Journal entry IV, Tuesday

Same as usual

REALLY sorry I'm late and all, just been REALLY busy...

"
16/08/11

Привет (Privyet(Hi))!

Today was nice! I am getting used to the food here and the cooks know I like to eat. I talked to АИЯ (Anya) today about eating ~habits, specifics removed~ and we hung out a bit. We are friends now :D.
The second day of VBS was fun! the games went well and I feel that Michelle and I understand the groups likes and dislikes. After the sessions, some of the kids kept asking me to go with them here and there. It's difficult to be in two places at once, but it's nice to be apreciated. I received three crafts as presents; one from  Аиgрей ~Аидрей~ (Andryeye ~Andryey~), one from ДАВiД ~ДАВИД~ (David), and one from АНН (pronounced Anya).
I went on a walk with the younger daughter of the cook, 14, with her friend, 14, and АНЯ, 19, we were joined by a few others as we went to the river - речкА ~ryechka~ -. we also had a walk as half the team went to colour the side walks in chalk at the school where some kids were. then it rained. Helper Sergey showed me a video, but not before Michelle taunted me to take a shower under the runoff of the roof, so I was wet. ~just to be clear, clothes on sort of shower~ The yougn boys imitated me. I have to watch what I do. Marina was running and hurt her knee and foot (scrapes) and we went back.

That sums it up, СПАСИБА (Spaciba(thank you)) for listening.

--Scott Scott Simpson ~second part signed~
"

once again, sorry for the delay, and I realize now how much I really had learnt how quickly in Russian...

Journal entry III, Monday

Same again: My opinions, text unchanged, errors left, ~these are the only modifications, to add info usually~

"
15/08/11
Hey Syaoran!

Today I feel great! the first day of camp went really well. We also had blackberries and watermelon at super and a wonderful drink at lunch. I had two glasses of tea and lots of cookies. We had borsht ~borscht~ for super.
I do, however, notice that it is hot, my nose is running and the flies in the morning are annoying. I also saw that Canada is very materialistic; we want to look good, not be good.
There was another rainstorm, praise God. The rain sure helps the weather and temperature.
Hoping to make piñatas. Lending MP3 to "John" for drama.
North American music is popular here.
Still not missing people really. ~ referring to home, not missing family or friends or anyone yet~
I thought singing at the super table was really nice, in two languages and the popcorn prayer in different languages was really cool too.
Saw some of the kids on a walk and raced one; he on his bike, I on foot... I did well, but not well enough.

That about sums it up. I'm tired, going to bed.

-Scott

Scott Simpson ~once again supposed to be in cursive hand writing~
"

There we go.

Journal entry II, Sunday

This one had a few more errors, as you will easily notice, unfortunately... same rules ~inserted text to add info, or clarify or something~

"
14/08/11
Hey Syao-kun!

This morning, I learnt how to read russian. I forgot to mention that thereare no washroom facilities here in the place where the serguys and the netherlanders and I are staying; only a squatting out-house and a small tap outside. Because of this, we wash at the dinning house, which is where the rest of the Canadians are staying. There is flush toilets and shower and tub and television. The same for two of the Hope House translaters. I'm not sure if it is Korina ~Karina~ or Lyena ~spelt Lena; I was staying strict to the letter translation~ who is with Añya ~how it sounded~ (Anya), Maria (Masha)'s sister.
We had a nice breakfast and then went to church.half the congregation presented something; song, poem, story, etc... it was nice. And the older ladies harmonies are very nice; I recorded some of it.
I pet the puppy some more today, and saw the facilities for the VBS; not bad at all, although not superclean. We met some of the kids and practiced some games / actions for the songs.
We had a meeting and set up a bit.
I got to talk to the interpreters.

-Scott

thanks Syaoran

Scott Simpson ~this blog lacks a signature like font~
"

Journal entry I, Saturday

Before I start, this is the unmodified version (letter for letter, errors included), aside from that which is specified in ~this, added information, such as removed parts in this post~. Also, this is, if it isn't obvious enough, MY point of view, at the date WRITTEN, not posted.

"
13/08/2011

Hi Syaoran! ~My journal has a name, so what?~

It's been a long time! ...~catching up on two years~...

I am mostly caught up. Now let me tell you about recently.

I'm in the Ukraine! I'm on a missions trip.
The reason I am here: I was touched by stories of child abuse and sex slaves. The Ukraine is a hotspot, so when I heard there was a team headed out here, I thought I'd go to the meetings... I didn't actually think I'd be here... I just thought I'd go to the meetings until I was told I couldn't go... but here I am! Over one year of planning, the team went from over 22 people 6 people... from Canada.

