Three Men and a White Board

What do you get when you put a doctor, an engineer and a cheap techie Scotchman in a room for three hours? Why, you get the floor plan for a clinic on the Burmese/Indian border, of course! Ray Comeau of Medical Mercy Canada is a Red

 Deer doctor who has been leading a group of volunteers to India for the last five years to provide medical assistance to the locals. Pat Romerman is a Principal with Group2 Architecture Engineering who volunteers with A Better World. I am the cheap Scotchman.

At Olds College, I teach a course on farm building planning, and I use a great floor planning process I learned from an agricultural engineer, Sandy Roberts, 15 years ago. Basically there are four steps:

1. List the needs and wants for the building
2. Determine minimum sizes for each room or area
3. Organize the rooms for optimum internal and external traffic flow
4. Determine the overall size and shape of the building.
   

Last year Ray and I went through this process and developed the Cadillac of clinics. Ray took the plan to India to price it out and found that we couldn't afford it. He brought back a plan that was designed locally. The foundation looked like my lower intestine--no shortage of outside walls, and the roof lines looked like something from Architectural Digest but would make adding on to the building later difficult—so it was back to the drawing board, or in this case, the white board.

Ray and Pat started listing and sketching on the white board (Pat had to sketch on a white board because he only had a Macbook with him. It looked very stylish, but, of course, couldn't do any real work), and I opened AutoCAD to start drawing up their ideas with precise dimensions. When we had all the basic components of the building sized, we hooked up my laptop to a big screen to organize the rooms.

The great thing about a CAD program is the ease with which you can move and edit. On paper, you need to redraw each time you want to make a change, but, with CAD, you can move rooms around like puzzle pieces—and that is what we did. After the rooms were organized to optimize traffic flow, the overall size and shape of the building was decided upon. It is at this point that you often create some extra space and can fit in some of those "wants" from your original list. Things like storage closets and extra office space magically appear. And, for this building which, we suspect, will later have a phase 2 and a phase 3, we made sure our plan paved the way for those wings to save headaches in the years to come.

The advantage of collaboration becomes so apparent during sessions like these. I know the product of this design charrette will be much better than any of us could have formulated individually. (For starters, Pat would have to get a work computer! But I have to say Pat, your pictures look really good on that Macbook!) And this is just the first step in getting this clinic up and running. There are many more steps to follow, but remember: proper planning promotes productive projects!

I really enjoyed working with Ray and Pat—even if I had to skip my Christmas party to be there. Thanks guys!

If you would like more information on this project, go to http://www.a-better-world.ca/ and read the feature article on the Comeaus.

My Baby's Got a New Pair of Shoes

Shoes have impacted my life on more than one occasion and for more than one reason. One of the early stories I remember my mother telling me about the Depression included shoes. She said that growing up on a farm during the Depression wasn’t too bad because each year they got a new pair of shoes, a new dress and always had enough food! Some kids came to school with lard sandwiches and shoes lined with paper to plug the holes in their soles, but not my moms family.Later in life, I saw shoe ownership become a limiting factor for children who wanted to attend school in many of the countries in which I have worked. This summer Pastor Ron Sydenham of the Lacombe SDA church travelled to Kenya and Rwanda. He too recognized the value of shoes and their link with education.  Upon returning to Canada, he decided to raised enough money to provide new shoes for all the students attending a particular school in Kenya.  The congregation donated enough money to buy 1000 pairs of shoes! Best of all, the shoes were purchased in Kenya from Kenyan businesses providing trickle down income for many local Kenyans. Injecting shoes into the local economy is like injecting cash. You can bet that the shoes will be worn by someone until they are worn right out.

Although there are some, few people in Canada have to worry about affording shoes. My daughter, however, has been unable to wear shoes for more than four years because of nerve damage in her ankle. Summers are not so bad; capris and open-backed shoes are right in style then, but when it is forty below, they are not so stylish. More importantly, driving around the prairies in such flimsy attire in the middle of winter is just plain dangerous!
After more than four years of trying pills, creams, and therapy, she still hasn’t been able to get into shoes. At one point, I suggested a brace, but the product from the physio lab just didn’t work. This past Monday night, my daughter and I took a stab at creating one ourselves. Years of molding airplanes has given me some knowledge of fiberglass, carbon fiber and molding agents. Two evenings, some plaster of Paris and various resins and fibers later, we had a prototype as a concept-prover.Here we have the lacing up of the first pair of real shoes to go on my daughter’s feet in over four years! She made it through half a day in the shield, but even more importantly, we have a new concept to try that will, I’m sure, lead to a more normal life and definitely to warmer feet!
So, here’s to a new start ‘cuz my baby’s got a new pair of shoes!

