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Work Day One and Photos - Seycove Secondary School in Mexico

Published by Becky July 6th, 2008 in Front Page and Mexico. 0 Comments

There are two houses going up on the same piece of property. To our backs is hills of strawberry fields, speckled with the bandanna covered heads of the workers, with the sounds of the trucks going by. What can be heard over the generators and saws, that is. In front of us is the rodeo grounds. And thankfully so as well, because until the outhouse hole is dug to a good depth, the group is using those facilities. And please note, I use the word facilities loosely.

By the end of yesterday all the roof panels were done, as well as two of the walls. By the end of today, the houses will be up. It is an incredible sense of accomplishment to see the houses going up. Gerard, our building contractor and local Newfie, is hard at work with the students making great progress.

Sunshine, Sweat and Smiles - Seycove Secondary in Mexico

Published by Becky July 6th, 2008 in Front Page and Mexico. 0 Comments

On the first day here we loaded up the bus and headed south. We went to Benito Garcia, a village where Hero Holiday has been working in for over a year, to check out the schools our participants have built and talk about Social Justice issues. As we stood on the hard packed earth, with kids around, looking and smiling, we talked about statelessness. Together we learned about the challenges of no possessing a formal identity. We talked about the reality that face families in that area who do not have their papers, how it limits their freedoms and puts their children at higher risk. We talked about the people around us, who are living and breathing, loving and hurting, giving and growing… and how without their papers they do not technically exist.

For lunch we hit up Sand Dollar Beach, a beautiful spot here on the Pacific with soft sand, sloping dunes, and yesterday it had great waves to boogie board on. After some hang out time in the sun shine we loaded up again and headed north back to town and to the graveyard. There we talked about children. The child death rate in the world. We talked about why it is that people living in poverty seem to continually have big families, and about the ones that ended up in front is us, marked by a cross and some colourful plastic flowers.

One of our summer volunteer staff, Kelsey, is a veteran of Hero Holiday and shared her stories of kids that have made an impact on her. About Danica from the Dominican Republic whose short life and sad ending last summer is forever remembered in the hearts of our interns last summer. And about a small girl in Thailand, who lives today surviving horrors of a life of trafficking, and lives in hope. Each story, each topic, each view in front of us pulled at the minds and thoughts of the students and adults alike. Times of discomfort at the injustices in the world around are are so valuable. They keep us motivated, in touch and concerned.

The day isn’t over yet. We headed to a local crafter market, and the students got a good taste of bargaining as well as an exposure to what it is like to be approached by kids selling their wares, using their charm to convince. We checked out the local coffee shop and ice cream stand. Not to worry, both are tried, tested and true for our Hero Holiday participants and very much enjoyed by the Hero Holiday staff and volunteers. No stomach worries there.

The evening was a relaxing one, hanging out and getting together for the first days reflections on the trip. This is an awesome group, both the participants and leaders, observant, involved and definitely willing to get the most out of this experience as they can. It is going to be a great week!

Safe Travels, Safe Arrivals - Seycove Secondary in Mexico

Published by Becky July 6th, 2008 in Front Page and Mexico. 0 Comments

Day Three in Mexico for Seycove Secondary from Vancouver, BC. The Tijuana/San Diego border crossing was a breeze. We pulled the bus up to the busiest international border in the world, more vehicles pas through there each day than anywhere else, and Andrew, the driver, and I got out.

Not sure who has ever been through the Tijuana border before. You pull up to it in a car and go into a lane, it is a rare day to have a three car wait, mostly because of the speed of processing. You pull through and get a light, green says ‘pase’ and off you go, some of the cars racing ahead, or you get a red light saying ‘revision’ and you pull over.

Buses area bit different. Each time there seems to be a variety of options of hoops they could ask you to jump through. This time, we pulled up and got out of the bus. The border guard took us to the light, and Mr. Olsen (Rob) pressed the button. Green. ‘Pase’. No more questions. We were on our way.

Safe travels and safe arrivals. Everyone unpacked and headed to the beach for some relaxing time in the afternoon, then back to the dorms for the first of many delicious Mexican meals prepared for us by our cook Amelia. After some cross cultural orientation, people headed off to bed. I haven’t gotten one comment yet about the roosters, perhaps someone had chicken stew and there aren’t as many around this time.