So what we are actually here for is to host a VBS, a vacation bible school. The four stations are music, crafts, sports and bible stories. The idea is to teach the children about God and keep them off the streets. There should be about 80-100 children by the end of the week. the camp will be in Stepanovka. We will stay there (here) until the camp is over then go back to Hope House in Odessa before going home.

So, what has happened so far? well, we traveled from Ottawa to Montreal, to Munic ~Munich~, to Kiev (Kyiv), to Odessa. From my residence to Hope House took 25 1/2 hours. In germany, I lost 100$ american, which is smaller than Canadian now, due to lack of attention on my part in the handing cash and returning change. ~see earlier post: Money Misfortune~ I have also spent too much on souvenirs (yesterday), but got great bargains. The team from canada consists of Terry watson, Mark and Michelle Bezanson, Colleen Taylor, Marina Mcewen, and myself. There are also 3 interpretters from hope house, one whom is getting married on the 24th of september, 2 Holish people, names (?), and two Serguys (one being the fiancé). Everyone has had a safe, God blessed trip.

Fun stuff. steps of stairs 192-293 = dispute (half step at the bottom. Touched an eagle; it bit my, but not hard and only because I provoked it ~trying to pet it... I had permission!~. I saw the Mother-in-law bridge where newly weds put locks as symbles of undying love. I am billited out with the Serguys and the two hollish men. It's nice. Borsht is okay, as is most of the food here. It has only been about 50hrs since arrival. I now have a notebook (laptop).

~this information might have been incorrect, but I'll transcribe it anyways~
There are 22 girls at Hope House and Lina and Carrie ~Kerry~ and Carole.
First step is doing well also, but they cannot renovate; they tried twice and finished and both buildings were taken by the government. They are currently on their 3rd building.

Okay, I G2G to bed.

It's like midnight and there is Church in the morning.

Goodnight Syaoran.

-Scott
"

So, they aren't ALL this long, but that was my first journal entry. Please read as an insight into my point of view, and not as concrete fact.

--Scott

Older kids (more like young men)

Back to inventing topics off the top of my head.

Well, on what I recall to be a Thursday -- Yeah, Thursday -- Anya and I went to the park, and I think Mark and Michelle were to meat us there shortly afterwards, (probably after a shower or something.). Anya and I had just finished a little run (little for her, little killer on me; the girl has some serious stamina!) and we sat down on the steps, the same place where I had my rain shower and Marina hurt herself. We talked briefly, and eventually, a few older boys came along, perhaps early twenties. They asked me questions, through Anya, as to why I was there, weather I did drugs, slept around, smoked or any of that. When Anya finished telling them I had not done any of these, the one who had asked seemed surprised, and his answer to that was something along the lines of: "how can you live like that?". I had Anya tell him that it was in Christ that I felt fulfilled and did not need any of these. I was still tired and overheating from my run with Anya, but we talked a bit, some kids arrived and somehow, it got around to my being asked to race them on their motorcycles (or motorscooters, not sure which it would be). I declined, but shortly afterwards, the younger boys on their pedal bikes said they'd race me on that. I won the race, and the boys were fairly impressed. later that day, the one who had done most of the talking, the one who had asked me how I can live this way, came over when M&M had arrived. He parked there and kind of watched for a bit. Seeing as Mark and a few kids and I were playing Frisbee, I did a tentative swing to show him I was going to toss it, he shook no but shortly after, I did toss it to him, and he caught it and returned it. Put his phone down and stayed there a bit, a few more passes and he was playing with us almost as enthusiastically as the 12 year-olds. It was cool, for sure. It looked as though he were trying to hid a smile at some points, and that was rewarding. We invited him to the camp tomorrow, but he didn't show up. But I do believe we have a slight bond between us, a young man who talked to a mid-teen out-lander. 

Well, hope that was interesting. Not sure I told anyone this story...

PS: I'm thinking of posting my Journal entries on here... Just wondering on if you are interested. if so, please leave a comment, or e-mail me at: scott.simpson.scythers@gmail.com and put Uky as subject (so I don't mix it up with my Ukraine team mail) and let me know if you would like me to post your comment for you, as I hear many are having difficulties posting comments...

--Scott

Going back? Why is that important?

Well, some people might say, okay, the kids know they are loved by God and by others, mission accomplished. Why go back?

If you are thinking this way, let me be more illustrative: A young man has fallen madly in love with a young lady and he does his best to impress her; he buys her flowers, takes her to the movies, treats her like the purest thing in the world, protects her, and so forth. Once as to their first date together is over, however, he changes completely and never does anything special; he has her pay her own meal, is strictly honest with her with no complements, no gifts, nothing.

Now, this girl has lived without all these previous things. In fact, it's how she always lives. Except that wonderful first date where she felt like she really meant something to someone. Then, that someone stopped making her feel special. Sure he treated her properly, but her friends could do THAT... Suddenly, she doesn't feel so special anymore.

