11 PM - Christal Earle’s Blog

As I type out these words, it is pouring rain all around me. I am sheltered from the rain and yet I breathe in the dampness and feel the thick air of humidiity that accompanies a downpour. Port Au Prince is 136 miles to the south of where I am sitting right now, and I am guessing that today, like me, they are feeling soggy. But the difference today is that one million of those people have nothing to keep them from the rain except - if they are lucky - a tent tarp. And if they are among the even more fortunate, they are with family and friends.

Tragedy is somehow lessened when we are comforted by family, or at the very least, close friends. Knowing you are loved somehow helps to lessen the jagged cut that runs deep into our souls, our emotions, even our spirits when our world falls apart. But what happens when there is no way for you to know you are loved? No way for you to understand that your life matters, that you are not just a problem to take care of or a life to exploit? What is life like without the knowledge, the tangible evidence that you belong?

Two weeks ago, when Cole got back to the orphanage compound in Port Au Prince, it was late. He was tired, hungry, overwhelmed. As he walked through the gates into the property, he was ready to get to his pail of clean water, wash up and crawl into the tent that he had set up earlier in the day to return to. But to his surprise and their mutual confusion, there were 30 new, dirty and scared little humans laying side by side on rough, woolen blankets on the dirt ground around his tent. Not exactly an encouraging welcome party! Asking around the compound, he learned that they had just arrived from a nearby tent town, each of them either orphaned, abandoned, or without hope of parental provision. All of them confused and scared, yet not a single one of them crying or making a fuss. Some of them were trying to sleep, and some just sat and stared straight ahead, too overwhelmed to yet process where they were.
They were brought here because although there was scant resources available, at least they were safe, tucked away from child traffickers, sexual predators, and other street violence. They may be without basic necessities right now, but at least they are together and in a place where they are wanted and loved. In this home that Absolute helps to support through Hero Holiday, hope still lives on. Though many days it may be fragile and precarious, it can still be felt and it can still be shared.

In the middle of the crowd of new faces was a little boy, probably about 7 years old, holding on to a child-sized suitcase. As he opened it up, Cole couldn’t help but notice the contents inside: one pair of pants, one t-shirt, and a water botttle of milk. As the little boy pulled the precious bottle of milk out of the suitcase, he did the unexpected. He did what adults often fail to remember to do and children seem to never forget: he turned to the other little boys around him and willingly shared his treasure. This is not what he would have chosen as a family now, but nevertheless, it is the family he now finds himself in. And families are meant to share their resources, look after each other and stick together. And around that little boy were 29 more reasons to hang on and make it through to tomorrow.

There have been many promises made to Haiti in the hopes of recovery, and time will tell if it will come to pass. But in Absolute, we recognize that each of us can do what we can with what is in our own hands. We are hosting our first Hero Holiday to Haiti in May, with the hopes of many more to follow. Though the current trip is filled up, the need is great. If you would like to help us help them, please donate at www.absolute.org/donate and specify Haiti Hero Holiday.

As well, this summer we still have openings left for our Dominican Republic and Mexico trips in July and August. To find our more, go to www.heroholiday.com. You belong here!

“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much a heart can hold.” ~ Zelda Fitzgerald

Author’s Note: This week, as I wrote this 52, all I could see in the photos, the stories, and the voice that came through were they eyes of my daughter. She is Haitian and like these children, she had been orphaned. When you see life through the eyes of love, you are never the same, and when you realize that there are stories behind each face, you can’t turn away and forget. Absolute’s best selling book, ONE: A FACE BEHIND THE NUMBERS is available on our website. It is an excellent resource for understanding how to not only look at the statistics of what is happening around us, but to hear the stories and see the faces that are making the difference. Check it out at www.one.absolute.org. It is available online and through chapters.ca and amazon.ca. All proceeds go to helping us help others.

On the other side of the world, as I type this and as you read these words, there are some people writing history in a capacity we can only imagine. Day after day, they love. Through the good, the bad and the very ugly, they choose love. Because love is the only thing that is strong enough to reach into those places, the only thing strong enough to pick people up and help them move on. They are quiet, dedicated heroes whose actions have challenged many of us to ask ourselves, ” What would I be wiling to give?”

In all honesty, if you are Canadian, the concept of compassion may not fully infiltrate your conscious thought. Compassion. One word that means so much. To some, it is a symbol of a child on their kitchen fridge door- a monthly commitment they value and look at with pride and hope. For some, it is reaching out to the hungry, the hurting, the lost. To others, it means giving what you can monetarily or even with your time. That’s fair. It should mean all of those things.

But in our world of consistent, affordable healthcare, affordable insurance, honorable civil servants and well-paid practitioners, compassion may not be fully understood. When we see an accident on the side of the road, we stop. After all, we are compassionate, right? We help because we care - but we also help because it is the “right” thing to do. It may cost us time, energy and emotional distress to help out someone in need, but when that ambulance arrives we don’t worry about being the ones that have to pay for it, or the hospital stay that will ensue. When our social net shows up or kicks in to take over with someone less fortunate, we are relieved because we know it will be taken care of. We only worry about the important stuff like everyone being ok. This is a luxury that we, the rich of the world, enjoy - the ability to be “compassionate” without too many strings attached.

Picture this: you are a young child. Very young. Too young to be anywhere by yourself let alone locked in that room with strange, cruel men coming and going, doing inexplicable things to young children. Things that you can’t even bear to think about. Hour after hour, day after day, you are victimized, brutalized, humiliated and exploited. You can’t remember home, and it is gettting harder and harder to remember your mother’s smile. Every time you try to conjure it up, you only see pain, betrayal, loss. Will anyone ever find you? Will anyone ever come to rescue you? Is there ever going to be life beyond these four walls again? Will you ever be able to learn how to write your name, how to play with a simple toy, how to be a part of a family again? Can you even remember what it is to be treated with kindness? Imagine what happens when one day that door opens, and compassion walks in.

