She’s a back to school “Miracle”
As I drove to work this morning, I saw a school bus full of kids heading back to school. It reminded me of a little girl I had visited in Malawi, whose name was changed from ‘Lonely’ to ‘Miracle’. It was a miracle she was alive, let alone able to go to school. Let me explain. One morning, ‘Lonely’s’...
Read moreI Want a Hug
A cbm Canada program officer recently returned from Tanzania. She reported that a recent addition to therapy for non-verbal children was a ‘communications board’. Along with the care-giver, community worker who knows the child, a communications “need list” is designed. These include a picture of food, toilet, and other every day needs. Each board is designed, however, with...
Read moreToiling on a Foundation
Guest Blogger – Brian Hatchell, Partnership Development Officer at cbm Canada I recently returned from a trip to Fiche, Ethiopia where – alongside a number of cbm Canada donors and local residents – I spent 7 days lifting, carrying and dumping dirt, rocks and boulders in order to help lay a foundation for 4 new homes that will be...
Read moreGod really did create us for relationship
Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada Guest Blogger Monday, March 26, 2012 The penultimate build day, hard to believe it’s coming to an end. After taking Sunday off to go to church and relax for a day, it was back to the build site today.
Read moreWe knew the pain was the result of hard work, hard work on behalf of someone who needs assistance
Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada Guest Blogger Nothing makes you feel as sore as manual labour, especially if you are used to working at a desk all day. Today was our first day on the build site, and I don’t think very many of us, including myself, had any idea how hard it is to build a house from the...
Read morecbm and Habitat Canada team up to build accessible housing for people living with a disability.
Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada Guest Blogger Flew from Lilongwe, Malawi on Friday to Durban, South Africa today via Johannesburg. I am now switching gears in the heart of southern Africa. I am going from visiting cbm funded work in Swaziland and Malawi to participating on a joint cbm Canada/Habitat Canada build in Kwa Zulu Natal.
Read moreToday, I learned the true value of volunteers.
Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada Guest Blogger I learned the true value of volunteers today. Not that I ever thought it wasn’t valuable before, but today it took on a much deeper meaning for me. We headed to the bush to see an eye-screening clinic. And when I say we drove into the bush, I mean we drove into the...
Read moreAisha, 22-years-old drags her right leg as she runs.
Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada Guest Blogger We flew from Manzini, Swaziland to Lilongwe, Malawi today and met up with Stefan Dofel, cbm’s Country Coordinator for Malawi. We hopped in a couple vehicles and drove east from Lilongwe – the capital of Malawi – to the town of Salima on the coast of Lake Malawi.
Read moreThe heroes of almost every story I see in Africa are the mothers or grandmothers
We had another great day visiting another CBR program about 100 km outside of Addis. After a briefing on the scope of their work our group divided up to visit some homes. I want to give just one story of one of the clients we visited. We visited one home where we had to walk through the mud to...
Read moreGreetings from Ethiopia
We had a good day. We drove out about 130 km to one of the CBR programs in the network. It was a very impressive program. They began by giving us a report on the program, and went through the CBR matrix (community-based rehabilitation) and showed in each category (health, education, livelihood, social, empowerment) their targets and achievements. I...
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