Shortly afterwards, she refuses to go out with him anymore and even swears not to ever want to see his face again for the pain of disappointment had.

The analogy is this: the kids are the young lady. They were flattered that someone cared so much. The person that cared so much, in the analogy, is God. Where do WE fit in? We are the compliments, the support, the flowers. We are the friendship, the kindness, the generosity. We are the things that made them feel special.

In the story, the young man would not have carried on like this forever, like any married person may agree to. However, the young man needs to keep making her feel special, until she doesn't only FEEL it but she KNOWS it deep down, as well as not so deep down. This way, there is that well of love, pouring out from both. Sure things can be rocky, and the compliments slowly recede, but they never fully stop, else the relationship falls apart. Also, the young lady would eventually have returned the favor, if not even immediately.

These kids felt that love. If we abandon them now, they might very well feel even worse than before; for they had had false hope. Why wait since they do not come? Why love when none really love me? They merely pretend so that I go to Church, so that I will be one of them.


I hope this analogy has helped you understand more on why a second trip is needed. And a third. And a fourth.

--Scott

Why are kids on the street? (according to my limited knowledge)

So, this was another request, Sounds like a good one too, seeing as it IS the reason we were out there.

Alright, before I begin, this is from my limited knowledge; I do not live there, I do not know all, I did not do a study, I simply heard and saw a bit. This is what I learnt, more by word of mouth and without any real evidence. Let me put it this way: family values aren't the same as here; there is a large gap. Yes, here families aren't perfect either, might I add, but let's just take an average count, alright? Okay, now family ties aren't always as strong out in the villages as we might have here. The future of the family is a more desolate and there are parents, like here, who live much of their lives drunk, angry, secluded, high, and or many other things that don't particularly appeal to children... or anyone for that matter. Money isn't always easy either. Some kids at the camp got one meal a day, the one we served them. Also, there aren't as many kid help lines of that sort of thing, if any, like we have here. Seeing as they are in a village, many don't necessarily have a high education either yet, or plan to. Okay, what does this have to do with street kids and human trafficking? Well, you can see how this is not very appealing correct? Many of these kids agree. And hey! the city is civilized! THEY have money! THEY have televisions and electricity! THEY can BUY most of their food! And cinema's? You can see perhaps how this point of view, added to a hard life at home might bring the child/teen to run away... Often these kids end up on the street... or on the market. Why? because they have no money to make money! They have no friends, no help, live there illegally, what can they do? Go home? NEVER. The freedom is too much. These kids can get hooked on drugs, often do, or glue, or something.

Okay, so that's how they get THERE. now the question arises: "WHY in the world were you not helping THEM instead of hosting a silly Bible camp?". Well, as stated in a previous post, we were there on a preventative measure. There is a place called First Step, where street kids can go to get food and education first-aid, and help. This place is not a fabulous structure unfortunately. This is because the government has already confiscated two previous centers, right after renovations were complete.

Sorry for all the round about, sorry for a caps and stuff, but I think they help get the message through.

--Scott

Flies

As requested.

Flies. These were not a problem during the day, in the village, the camp. They were there, but scarcely so. We weren't bothered, unless one very rarely landed on your food, seeing as we ate outside sometimes, but that is to be expected. Night falls, however, and we head to our respective sleeping quarters; the other five Canadians with one interpreter, two interpreters together and the rest of us guys. Three buildings. Well, it would appear that we boys either REALLY stunk, or that the flies simply liked the place, but once the sun was down, and the lights still on, there was a fly for every 10cm squared. This might seem exaggerated, but it isn't. The first night wasn't as bad, but the second was worse, and one of the Sergeys, the one in my room, who said we might as well leave the flies alone, asked to have the flyswatter from me and went on a frenzy, pretty accurate, might I add. This is just to show that there were a LOT of flies. What had to be done was hunt the flies for a while, turn off the light, before more arrived, let the darkness lull the remaining ones to sleep, then we could try to sleep, because they would otherwise land on us, like on our face. The same went for the morning. As soon as the sun rises, the flies woke up, flew around, and landed on us, waking us up... twas around 5 in the morning, and we only really got to bed at midnight, on average.

There we are, hope this is interesting :D


--Scott

Subjects?

Once again, I forgot to post yesterday, sorry. :P 


I don't know, what should I talk about? Multiple idea's preferable. What would you like to know? I know there are people reading some posts, what do you want to hear about? I'm simply running slightly low on motivation to write something, since I'm not sure any of my posts are interesting.


Please leave a comment stating a desired topic, or e-mail me. And comments on other posts are encouraged, please.


