Wednesday began with a visit to Girls Inc., a group formerly known as Big Sisters. The lady there shared with us the various activities they do – some as part of the curriculum of the school – and others as after school programs with teenage girls. It offers the girls the freedom and security of being away from guys – of putting on a show, and just being themselves. Unfortunately, they have budget and human resource constraints, and are thus in only one school per year. But it really sounds like a profitable program for the girls.
Adam and I went to the soup kitchen yesterday, and the highlight for me was seeing Luke. I first met Luke when he was drunk, sitting at a park bench. However, I had heard there was a change in his life because of a church service he went to at the Baptist church here, and when I spoke to him Wednesday, he shared he had been sober now for 3 days, and while difficult, God was helping him stay that way. He also shared of his desire to return home to a small coastal community in Nunavut, but the expense of the trip = $3000 was prohibitive, but that he was saving money. He said that normally he woke up each morning, broke from spending all his money on alcohol, but now was saving up his money. It really was nice to see Luke in control of his faculties!!
I got asked by a little fellow named Chase to go and play Chess. I told him that he’d have to explain the rules to me, and he agreed to these terms with a rather astounding eagerness. While he did seem to know what he was doing, the rules Chase abided by were far different from any I’d heard of before. However, being something of a Chess newbie, I didn’t make much of this. That was until my new friend Chase, began revealing key pieces of information as soon as they became relevant… and he was in a position to collect. Always quick on the uptake, I began drilling him with questions about his set of rules, haha. When I pointed out an inconsistency in what he was doing and what he was telling me I could do, he grinned impishly and said, “I thought you said you’d never played before…” I hastened to inform him that this fact in no way impaired my judgment and I was going to keep my eye on him to make sure he wasn’t trying to pull any metaphorical wool over my eyes.
It wasn’t long into the game before we were joined by a girl named Natalie, who attempted ever-so-valiantly to come to my rescue. The pair of us united mental forces and put up a strong defense (which, in this case, was a good offence) against Chase’s dark army. The whole series of chess games consisted predominantly of sending out the Queen (who, according to my good friend Chase, could pretty much go wherever she wanted – ignoring every obstacle, penetrating any and all lines of defense). Needless to say, victory was given to whoever rallied their omnipresent forces and appeared somewhat magically beside the opponent’s King. The rules of play were alien, and I still have the sneaking suspicion that Chase threw rules on the table at whim. But victory and defeat were each accompanied by good-humoured laughter by all parties… and, in that way, we were all continual winners.
Well well...after the long four day trek I have finally arrived
and yesterday was my first day here in Fort McMurray.
I had some time to get oriented a bit with my surroundings
and get oriented.
Made my first trip out with the 'Ink Speaks' crew and had some
positive leads. All in all not a bad first day.
I just got back from the Soup Kitchen with Seana. It was my
second trip there but I haven't been for about 2 weeks.
Again it was a great experience. I washed a lot more dishes
than before though, that's for sure. I did feel like I had
less interaction with the people coming to the Soup Kitchen.
I worked with new people this time as well. And I must add,
the chili was amazing and garlic bread was so delicious, we
brought some of the left over bread home with us. It was
great that we had enough food because last time we did end
up running out and made up a bunch of cheese and mayo sandwiches
because that is all we had.
Well ya, that's pretty much my day so far. I guess I was really
supposed to be talking about yesterday because that is how this
works but being the BLOG MASTER I feel I have the right to write
about what I want. HA! well maybe not...
Afterwards we got back to Keyano and the rest of the team had arrived! We had a really good evening of relaxing and filling everyone in on what had been going on, and getting debriefed on their car ride. After a late night of talking and praying we all set in for a solid night sleep, because with the new team here, a new wave a workers had arrived.
Hello there faithful readers!
I don’t even know if anyone is keeping up to date with this old blog but I’m gonna write and write I will. Yesterday was the big KAOS birthday party bash for their first birthday. It was exciting to hear different people’s stories of how KAOS has affected them over the past year. One family in particularly were arguing over the best station in town, and despite the efforts, KAOS won two against one. The mother and daughter were very happy with the variety of different music playing on the station and the great message it portrays, although the girl wasn’t too thrilled that she had awaken to Black Eyed Peas that morning.
There was cake, music, food and trivia, but most importantly great company with amazing people. I cruised around and took a bunch of pictures and talked with all the people who have helped raised and support this radio ministry. Thanks to all those who came out on Sunday, and special thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!
I’ve now been here for just over a week, and yesterday was a good day.
Communication in the team is improving significantly, at least from my perspective!
In addition, we began to go out into the streets of Fort Mac in pairs, to meet the teenagers and invite them back to the Dugout. Jen and I went out yesterday, for about an hour, from roughly 2:30 to 3:30, and went to the Alberta Provincial Building, where we met a number of youth, some of whom we already had contact with. We also went to the Peter Pond Mall, and met a couple there, returned to the Provincial Building and made some more contacts, and then returned to the Dugout.