This is the story of many of the little faces we have loved, the hands that we have held and the laughter we have joined in with on our Hero Holiday Thailand trips. They are able to laugh and trust again because some incredible people have embraced compassion at the core of what it can be: to risk all for the sake of love. Many of the workers in this area have helped to rescue these 100+ kids from sexual slavery and exploitation. They have loved when it cost them much and they have paid a high price for that love. The cost has come in monetary value, living conditions, even heartbreak. In this place, compassion is without judgment, bias, or fear. It loves when it knows love may end in heartbreak and it loves in the hopes of a successful outcome. These men and women are leading the way, behind the scenes, in the homes that we support there and where we have the honor of working. Some of them have been rescued from the same horrors that they are now fighting, some of them have come from far away because they believe in a better future for children that the world does not even know exists, and some of them work there because they know their voice and their hands can work toward change.

And every time I work alongside of them and experience the power of seeing lives changed at the grassroots level where we come to help, I am forced to look in the mirror and ask myself, “What would I be willing to give?” It’s an incredible place to be.

You can join us this August in Thailand - it’s not too late to change your summer plans! Why not invest two weeks of your life in bringing hope and love to lives that are desperate to understand it? Check out our Thailand trips at www.heroholiday.com

I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it. ~ Thomas Aquinas

If you have joined us on a Dominican Republic Hero Holiday, chances are you know who Pastor Garcia is and you are familiar with the Arroyo Seco school project. Many of us have memories of laughter and camaraderie as we worked together, brick by brick, cement shovel by cement shovel to help make a community’s dream come true: the dream of a school for their children and for their future. That dream has become a reality through the help of hundreds of Hero Holiday participants since 2006, and we are excited to announce that our school is now recognized by the Dominican government as a certified private school! As well, their entire community project is now a recognized Dominican foundation, another part of the success of working together. There are over 100 students at the Arroyo Seco school, many of them able to go to school for the first time because of your hard work! The school is now running from junior kindergarten to grade 5, with students aged 3 to 15. Many of the older students have never had a chance to go to school before, so they are just as excited as the younger ones to have a chance to learn. Thanks to the generosity of some Canadian friends, our school now also has a computer lab, something that these students are completely new to but eager to learn on. The best part about certification for the school is that they are now part of a standardized curriculum that requires consistent reporting and accountability - something that is lacking in many schools across this tiny nation. These students have many hopes and dreams and many of them are a result of education. For those of you who were a part of the love, sweat and tears that went into the Arroyo Seco Community School project, this is your success. Thank you!

One tiny little movement, practically imperceptible to the human eye, so slight you would hardly feel it and yet so powerful you would never believe what it is capable of accomplishing. One day it was shy and unsure of itself, the next day it was beautiful, liberated and secretly powerful. That’s kind of what the “Butterfly Effect” is like.

When you meet her you would never guess how she ended up there, arriving at a place where few would have chosen; yet it is here that she is planted and making a difference. Roxy has a smile that is disarming and a demeanour that is gentle and inviting. Always open and non-judgmental, she immediately puts people at ease. You would never have guessed at where she has come from or what brought her to that place, because you would only see the outcome today.

A freak accident changed it all. Diagnosed with epilepsy at a young age, Roxy was always careful of her surroundings, as epilepsy is no respecter of time, location or dignity. But she never considered it would happen like this. She was 15 and their family had just moved into their new home, and she was about to take a bath. As she stepped into the tub, a grand mal seizure hit. But as it came on, Roxy’s limbs hit the hot water tap that had not yet been adjusted for temperature safety. As the seizure took over, Roxy unknowingly slid deeper into scalding water, and as it dragged on, so did the irreversible damage to nearly half of her body. As she emerged from the seizure, pain engulfed her. Within moments she found herself hospitalized, a victim of third degree burns. As the days wore on and the healing process seemed to never come, depression began to set in. Life would never be the same and she would always live with the emotional pain of shame at her appearance, feeling as if no one would ever see past it. Finally, one day, unable to deal with it anymore, Roxy’s mom confronted her with a choice: to allow her pain to determine her future or to embrace what her life can become. Somehow, she chose life and she chose to live past where circumstance had left her. That was when the butterfly effect began. No one else may have noticed it at first, but the change had been started nonetheless.

The term “Butterfly Effect” refers to the small change that can happen in the atmosphere that can ultimately determine weather patterns or prevent them. Something as small as the wings on a butterfly can be enough to cause a chain of events with huge consequences. That day in that hospital, Roxy’s life experienced the butterfly effect: by making one choice to see past her circumstance, she began a chain of events that has led to countless lives being touched and changed by hope and inspiration. After finishing high school, Roxy joined Absolute’s leadership development program and never looked back. She began to share her story with youth across Canada and began to envision what life can look like beyond pain and disappointment. It has been a long, unpredictable road, but it has always been worth it. Along with her husband, Brett, she is currently helping to give leadership at our School of Leadership base in Mexico. Here she gives direction, mentorship and encouragement to our students and to the numerous students that join us in Mexico for Hero Holiday.

Roxy’s life is the reflection of hope that we are about in Absolute. And like any large movement that can change life as we know it, it started with one tiny choice, one simple flutter of a butterfly’s wings.

You can bring Absolute to your local high school! Our Think Day presentation is currently touring across Canada and we want to partner with schools to bring this message of hope and let students know that change is possible. To find out more about what Think Day is about, our School of Leadership, or how to get involved in what we do, check out www.absolute.org.