--Scott

Cloudy with a chance of rain

You want to hear something amazing about the weather? It was warm! Okay, it was summer, not so amazing. But it was WARM! Yes, I heard you the first time... I mean it wasn't Hot! it was WARM. Why? It was supposed to be hot. But God provided us with some comfortable conditions. he had it rain. Every evening, I think with only one exception while out in the village. It cooled the next day just enough to keep us at a bearable temperature. It was a bit hot, but not too bad. We were all thirsty day long, but nothing terrible and there was usually a bit of water to be had anyways. The rain never truly inconvenienced us, expecting the ONE time it rained after the camp as we were hanging out with the kids. That time, I had a "shower" after Michelle said I could probably have one in this kind of down-pour. Not an inconvenient, but Marina went running with one of the boys and fell, scraping her knee and foot pretty badly. This ended in giving the Lord more glory in the end, as  she healed. The rain let up just a little after that and we walked back in the sunshine.

I thought it was pretty cool, that God sent rain to cool us off.

--Scott

Travel in the town

Travelling in the village of Stepanovka was not an issue. Everything was close together, we could walk anywhere. However, transporting supplies, luggage, and equipment was more difficult. We were blessed through Vladmir, the local pastor, who drove us around and helped us find places when we were new and unfamiliar to the area. I know most of the area by heart by now, or at least the area where we ate, ran the program, where the churches are and the stores. I suppose that's about half the overall area. Perhaps. Being the main roads. Oh well, lol. Pastor Vlad was a great help to us all, helping us bring supplies to and from the camp every day, as well as much needed water. Without him, we would have been very much more tired and tied down; we would have been less useful and energetic.

Memories

I'll keep this short for now.

I keep seeing people that remind me of people I met in the Ukraine. Most of these reminders are physical, appearance. This just showed me how materialistic we really are here; I remembered my friends by someone's appearances, therefore I distinguished my friends by appearance. Why not recognize them by how they laugh, they talk, they joke, they walk, they sing? Why do we, or at least I, notice people by their appearances? Is that fair? Am I the only one? I have a strong feeling I am not. If you are like me, please let me, and yourself know it. We aren't being fair by noticing the outside first before the inside. If it's a stranger that we have only just met, it might be the ONLY thing to compare, but what about your friends? Many probably are very similar to each other, but did you ever notice it? Putting it out there.

I remember these people by appearance mostly, but actions also, far a handful.

Try thinking on this.

--Scott

Baa-aack

Okay, I was gone like two full weeks and a day.

It doesn't appear anyone checks my site unless I put a post about it, so perhaps people are caught up? Either way, I shall commence posting once again, I'm just not sure of frequency. lol.

So, This post is just to say I am back and to remind, if not inform, you, the reader, what this VBS (Vacation Bible School) was for. Yeah, some might think, well you went out WHERE and spent HOW much on ONE VBS? Well here is the round about answer to why. Did you know the Ukraine is a human trafficking hot-spot? did you also know that most of these humans being trafficked are young adults and children? And typically speaking, it isn't a kidnapping or anything, but a ruse. One may offer a homeless and/or hopeless person a job in another country or city. Well few of these people are heard of again. Seeing as street children, children fresh out of orphanages and other desperate children are easy, common targets, there was a prevention method set up. What if these kids weren't on the streets in the first place? What if they were content in their villages, not looking for leisure or glory in the cities? What if the families learnt about God's love for them? Would that not make a difference?

Hope that that is clear to all. you can always ask questions, request a topic or correct me when I'm wrong (hey, I'm bound to say something out of place at some point right?).

--Scott

Break time

This title has a double meaning. One, the post. Two, I'm going to take a break to let people catch up if they would like and to see how much interest there really is.

So, break time. The time between. This can be viewed as the time between activities, between groups, after the camp, the meals together, the night's rest. Break time is what you make of it. But the time between groups gave Michelle and I a second to breathe and to think, "what were we doing again?". I really got lost while playing. The kids are just like here: hard core players, ready to take the win! :D Makes me glad. While the groups arrived, we would try to remember faces and names. If the name was Tanya, Anya, Sergiy, or Sasha, you were likely to remember, as these are VERY popular names over in the Ukraine. Breaks weren't there to sit back and relax, but to do unplanned things, like talk to the kids, toss a frisby, prepare our thoughts, get materials, get to know each other, and so much more. I really learnt something there.

--Scott

(I'll still be checking, not sure how long a break though)

Shyness

This should be short as it is late at night and I'm tired. The kids and the towns people were relatively shy in our regards, not really daring to look at us in the eye or we in theirs. We weren't sure how to act or were expected to act. A few of the villagers were very glad to see us, so a little less shyness, but those were mostly from the Church. The children were very timid and did as told (except the little boys who wanted to play soccer). It was not noticeable to me, but even in the first day of camp, people simply flourished with forwardness and trying to play with you (mainly the kids) and grab a translator/interpreter. By the end of the week, I felt a kindred to them as to my youth group, Unashamed, that I have been attending for nearly seven years with people who went to kids club, Pioneers, with me, another three/four years. We felt, or at least, I did, felt like we had known each other for far longer than five simple little days. It felt like weeks, months, even years or friendship in some cases.

