind me why I started Art: After School. It’s for kids just like J - to give them the resources and space they need to realize that they do have good ideas, and that they can be “good at dreaming!”

World Changers

This year at Art: After School we have a very multi-cultural group, with students from Mexican and Philippino descent, as well as students from families that have immigrated to Canada from Russia, Cameroon, and Korea. Our club is just a small snapshot of Langley Meadows Community School, and the Langley Meadows Community at large. As the community grows, it is becoming more and more ethnically diverse, and the positive impact that this has had can be seen in the interactions between students at the school and at our club. We have had many globally focused conversations at art club, and it is exciting to hear see some of the students’ global awareness being reflected in their Dream projects. Many of the students dream of traveling all over the world, meeting new people, learning new languages, and seeing the famous sites, but one student’s dream in particular caught my attention. B, a grade five student, would like to be able to dig a tunnel from Canada to North Korea so that he can rescue people from the leader of that country, who he described as a “really really really really really bad man.” Although the tunnel idea may not work out, it’s kids like this, that, with a little direction and encouragement, will be world changers.

Support the Langley Food Bank - Buy a Bowl!!
Art: After School will be having it’s Second Annual Bowl Sale to raise funds for the Langley Food Bank on Friday, February 29th at the Wired Monk in the Municipal Building. Each bowl was hand painted by an Art: After School participant and costs $15. Come join us for lunch between 11:30am and 1:00pm and help us raise money for the Food Bank!
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If you want to help financially with my work in Langley,
please click here.