Staff Applications: UPDATE

Due to the positive response to the application process for serving on the 2009 Mish Adventure Camp Staff Team, we are no longer accepting applications.  

Thank you for your interest in serving on this years team.  Please check back in November for the 2010 Camp Staff Application forms.

EL SALVADOR - APRIL 2009

It is just six months since we returned from a successful project in Nicaragua!

Even before we completed that amazing mission, plans were being laid for our journey to El Salvador. Although you may not be part of the team traveling to this Central American country of approximately seven million people, we want you to be part of the experience through this blog.

We will be reporting from El Salvador after our arrival on April 18, 2009. We hope to provide you with daily blog updates. But, let me share with you some of our plans.

Our twenty-four member Canadian team will be comprised of four doctors and two dentists, assisted by several paramedics, nurses, dental assistants and other support staff. Joining us from El Salvador will be another fifteen people, including two local doctors and three local dentists. Add to this several translators, and you have a large, dedicated team ready to bring medical and dental treatment to children and families in El Salvador.

Working out of our central location in the city of San Salvador, we will travel to five communities in great need. Our goal will be to treat over 3,000 children and adults. What do they need? They need primary medical and dental care, food and other supplies, and they need to know that somebody cares about them.

While we are in each neighbourhood we will distribute medicine, food and clothing, and a SMILE, and lots of HUGS! A special program will be provided for the children, including games, songs and crafts.

Excitement is increasing within the team as we prepare for the mission. We also know that the sites are preparing for our visit. Blog reports will be coming from the following locations:

El Cedro
San Juan Buena Vista
Anayito
Remar
Somalia

Going to El Salvador and accomplishing amazing things for the children and families in that country would not be possible with out two major things:
1. the dedication and commitment of our team;
2. the support of our friends who provide funds and supplies.

Thank you and watch for further updates.

Ken Dick,
President – FTC Canada

A Trip To Mish

Update on First Nations Programs

March 2009 – A Trip to Mish.

Joey and Andrew Wesley are two Mish Adventure campers from the community of Mishkeegogmang. This winter their family narrowly escaped a devastating fire that destroyed their home and everything they owned. Suffering from smoke inhalation and second degree burns, many family members present in the home that day were truly lucky to be alive.

Remains of the Wesley home

The Chief of the community expressed sadness as she recounted the story. It would be hard for the family in the days ahead. A replacement home was not on the horizon and the family was separated throughout the community finding refuge where they could.

As Mish Adventure camp staff and friends of FTC Canada learned of the disaster, there was an inspiring, outpouring of love and compassion. Our Guelph warehouse received beds, mattresses, bedding, clothing, small appliances, a kitchen table, chairs and dishes. The supplies were quickly loaded with our regular shipment of food heading north.


It was a joy to be able to personally deliver these items directly to a “new” home made available to them in the area. The empty house was filled with the goods and supplies from FTC and the grateful family of twelve (including one new baby).

While we were unloading the truck, a group of Mish Adventure campers came by on a sled and stopped to help. It was a great occasion and they were excited to hear that we would be coming back in July to run the Mish Adventures Camp again.

In Pickle Lake we helped put together pallets of Kraft dinner, cereal, canned grapes, cookies, snacks, and many other items for 27 reserves in the far north. This was two days of work in a local warehouse with help from two young people from the Mish community. We stacked and labeled pallets and prepared the supplies for the trip up the famous ice roads north of Pickle Lake.

Thanks to the staff from Tikinagan Child & Family Services, Wasaya Airlines in Pickle Lake as well as all the volunteers from Mishkeegogmang.

FTC Canada values our partners. One plus one equals hope, happiness and relief for our friends in Mish and many other Northern Ontario First Nation Communities.

Karen Ward
First Nations Program Coordinator

2009 First Nations Camp Staff Application

Please use the following links to find the 2009 First Nations Camp Staff Application and Camp Staff Information document.