First Day of camp/Game

So, I'll let food drop for now, but I'll come back to it later.
One Monday, our first day of camp, we arrived late, by about 5 or ten minutes, the children did not seem to mind anyways, the perhaps 40 kids in a very large room (you would have thought 20). So it was alright, we got things ready and things went smoothly. As I was one of the two Games leaders, this is what I will talk about for the time being. The theme was on how God guides us and how he leads us. So, since God is our mighty shepherd and we are his simple minded sheep, we played a game of sheep and wolves. Not all the groups understood and the little boys only wanted to play soccer. But it was still played to the best of their knowledge. The rules were these:
--Version one: Wolf or Wolves=one or two people Sheep=everyone else. Wolves have soccer ball and try to kick it at the sheep, if a sheep is hit, it becomes a wolf. Last one standing idea.
--Version two: The same, but there is one Shepherd. The Shepherd could free the wolves into sheep. Which ever team had everyone on their side one (therefor everyone wins, except the Shepherd if the wolves win).

It was nice, but we quickly understood that a game that might seem simple to us was a little more complex, especially after being translated through people who didn't quite understand either. So we played a little then we played soccer or frisbee.

--Scott

Food -- Part Three --

So like, I like food... Whatever! XD

So, this one is more about lunch with the kids. Most of the kids came and ate with us at what they called the local Church, though it was not much; they are in the midst of building a new one by hand. Anyways, most of the kids cam and ate with us, and for a number of them, it was their only meal. when some dry food came around, some of the kids would start stuffing them away and other kids would join in making it a contest. It was funny to see, as they usually were smiling or teasing each other, but sad if you really thought about it... Also, what we ate was considered a feast to many in the village. Perhaps even to most. but to us, it was a satisfying meal, just enough to keep us very happy and from being hungry until the next meal.

--Scott

Food -- Part Two --

Alright. So here is part two. This is about Our AMAZING cook, Nina, and her family. This family allowed five of the Canadians and on interpreter to stay at their home. Nina herself was up at the crack of dawn, which was like 5-6 AM to make us breakfast. She then got her family fed and then a bit of house work? We were at the camp. but Shortly after, she was preparing lunch, and not for twenty people, but for the volunteers, our team, her family, the kids. This counted in at around, say 60 on the first day and 125 on the last. She had help from her daughters at some meals and some other volunteers, but she was the head chef. dishes washed, time to do something else and shortly afterwards, make supper... A long five day week it must have been! it was amazing to see such people giving their time to help people they barely know! God bless them. Of course, they were payed, but that goes without saying since they provided most of the food and the such.

God see to our needs

Sorry for not posting yesterday.

--Scott

Food -- Part one --

As the title clearly states, I love food. and that is why I will take a few posts to cover it. they will be short posts for the days I'm behind and/or tired.
I'm a teenage boy, and as goes without saying, I love to eat... I even ate allot for a teenager some days. This was partly due to an active life style and to a slightly higher metabolism. Lately, my metabolism has decreased to to a lack of physical activity in my life, but that's unimportant. Before leaving, I loved to eat ALL the time. I could seriously go to Timmy's and get a half dozen doughnuts and eat them all in one sitting, usually a half hour sitting though. So you get the point; I like to eat. I feel a snacking feeling often. I like to eat. Yet I was never hungry over there, over in the Ukraine. I was always satisfied and I was bouncy at every meal (usually meaning I have eaten to my content and that my body was dealing with the food :P ). I never had an urge to eat something from home, or to have a snack, except a couple of times when I saw full grapes, but they really weren't ready and that changed my mind :P God provided us with a healthy diet and a great cook. We did not get hungry or have to worry about it.

God is amazing! :D

--Scott

Self needs.

Life is so simple. Eat, sleep/rest, poop, pee, breath, drink (water), and socialize.

Eating is necessary to nourish your body.
Do you nourish your body?

Sleep and rest to re-cooperate lost energy, to let your body heal and do the under cover work.
Do you let your body go into self-help mode?

Excrement and urine are self explanatory; empty your body of your junk.
Hopefully you do this.

Breathing is important to get oxygen into your body and carbon-dioxide out. It helps get your body stocked up on energy so the cells can do their stuff.
Do you let your body do it's stuff?

Drinking water refills you cells with water, this permits them to stay full and keep there shape and strength.
Does you body have enough infrastructure?

Socializing is important to keep our sanity in place. It helps us keep in form and thinking straight. Allows you to feel cared for. It allows you to care for others.
Do you allow yourself to stay sane?

