Help Them
This page consists of some of the ways that you can help the people that we meet along the way who are in need of comfort, love, and a helping hand. Please check this page often, as we will be updating this list with the names, addresses, and needs of people around the world. Send someone a gift. The people that we list on here need these things. Thinking back over my lifetime, I can think of very few times that I really had a severe need for something. I have always had access to food, shelter, love, a sense of belonging, and security. Some of these people do not have any of these. If you decide to help anyone on this list, please send us a little note to let us know about your experience so that we can pass it on on this site (with full anonymity, of course) in order to encourage others to help out. Thanks!
- We hope to work with them while in Fiji this summer. Click the link to see how you can get involved! - The Mission of Son Valley is to build and operate a quality Christian Community for adults with Mental Retardation, ministering to their physical, spiritual, mental, vocational, and recreational needs. This was Craig’s workplace for a little over 1 year. There are some amazing people there in need of just a little assistance.3. Kocoma Village School - This was the village in which we lived for 2 weeks during our stay in Fiji. The children here are some of the most amazing, talented children that we have ever met. The school lacks many basic things such as: decent computers (they have 2 old ones), library books, materials for the classrooms, and basically everything that we tyhing of as a convenience item at schools in the US.
- The reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia destroyed everything that Cambodians knew of their lives prior to the takeover. Millions of Cambodians were killed or seriously maimed by their own countrymen only 20-30 years ago. This museum is a monument to the desctruction that humans can cause upon their own people and a good way to help to ensure that this does not occur again ion Cambodia. The museum is housed in a former school (prior to the Khmer Rouge) and torturous prison (during the Khmer Rouge rule). As the government of Cambodia is still coming back from the destruction of the past 30 years and is heavily supported by humanitarian organizations, the museum needs money to keep the place functioning. - This is the orphanage in which we are volunteering during our time in Pokhara. There are 19 children here at present. Some have parents who were killed in recent uprisings. Some lost their parents to illness. Some have parents who were mentally ill and uncable of taking care of them. Some have parents that were useless and sold them into slavery. Basically, they need help. The kids are AMAZING!6. The Asian Teahouse family - The family at our favorite restaurant (The Asian Teahouse) here in Pokhara needs our help! We found the restaurant on our first day here in Pokhara. It is a small, one table restaurant down an alleyway that serves delicious $0.50 meals. The other restaurants on the main strip cost 5 times that amount for the same thing! We’ve come back at least once, sometimes twice, a day for the past 12 days. The reasons we keep coming back are more than just because of the cheap and great food (though it is amazingly cheap and oh…so…delicious). Each time we sit down for a meal, we feel a part of the family. The dad sits and practices his English with us. We discuss life, love, politics, healthcare, family, and a multitude of other things. He even gives us recipes to their best foods! We play with the children as they are always sitting at the table doing homework in the evenings. It’s an amazing find in this place where we know no one and miss our family dearly.
They are a family of 5: A mom, dad, 2 beautiful little girls, and a 14-year old son. The dad was released from the hospital yesterday to come home and help in the restaurant. During his stay in the hospital, his wife stayed to tend the restaurant alone since it is their only income source. She worked there alone from 5am until 10pm as the family has for a long time. One of the little girls missed her birthday during her dad’s stay in the hospital. Now the family has no money to get her a cake, a TWIX, or anything. The dad, Shiva, seems to have the same ailment that Jen had last year when she had to have surgery on her left ear. He will have to have surgery on both ears within the next 6 months. Last night he found comfort in knowing that Jen had been through the same thing. He sat at the table with us throughout our dinner and asked questions concerning the surgery that he will have soon (January 13th or 14th), the medications that his doctors prescribed (as we had informed him that Jen worked in healthcare), and about recovery time and when he could return to work at the restaurant. He is attending the teaching hospital here in Pokhara, which, by all accounts is the best around. In order to have the surgery by an experienced ear surgeon, it would cost too much for the family to afford. So, he is putting off the surgery until January at which time he can participate in student final examinations. A student will complete his surgery as part of their final grade for 1/2 price. This is still a massive amount for a family that scrapes by here in Nepal. Jen, having had this surgery, can only imagine (in absolute horror) how scary it must be to know that one can only have a necessary surgery if performed by a student in a third-world country…And that you have to do it twice! Because of this, we feel led to do something to help.
The good news is that healthcare is relatively inexpensive by Western standards here in Nepal. The surgeries that Shiva has to have will cost around 12,000 rupees. Currently, $1 USD = 75 rupees. This makes the total cost of both surgeries $160.00 USD. The cost of his hospital stay over the past five days is around 5000 rupees or $67.00 USD. We are on a mission to help with these expenses, if not totally cover them. This family has given us so much already: A taste of home when we really needed it 5 months into our trip, warm conversations on an otherwise cool night, laughter when the children have done funny things, great food at prices that have spared us our usual budget worries while here in Pokhara, and special soup to make Jen feel better when dealing with a bout of the “yuk, I feel awful’s”. So, after all that, here’s what we are asking of you, our friends, family, and faithful readers: Help us, help them. Give this family a Christmas gift that means more than any tube-socks or Polo shirts that we can give one another. We realize that money is tight around Christmas time, but we ask for a small amount to us in the Western world that is a HUGE amount to people here. We would love for you, the reader, to send us the whole amount, but realistically what we ask is $5, $10, or any amount that you see fit. You can rest easy knowing that this Christmas you really did something worthwhile, and this family can have an amazing one knowing that Shiva will be okay. Here’s how to help:
1. Decide that you want to help someone this Christmas.
2. Click on the DONATE Paypal link on the right side of the screen on the homepage.
3. Enter a donation amount and press “Update Total”.
4. Fill-in your credit or debit-card information and press “Review Donation and Continue”.
5. Follow onscreen instructions from there.
6. Give yourself a pat on the back and go off to do more good deeds this Christmas season.
UPDATE ON THE ASIAN TEAHOUSE FAMILY: Thanks to a lot of faithful, amazing followers, we raised all of the money needed for Shiva to have his surgeries! They were so happy to have this Christmas gift! Shiva’s son messaged us in February to tell us that his dad had his first surgery and that all went well. Thank you all so much for helping with this project!
- This program has been setup in Cambodia by the Associationof Blind in Cambodia. It is now spreading to several other countries in the region. During our stay in Siem Reap, Cambodia, we each received a wonderful massage by a blind masseus. Not only was the massage great, but we were also able to help support someone who would otherwise have probably been on the streets begging. This is an amazing program!