First Nations Camp Staff Application 2009

Camp Staff Information 2009

For more information contact:
Karen Ward
First Nations Program Coordinator
1-877-382-2262 ext. 232
karen@ftccanada.org

Flying North

The President of FTC Canada and the First Nations Program Coordinator made a flying trip up north in December. Thunder Bay, Pickle Lake and Mishkeegogmang were among the stops in a 24 hour period.

CAMP IN 2009
Christmas cards and Candy Canes were dropped off at the school in Mish for all the campers who attended our ‘Mish Adventures’ Camp last summer. It was great to see children in the school hallways who said, “I know you. Are you coming back in the summer?”

It was great to be able to say “YES”. We will be back to operate our third year of Mish Adventures from July 13 – 30th, 2009. We are all very excited!

NEW IMPROVED WAREHOUSE SPACE
In Pickle Lake, we met with Tom Morris, the President of Wasaya Airlines. He has generously offered to donate warehouse space in Pickle Lake and assistance through his staff at that airport.

We will now be able to ship more supplies and goods to reservations in the north, having overcome the space deficit we have experienced for 3 years. It is more convenient to fly cargo from this airport, as it allows for more frequent distribution of supplies to the many communities requiring assistance.

Thank you to Wasaya Airlines and our friends at Tikinagan Child and Family Services for making this happen.

2009 Update

As winter settles deeply in the north, our First Nations friends have to deal with different issues and needs. Most children are back in school and, if available, involved in winter programs. Hockey is a very popular sport in the north and we are approached by many communities with requests for hockey equipment.

Through the passion and desire to help of one hockey mom, many children in the north will be playing hockey this winter. Jackie Jones, from Ancaster, Ontario, has raised awareness of the needs in the north and has hockey associations and sports stores very interested in helping out. Read the article from the Ancaster News at http://www.ancasternews.com/news/article/155323

FTC has shipped two truckloads north - one in October and one in December – for distribution to 30 communities in Northern Ontario. The goods shipped have included:

• Juice and Food
• Hockey equipment and soccer balls
• Toys and Computers
• Blankets and knitted afghans
• Mittens, scarves, hats and sweaters
  

Thanks to the many donors who helped to secure these items
(Jackie Jones, North-South Partnership, Friends of Tikinagan Child and Family Services, Sheridan College)

Reflections on 2008

It’s hard to believe that over a month has passed since our team returned to Canada from Nicaragua. We are thankful for no sickness and total safety for our team during the eight days in this very needy country. We did have one frightening incident when our country director was kidnapped at gunpoint when our rental truck was stolen. He was able to escape by leaping from the back of the truck when it slowed for a curve in the road.

Reflecting on this mission, how blessed we are to be able to reach out with primary medical and dental care to over 3,000 children and families. Each clinic day we enjoyed the smiles on the faces of children when they received toys; the pleased and thankful expressions from mothers and fathers as we handed them parcels of food and clothing and shoes. The smiles and the word “gracias” will remain with all of us for a long time.

It is impossible for me to express my thanks in a meaningful way to our team. How do you say “thanks” to people who have given eight days of their lives to help others? The sacrifice made by our doctors, dentists, nurses, paramedics, school teachers, office workers and more.

I’m thankful for our Guatemalan staff that traveled many hours to be with us. It was not without its challenges – an overturned truck and many, many police checkpoints which delayed them several hours.

Our arrival at Toronto airport was a memorable end to the project. When I heard my name called over the PA system in the baggage area, I thought, “they probably lost my luggage”. That was not the problem – they had lost all our luggage – 32 pieces! Can you picture 28 of us standing around the luggage carousel wondering why we are the only ones from our flight still “standing around the carousel”? Well, we were told the luggage was still in San Salvador. It has not been transferred to our connecting flight. The good news – everyone received their bags four days later.

We never expect everything to go perfectly. You can become very frustrated about things that go wrong during the “heat of battle”, but on reflection, once you have time to relax and think about what was accomplished, you still feel a strong sense of having done a good thing. And we did!

Within days of our return we began to plan our next trip. Watch our site to be kept up to date on our mission to El Salvador in April 2009.

Thank you to all who have supported us in this project. We could not impact so many lives without your involvement. What we are doing is without a doubt “a team effort”.

Ken Dick
President