There is one more thing we need. A sense of direction. This is something I left out in the first line because the people in the village of Stepanovka do not have this. There does not seem to be a desire to be better than the rest, to better yourself, but to have a bit of fun whilst surviving. Some of the kids there don't often get food, but they get it. But they lack direction.
What is this sense of direction? It can be many things, whether to have lots of money, land, friends, kids, companies, food, muscle, beauty. Or it can be God. Which one comes out as the winner? When you die, do you keep your possessions? Do you think money can save you? Or friends? God is the one who wins all. He shall do as he wills. He loves everyone.

What else do we need to live? Did you really know you need other people to survive? Without other people, you are likely to go insane, to cave in, lose a point in life, suicide, or simply stop trying. But Above that, is a need for God. Without or with God, your body will die. But you chose whether or not your spirit lives on. You decide.

Check out this song if you want: "You Decide" by Fireflight.

A truth revealed

This is a very obvious thing once said, yet only truly believed once experienced: Family is determined by the ones who care, not by your blood. Yes I have a good family at home, yes we all care for each other, but we also live around each other, not WITH each other. We ask each other how your day went without fully expecting a full answer, we call each other to eat at the table, yet it is only the parents who generally talk. We check our Facebook, play on the Wii, fiddle with the phones, and yes, post blogs. Yet we are right there to support each other! we are right there to talk, play, and enjoy, yet we don't. Why? Laziness? Fear that someone might tick another off? Not enough time synchronized? Then what? More? Less? why do we tend to not fully live a family life, here in North America, out in the Ukraine, or anywhere in the world? Alright, there are good/near perfect families, especially on the surface, but how many? And what does it mean?

As the team went to the Ukraine, we went as fellow Church members that knew each others names... that's about all, seen Marina at youth, since she is a leader. Terry used to help with Awana (there isn't one this year). Mark and Michelle were friends that my family visited on rare occasions. Coleen was one of the members in the Church that liked to hug people. And I was the singer's and drummer's boy, so people knew me.

On the trip... no before that. at the meetings, we learnt to open up to each other more and more and learnt some of the others quirks and aptitudes. On the trip, we would, logically, watch the luggage as the rest of the team would go to the washroom, taking turns watching. We helped each other carry luggage. And we arrived.  We met some more of the team and we got closer to each other. We slept in the same room as some people we barely knew, what do you expect? My room mate, one of the Sergiys, helped me learnt Russian and would occasionally REFUSE to speak to me in English for a while as he spoke full blast Russian. It sure helped me as I was the furthest into the Russian among the Canadians. Mark was the big leader of the team, the father figure we turned to with a good deal of our questions, and he did his best, usually getting us just what was needed. Michelle was the mother figure, making sure we were alright, worrying just enough that it wasn't annoying. Coleen was the babushka, the grandmother of the group, she tended to make the ladies laugh without intending to and then say that they giggled like little girls and say "here they go again!". Terry was the one ready to lend a hand, but the more introvert sister of the family. Marina was the older, but not eldest sister. She helped out and kept us there and gave bits of advice, ready to tell you how she felt and fun. She was also my legal guardian. Sergiy was the older brother figure that helped us out, especially linguistically. Lyena-Sergiy were the funny couple (who is from outside of the family? who knows? :P) that were slightly removed from the group and stuck together, talking. Karina was our educated silent sister, serious and fun when an organized game was in place. Anya was the little sister that we all watched out for, even though she didn't need watching :P like the baby of the family. Gertien was the timid cousin that was a great hand and funny :D also very helpful with languages. Robert was our uncle figure ready to help us and wise with his years, yet so very capable.

We all spent time together, we supported each other, prayed for each other, laughed with each other, sang with each other, accepted help from others and so on. We were just a real family... now this was one week though... One month may have been different, but we still refer to some of each other by these names still.

Buildings

So, on the Saturday after our arrival, the team was taken to tour around Odessa. It was a nice tour, but it was easy to see that even in one of the major cities of the Ukraine, things were not going 100%. See, things there are viewed slightly different as here. When a corporation, in North America, wants to open up business, or a new family wants to move into the city, the answer is often buy a small building that may require a bit of work, so that it is cheaper on the initial cost, if not overall. In Odessa, if a building is in disrepair, why buy it and fix it? Why buy a lot in the middle of the city, tear the old building down and make a new one? So things are in disrepair. in some areas, one in two were abandoned or boarded up. This did, however, let us see a bit of what old Ukraine would have looked like. Also, the sculptures and art, and architecture there make North America look dull and boring. The statues in the squares, yes they have squares, look fantastic even when occasionally missing a bit. The squares are nice and pretty cool :D Over all, I'd say that Odessa is a much more beautiful city than any I have yet seen in North America.