A note of thanks goes out to Andrew and Dawn Bernardi, our bus drivers and co-leaders from Hope, BC. This is Dawn and Andrew’s second time to Mexico with Hero Holiday this year, and we are looking forward to having them here again in August. They are old hats at life around here in this part of the Baja, and their efforts are appreciated.

WE’RE HERE!!!!

Published by absolute July 4th, 2008 in Front Page and Dominican Republic. 2 Comments

Well… we all arrived in The Dominican Republic safe!! The Western and Ontario Departures both got off to a great start. Both teams met up in New Yorks JFK airport, where everyone met some new faces, the Hero Holiday staff, and got ready for the last leg of our journey. On the plane most people slept, traveling really does take a lot out of you. But at 1:05pm, a whole 55 minutes early, our entire team was awake and excited to be landing in The Dominican Republic and starting their time here.

After getting our rooms, roommates and luggage sorted out, we had some free time to go swimming or take a nap before dinner. After dinner Christal Earle, one of the founders of Hero Holiday, did a little orientation of Dominican life with us and we go split up into our groups for the week. These are the groups that we are going to be with at all the work sites, debriefing sessions, and excursions with, its all very exciting.

All in all the first night was a blast!!

Day One…by Andrea Lamont

Published by Becky March 4th, 2008 in Front Page, Mexico and Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Our group arrived here yesterday excited and ready for their Hero Holiday. After picking them up at the airport in San Diego and getting to know them on the way over the Tijuana border, I knew for sure that this is going to be a great trip. Our first adventure was to rent some stallions (horses that is) and take a ride along the beach. Surreal for most of us, sitting on top of the horse looking out at the city to our left, ocean to our right, and our destination in front of us. Then back to the van we went driving along the winding roads… after about 4 hours we arrived to our home sweet home. Of course the first meal that we ate had to be somewhat “Mexican” so the leadership students made up some quesadillas, nachos, salsa and guacamole.

Today we started Hero Holiday orientation. Becky took us to meet the family we are building for and around to a few of the projects that the organization has already done and we talked about cultural differences. We discussed how well off we are as “North American’s”. She gave us a chance to look around at different places in the area, she took us to an old shipwreck, the beach, a graveyard and we checked out some workers camps from a distance.

The most impacting part of today was when we were visiting the grave sight. See this graveyard isn’t like most in Canada, or even anywhere I’ve been before. This one is dedicated solely to children. The grave sight went on forever; I couldn’t even start to count. Some of the graves were not labeled and then some had crosses or monuments above them. We walked along side reading the dates and names on the memorials. Most of the children had only been about 4 or 5. If that wasn’t enough to break my heart, I looked ahead a couple of feet and saw fresh flowers. As I was walking over to it, it hit me… This young boy died two days ago, he was only three weeks old. He never even got a chance to live. I had to close my eyes to blink away the tears. At the back of my mind I got lost in my thoughts, the cruelty of living in poverty. Not having the right resources or knowledge to prevent diseases, not having the money or shelter to keep your kids alive.

Christmas Eve Miracle

Published by christal December 27th, 2007 in Front Page, Dominican Republic, Staff Blogs and Mainpage. 2 Comments

I am currently in Dominican Republic, visiting our Hero Holiday sites with my parents and some friends, and catching up with old friends from the garbage dump and the villages that are forever etched in my heart. On Christmas Eve, I had a little miracle, and last night I went to sleep with peace because I knew it was going to be ok. As many of you know, this past summer, while here on Hero Holiday, I found a little boy in the garbage dump that was orphaned, and who didn’t remember his own name, because his mother and father had been dead for so long. I named him David, and his story has gone around the world! He stole my heart this summer, and for the past 4 months, he was always on my heart and the focus of so many of my prayers. He is an amazing and resilient kid, but I left here in August hoping he would be ok. The home that he was in made me a little nervous, but what did I know about life for Haitian refugees and what they are forced to do to survive?