Shoes for my mother, shoes for my daughter, and shoes for our global brothers and sisters. Something as simple as shoes can be have a huge impact on our children here at home, and all children around the world! Next time you lace up your Nikes, remember to appreciate what you have, and think about what you can do to help others here or abroad. Get involved!

Bolivia or Bust

I truly believe that one of the best educational experiences we can give anyone is an opportunity to travel to a developing country. I have been influenced from an early age by my father’s childhood experiences in Africa. I did not realize how much affect it had on me until I started to travel to developing countries after the Tsunami of 2004.

Damaged Homes - Sri Lanka 2004

In May of 2009, Olds College and A Better World (ABW) will take students and community members to Bolivia for two weeks. I will be leading this trip and in so doing will realize a dream five years in the making. After Katrina, Olds College and ABW partnered to send a group of students, staff and teachers to the USA to help rebuild homes. Each student returned with new insights into the world in which they live. I know by experience that a trip to Bolivia will have the same result but multiplied by 10! I know by experience that this will be a life-altering experience for some of the people in our group and still very impactful for the rest.

Mountains in Bolivia

I do have concerns and a little trepidation: all developing countries are unstable, all have unique health and cultural challenges, and all have safety issues (usually the traffic is the worst). I am encouraged by the fact that we have some very fine people in Bolivia to help. Marg and Jake Hoogland moved to Bolivia from Canada about three years ago; Zenon Flores is a local agriculture instructor with a passion for his field; and Maria Jose is the director of CERINID, a local home for street boys. And I hope that my experience in the country will prove beneficial as I lead the trip. I have been to Bolivia twice myself, and ABW has completed two very successful trips there in the last two years.

Jake and Marg Hoogland

This trip will focus on the state of agriculture in Bolivia, as well as helping to make CERINID more self sufficient in terms of food production. We will remain in the Santa Cruz area, but see developed farming areas, homesteading areas, mountains and jungle. We will be working on a local farm to help set up a dormitory that will be used to house students that will take agriculture apprenticeship training with Zenon Flores.

Zenon Flores and a Golden Aguoti Boar

So, here goes a new journey for me and a great opportunity for students and others in the community. Let’s hope this time I don’t need to use my GPS coordinates for the coffin store! Stay tuned for more details, and follow along on this blog in May to read about the adventure.

Gordon Gilchrist
Technical coordinator
A Better World

Instructor
Olds College
ggilchrist@oldscollege.ca

Blogs:
http://gordonatabw.blogspot.com/
http://gordatoldscollege.blogspot.com/

It is Not All Laughing Children and Happy Endings

A Better World is supporting rural Bolivia with a health fund. Marg and Jake Hoogland live and work deep in the jungle--literally at the end of the road. There are very limited medical facilities within 3 or 4 hours' drive of the farm in their area. Many of the homesteaders have never been to Santa Cruz (the nearest big city), and they would not have the funds or contacts necessary to obtain medical help even if they were able to get to the city.

The Rural Health fund was established by ABW to be administered by Marg and Jake. Having a Canadian couple living in the community insures that the people who are truly in need of help can get it, and reduces the chances of waste and corruption. This fund is to help with testing and treatments of conditions past what the local clinics can deal with.

Earlier this year Marg contacted me about a little boy in their community that was not responding to local treatments, and slowly going down hill. His name was Jhonny, and he was 10 years olds. He was smart and a leader in his family, and at school. He was all boy, climbing trees, running fast, and coercing his sibling into trying to keep up. When Jhonny did not show up at a community function, Marg became concerned. She went to see Jhonny and he was in a very poor state. Not walking, dehydrated, and with bad headaches. The family had taken him to the local clinic again very recently, and he was giving Milk of Magnesia.

Jhonny's House

Marg contacted me and suggested that this would be the first case for the ABW rural health fund. I agreed, and the Hooglands dropped what they were doing and took Jhonny and his mother to the children’s hospital in Santa Cruz. This was the beginning of a 6 week stay for Jhonny, his mother (8 months pregnant), and Marg. You see, Jhonny had a brain tumor, a big brain tumor. It was determined that the tumor was operable if there was money to cover the bills… There was no question that this tumor would be fatal and probable soon. Marg and I had the conversation about draining the entire health fund on one little boy, instead of helping 25 people in the community. These are judgment calls that have to happen in a country like Bolivia, and that is the sad part. My cousin’s youngest son had a brain tumor, operable, and at no point did anyone say “should we sped the money, or just let him die”.

Marg and Jhonny in the Childrens Hospital

This was a no brainer for me! Spend the money and give the kid a chance! Jhonny ended up having 6 surgeries in 6 weeks, and contracted chicken pocks to boot! The total hospital bill was around $5,000.00.