--Scott

Planned schedule

Yeah, we had a planned schedule. It was relatively simple though. We got up and ate around 6:30 at Nina's, then went out to the Rec center for 7:00, perhaps they were both delayed by one hour... but I'm pretty sure it was for 7:00. We had our sessions... at one hour each, until 11:00 delay would make it 12:00, so I'm pretty sure we started at 7:00. Ate lunch with the kids... Free time, have supper when it was ready, I'm not sure when that was, because I was never waiting on supper. We were sometimes forced to go back to supper, because we were having a great time with something. It was fun. I really enjoyed the food, but that is for another time. we would then sing, after breakfast as well, and then hang out and talk and joke in both Russian and English. Thank God for the great translators :D We would then head out, get ready, and eventually go to bed. that was the planned schedule, not too full :D

Hope

Hope. What is hope? Is hope a feeling that freedom is possible? Is hope trusting that something CAN but might not happen? Is hope a feeling that we simply feel inside of us that we simply can't describe? I as an individual, believe hope is putting trust into someone or something, even when one knows one is putting it in something undeserved or unlikely. Hope is something to strive for, to aim towards, to try to accomplish.

So, now that you see more my point of view on Hope, you may understand better what I mean when I say that this trip brought hope to the kids in the village.

When we arrived, we saw a few children and teens, but very few. We didn't get to speak to any of them except one, who rode with us and offered us all bracelets that say "I am against violence" (in Russian "ya proti nacilstva"). However, aside from this one, the other seemed very quiet. During our first day of camp, the kids were less interested, and there were only a few there; we had around 42 children and teens total. These children were calmer, quieter, perhaps even evaluating us, like I am sure I do to new people in my environment. But many simply seemed to lack smiles, to lack that glimmer. Except during soccer. The boys had hope there: hope that they would win. More than hope, a drive. By the end of the week, I can guarantee that many of the attendees of the camp, numbering about 100 by the end, had hope. Hope for many things: for more fun, hope to see us again soon, hope to have a nice time with us after camp, but also hope in salvation. Terry confirms over 40 (45 IF I remember correctly) gave their lives to God during her sessions of drama and music.

Anyways. My thoughts are slightly scattered here, sorry if it is hard to understand my line of thought.

I also want to remind everyone that my posts are all my opinions and do NOT represent the feelings from all members or from World Hope Canada or World Hope Ukraine either. Just clarifying before there are any confusions.

--Scott

Plans

This will be simple. Yes there was lots of effort going into planning and organizing, but was it really worth it? I'm not sure, and here is why: Almost everything we planned was changed, postponed, canceled, replaced. However, without the planning, would we have felt prepared at all? Would we have been ready? Who knows, aside from God?

So this is one of my debate posts. You can comment on it, or simply discuss with yourself.

--Scott

Fundraising

Well, this one might be boring to some, and informative to others. Therefore, I shall post with as much accuracy as possible while omitting any unnecessary information.

So it all started really slow, members sending out letters to family and friends about raising support to send the team. By this point, we had just come down to eight or so members. So we were raising slowly. and money came in by twenties and fifties... Very nice and all, but considering we had over $21 000 as a goal, we were not 100% sure how things were going to go. We KNEW we weren't going anywhere at that rate. Then our good Terry started her fundraising. and ended her part in like a month or two. We each had an individual goal of $2 900. So what she did was amazing. She had asked at her work place, held public fundraisers at work, informed friends in advance, and really kept the ball rolling with a few shared events with the other ladies such as a fashion show, a bake sale I think, and a few other things. So she helped the team pull together and helped us pull our fundraisers together. We had a car-wash planned, but it never happened due to a lack of time and the goal having been met. We had a face-painting fundraiser on Canada day, give as you please idea. We had money coming in from family and friends and some people we barely recognized their faces. We had some other fundraisers, but I do not remember all the details. I received a pledge that I had to work off at 20$ an hour (still not done yet :O ). So on, so forth. We ended up with something like $20 000 (which was $2 000 over since our goal had become 18 000 when two members had to drop out).

Sorry it was a bit longer than expected, but God provides, PERIOD.

Climate

Short post: The plants and weather: If you are reading this and are from southern Canada or Northern United-States, you will have a very simple picture to draw: Take the plants we have, and voila. A few changes, near the southern Ukraine since it is close to the Black sea. Therefore the weather is more like Northern United-States. There are a few apple trees, walnut trees, full sized grape vines (not the wimpy little bitter things we get around Ottawa), pear trees, so-on so-forth. The weather, is like here, seasonal and therefore goes through "fazes" of rain, cloudy, dry, a bit of snow, and so-forth. Real simple picture to paint isn't it? Have fun :P