When I got to his village on Christmas Eve, I started looking for him, as there were lots of kids around our vehicle, but none of them David. Our translator, Bernard, and I started to look for him throughout the village. I went to the house I had last seen him staying in, and there was a new family there. We asked around, and after much confusion, found out that that family had moved to another house. We got there, and the lady that was there told us a terrible story: that David had freaked out and wrecked their house, and that she had to beat him with a leather belt twice. As she is telling me this, I am trying to control my facial expressions. In my head, I keep repeating, “Ok, Christal, calm down and don’t judge this situation until you find out the truth”. With measured control in my voice, I asked if I could see him. She proceeded to tell me that he no longer lived with them, and that he was now with a Dominican Family up the hill. Her son led us up the hill and as we wound our way through little rivers of garbage and mud, past houses with blaring sound systems, dodging chickens, dogs, and other unidentifiable creatures, we finally came to a nice painted cement house (a rarity for this village) and knocked on the door (also a rarity!). Inside, a man with kind eyes looked out at us and smiled, and Bernard explained to him who we were. He replied, “Oh, yes, we were expecting you to come find us!”. And then, from out around the corner of the doorway, I saw those same beautiful eyes searching mine. As soon as he saw it was me, he came forward. We met in the doorway, and I held him and cried. I kept kissing his cheek and telling him how much I missed him and how much I loved him. He just stayed there with his arms around me and nodded his head. I turned to the man whose house we were in and I told him thanks so much for taking such good care of him. He told me, “I can see that you love him very much. We love him too. We brought him here because we don’t want to see him being mistreated anymore.” That was what I needed to hear: that he was somewhere safe and somewhere where he was loved.

We began to walk back down to meet up with everyone, and David showed me his new school, as well as where he and his friends play. He told me is happy now and that he feels safe. The people that have taken him in were friends with some missionaries that visit his village, and they were very good to him and made him know he was loved.

This was my Christmas miracle: the gift of being able to see a dream realized, and the reality that there is never a small kindness that is wasted. Life is about giving yourself away, because it is the gift that the world truly wants and needs. This year, on Christmas Eve, I experienced that in a whole new way.

Stellar Opportunity!

Published by christal December 21st, 2007 in Front Page and Mainpage. 0 Comments

Hey all Heroes, we just got the inside scoop on an amazing opportunity! If you have joined us for Hero Holiday in the past, and are the between the ages of 16-24, you may want to consider applying for this cool opportunity:

The 2008 Jane Goodall Global Youth Summit, being held in Florida, is looking for 6 students to bring down to the conference for free! To apply, you need to fill out the application here :

Jane Goodall Global Youth Summit.

This could be an amazing opportunity to get inspired and connected with people like you who are looking for ways to make a difference and change the world. Your Hero Holiday experience is a great launching point for something such as this, so go ahead and apply!

Announcing our New Western Departure!

Published by cathy October 19th, 2007 in Newsletter, Front Page, Dominican Republic and Mainpage. 2 Comments

Hello Everyone! We have exciting news for a Friday afternoon. It’s official: Hero Holiday Dominican Republic has a new departure location for Summer 2008! Abbotsford, BC. We have had overwhelming participation from our students in Western Canada, despite the long haul it required to get them to Dominican Republic. Yes, sleepy-eyed after hours of travel, they are little troopers! Details…participants can choose an Abbotsford, BC departure rather than Hamilton, ON. The dates for the trips remain the same. We will have our staff ready and waiting whether you show up in Hamilton or Abbotsford. However, since Abbotsford is twice the distance from Sosua as Hamilton, the cost of Hero Holiday is slightly higher at $2595. Leadership Students, you are not forgotten! You also have the option of flying from Abbotsford instead of Hamilton for a cost of $3895. Well, I hope you are as excited as we are!

Upcoming Hero Holiday Application Deadlines

Published by absolute October 19th, 2007 in Front Page, Newsletter, Thailand, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Mainpage. 0 Comments

Here are some upcoming application deadlines that you might want to take note of:

November 1, 2007: Application Deadline for Thailand Spring Break (Mar 9-24, 2008) Hero Holiday
November 15, 2007: Application Deadline for Mexico Spring Break (Mar 1-11, 2008) Hero Holiday
December 1, 2007: Application Deadline for our Student Leadership Program
If there is enough interest, we are considering running a Christmas Hero Holiday Trip in Mexico, for families and individuals. Please email our Hero Holiday Director, Charles Roberts, as soon as possible at charles@heroholiday.com, if you are interested in the opportunity to do something significant this Christmas.

Please visit our trips page more more information, or visit our applications page to apply

Archive for the 'Front Page' Category

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