I flew to Bolivia in August to start arrangements for a group trip in May 09. On my first day in Bolivia Marg and Jake took me to see Jhonny in the hospital. They were hiring someone to be with Jhonny at night as Marg and Jake were coming with me. Jhonny had his bandages off for the first time and was looking thin, but responsive. He was squeezing a tube of toothpaste, and his eyes would flutter open. He responded to touch on his feet, and the doctors were very hopeful about his condition.

Jhonny's mom Erselia and Marg

We left the hospital to get some food and talk about the busy week to come. Marg received a call to return to the hospital. Turns out the Jhonnys heart stopped, and he died. Six operations and chicken pock were just too much for his little body. Death in a tropical country leads to its own set of problems. We returned to the hospital to have the body released. This meant paying the bill in full, and getting the forms to transport Jhonnys body. A coffin would be about 600 B ($95.00 Can) and Jhonnys mother said she just couldn’t afford that, so we would just wrap him in a blanket and put him in the back of the truck…. Not if I can help it, I thought. It turns out there are all night coffin stores near the hospital, so off Jake and I went.

After a long terrifying drive in the middle of the night, we lay Jhonny in his coffin on the alter of the local church for a day of service before the burial. Jake and I went to his house to get a little sleep before to burial. 51 hours had past since I had seen a bed, and that one had been in Canada. 51 hours that remolded who I am, and clarified why I try. Jhonnys mother was very upset that we spent all this money, and Jhonny died anyway. She felt badly and was concerned that we wasted all that money. She was devastated by Jhonnys passing, but was worried we would think we wasted the money. Wasted the money??? That somehow she had let the donors down, because Jhonny died???

Carrying Jhonny to the graveyard

I have replayed this over and over in my mind since returning to Canada. This was an operable, benign tumor in the head of a 10 year old boy. How could we not give this boy a chance? If this was your son, would you say, “sorry, too much money” and let him die? No, of course not. This family did not have the money (about 2 years wages for them) and I am not a big believer in throwing cash at problems, but this is the perfect example of where money is all that was needed to give Jhonny a chance because we had Marg and Jake on the ground willing to help.

We do not win them all, but that should not deter us from trying. You cannot win if you don’t try. I know we like to read stories about happily ever after, but there is much to be learned from the journey as well. We tried, and I would try again given the same circumstance. The rural Bolivia fund is now empty, and I would like to double it for next year. Please consider supporting this activity, we are very lucky to have Marg and Jake on the ground to administer this fund. I don’t think you could get better bang for your buck anywhere else.

For more information on Jhonny or the Hooglands see
http://www.hooglandsinbolivia.blogspot.com/

To donate, follow the link below, and please specify Rural Bolivia,Thanks!

http://www.a-better-world.ca/

Gordon Gilchrist
Technical coordinator
A Better World

Instructor
Olds College
ggilchrist@oldscollege.ca

Blogs:
http://gordonatabw.blogspot.com/
http://gordatoldscollege.blogspot.com/

A Better World Helps in Rural Bolivia

Last May, I travelled to Bolivia with A Better World to help out at a couple of orphanages. While I was there, I fell in love. I really didn’t mean to, but the country stole my heart and wouldn't let me go. Though I have been in the backwaters of every continent except Antartica, Bolivia grabbed my attention like no other place I've ever been. It is a beautiful country with the promise of a bright future. There is potential in Bolivia: land, water, and sunshine. Throw in a little knowledge, some hard work, and a bit of political stability, and you have the ingredients for success.

Bolivia is homesteading land like Canada did at the turn of the century. People are moving from the mountains to farm in the jungle. These new rural communities have great need, and great promise.

A Better World is supporting these rural communities with three initiatives. Supporting rural health assessments and treatment, promoting practical hands-on agricultural training, and helping to develop agricultural infrasturcture. Already, this years' health fund has been exhausted, and we are looking at increasing the funding for it next year. Two agricultural infrastructure projects are just being completed, and, by April 2009, we would like to have the first phase of the agricultural school complete.

My job with A Better World is to solve problems. The problem I pondered as we were working at those orphanages last May was "why are these kids here?" Supporting orphanages, though a necessary work, is really treating the symptom without addressing the underlying disease. In this case, the problem is poverty. Address that, and the need for orphanages is decreased. By providing care for immediate needs but also formulating a plan that will empower citizen--both through agriculture and education--A Better World is helping Bolivians today and into the future.

Gordon Gilchrist
Technical coordinator
A Better World

Instructor
Olds College
ggilchrist@oldscollege.ca

Blogs:
http://gordonatabw.blogspot.com/
http://gordatoldscollege.blogspot.com/