--Scott

Hope House first impression

My first impression walking into Hope House was that the place was a well kept building with some work to be done perhaps in a few places, but better off then many of the neighboring houses. I was also surprised at how many people could comfortably live in such a small looking building (much less small when inside). I also saw few of the girls as it appears many were out for various reasons when we arrived and others were helping in the gardens and the such. They also seemed shy and reserved, and amazingly polite. I felt useless as I was not physically permitted to do anything to help :P Not even bring my dishes over to the sink on the first day :D So that was my first impression, I will write more in another further post. Trying to keep this short ;)

My money misfortune XD

So this is what happened for me to lose $100. I had traded 5 twenties for one hundred dollar bill with a fellow team mate. As usual, I put the big cash on the outside of the smaller cash. I tended the hundred for my desert and got my proper change, then went to buy the knife, 4,50 in Euros. Thinking I had tended a 20 and so would logically have a 5 Euro bill left, I went to hand that, saw it was a fifty Euro and handed some american instead. I went and explained what I thought had happened to a new cashier, there must have been a shift change, and traded the 50 Euro for a five. What ever, all is well... I didn't even notice until a few hours later that I had made this mistake whilst already out of the country.


There you have it, simple and brief.


--Scott

The trip out

This will hopefully be a shorter post.


The trip to the Ukraine was 25 hours from my door to the Hope House door. I got picked up by a fellow team mate and her hubby and head to the airport to await the others before checking in as a team. We waited for the rest of the team, who arrived a slight bit later than we, some later than others... Just as we were about to check in, one member of the team remembered they had forgotten their passport, had misplaced it whilst trying to file a leave or something to the Canadian Embassy. Luckily one of her friends had been there when she had forgotten it and it was a simple matter of calling her up to have it brought over. We still had about an hour to spare before our flight to Montreal. The flight went smoothly, a couple of turbulence, but that's all in the fun ;) We arrived in Montreal, and two of us had to get our carry-on from the belly of the plane, as they made a mistake placing them. We later learnt that our next flight, to Munich, was delayed by a decent amount... almost an hour? not exactly sure. But no worries, we had a four hour layover time in Munich anyways, so no stress :D Once in Munich, we had time, so we shopped in the airport and got a meal and I got a knife. Yes, they were selling knives in the airport, and they were perfectly allowed in ones carry-on. I also lost about 100$ American over in that airport due to my miscalculations. ( <-- in the next post )Then we were out of Munich on to Kiev. Kiev is a much smaller airport, has a bit less organization and the service wasn't very good, as the people were snappy and short tempered it seemed. And they did not accept American currency in the airport. We also had to get our luggage rechecked as we were now using an in-country flight. So a few more hours wait and we got to leave for Odessa, where we got our luggage, and were promptly picked up. We traveled for about another hour perhaps and then got to Hope House. Over all, a great bonding time for the team. 


Thanks for reading.

Organization

This trip was quite uncertain. When we originally started looking for a team, the original response was over 30 people at the first meeting. This includes a few people who were tagging along or just getting informed. I myself was just getting informed, see how many meetings I would attend. the next few meetings included a drop in interest, from the 30 to about 25, to 20, and then we decided we might need to send two teams... A couple months later, we were down to about 15 people. Then some people could not get the time off, others had second thoughts about leaving the family behind for a whole 11 days. We were down to one team and 8 people... now, we didn't know how much help we would have out there, but it seemed like 8 people wasn't going to be enough: the camps often had 80+ kids by Friday, the last day of the camp. But we continued on, and heard we might have 4 interpreters, perhaps three. Later on, Dan, our team leader, learnt he was leaving! He was to move out and the estimated date made it hard for the trip, so he had to cancel. In cancelling, Dan also had another member drop out, as this member was going as an intern under Dan. So we were down to six. One boy, not yet 17 (that's me), a newly wed, a mother of anxious children, a couple with three children who were going to have to stay with their grand-parents, and a grandmother. The leadership fell on the only man in the group, who had never led before. And we learnt where we were going and everything, fundraising suddenly worked out (this will be another blogpost) and we were just about ready to go. Well, we learn that the place we were going to had been changed, about two weeks before departure. So we went, not entirely knowing what to expect.


We learnt that one has to be very flexible while going for a trip; this was, in fact, probably one of our biggest lessons. We could not foresee all the details, nor could we control them. 


--Scott


Hope that that wasn't too rambly :D

My first blog post

Hello world :D


As this is my first blog post, and my site is not satisfactorily set up yet. This blog site will be snippits of my experience in the Ukraine. I went over to help run a VBS, a vacation Bible camp. So, this is really simple, letting you know most of my posts won't be overly long: I'm a bit lazy with developing ideas :P Also, if you have not noticed, I love emoticons. I like to express exactly how I feel, no cover-ups, no back-routes, just the upfrontness of a teen who doesn't care what strangers think of him. I will be completely honest and am open to any questions and suggestions from readers.


--Scott