We also officially began our daily participation in the Soup Kitchen, hosted by the Fellowship Baptist Church. Once I get more information about the Food Wagon – a Salvation Army ministry – we will also be participating in that.
Lukas and I, along with Travis and Alex (two randoms drawn in by the poster I made announcing upcoming Dugout events – yaaaay for posters!) played some Rock Band today. Our random, computer generated band name was the Damp Hats – this, I think, is actually rather catchy. This marked what was probably my third, maaaaybe fourth time playing Rock Band; I’m still primarily attached to my laptop. We Rocked Out until supper, when we parted ways to fill our rampaging stomachs. I noticed a random guy hanging around in the kitchen while we were all gathering for supper. He was soon introduced to us as Tyler – the hero who, just today, bought and donated a brand-spanking-new Rock Band to the Dugout.
Somehow (I can’t remember how it came to be… just another testament of how awful my short term memory is becoming…) Tyler and I ended up talking; we had a marvelous chat about Sun Core, where he works as a valve operator. I made him tell me all about its inner workings and he gave me what I think was a customary “This Topic May Cause Drowsiness” disclaimer. He told me all about the oil refining process, and I shared some Quaker Oats stories (like how the whole experience could be described as a lesson in inefficiency), and even went into an in depth explanation of Man Hoists. We soon discovered a shared hatred of working at Tim Horton’s – turns out the pair of us are Timmy’s veterans and each of us had worked under rather ‘interesting’ managers.
Later that evening, at the Palace, I decided that it had been too long since we’d seen our good friends and neighbours: the boys next door. I voiced that we should go over for a visit when we didn’t have some hidden agenda like borrowing their baking sheet, kettle or frying pan. So, we all moseyed on over at about Hi there! My name is Bill, and I was born and raised in Peterborough ON.
I am here as part of this team from Ontario to help the city of Fort McMurray deal with the social issues they are facing – the drug addiction, prostitution, and at high-risk youth. The venue is a youth drop in centre called the Dugout.
Monday was my first full day at the Dugout, as I arrived here on Friday. One of the staff, Kayla, this afternoon took us around the city, as she took a flyer around to the two school boards, looking for permission to give this flyer – the monthly schedule of events at the Dugout – to all the students. We also talked to Dan, one of the youth known from the Dugout, who later showed up back at the centre. Kayla also introduced herself and us to another girl we had not yet met, and hopefully started a relationship with this girl.
I also was trained on the snack bar, how to ring items into the cash register, and other related duties.
An impressive first day!
Recently I had the opportunity to talk to Joe*. He dropped out of high school to go pro with BMX riding. He has been riding for 10 years but regrets his choice because this career's shelf life is quite short. Joe wishes that he stayed in school and would be able to be in college right now. He is a mechanic and is going to get his license soon, then hopefully will be able to go back to school. He told us that he thinks it's a waste of time spending all day riding on his bike and he would rather be working all day or be in school learning something. Most people judge others before they even meet them and just assume that they are trouble. Fort McMurray is no different than any other place in Canada, it only seems that way because only the bad news is shared with outsiders. There are many kids like this and they all have so much potential and want to do something with their life. Some of them are just stuck in a rut and need help to get out.
- Amanda
Another day spent at the Dugout. It was a slower day today. I am definitely looking forward to the summer though when there will be more kids around throughout the day as most of the activity now does not really start until after 4-4:30. It has been good though. A couple of groups came in today for ongoing games of Rock Band, ping-pong and pool and of course skating down at the park and all I can say is that their skills are amazing. It is also so cool way to connect to the kids through these as they come back to play daily and have the opportunity to teach us about what they are good at. It has been opening the doors to a lot of good conversations growing friendships and trust. I only think the saddest part of the day here at the Dugout is closing for the night and having to ask the kids to leave, of course it will be open later during the summer and on weekends but if only we could all stay for as long as the interest and kids were there. However, the staff who are here are amazing for doing everything they can here. We just do not have enough people to run far into extended hours, which is one of the reasons we are really hoping to get the people we meet fired up and committed to keeping the project going themselves. On another great note though, we got to meet Joanne from AADAC (Alberta Alcohol & Drug Abuse Commission) who comes every Thursday afternoon to be available for the kids here. It was neat because we all got to talk to her and pick her brain about the area and organizations and resources we can bring kids too when they are ready to get out lifestyles which may otherwise consume them. Then next week there is going to be meeting with about 40 such organizations briefing us and preparing material to hand out to those we meet. As such, all goes well on the fourth day of this awesome experience.
It was only our third day working at the dugout, but around mid day we had kids just pouring into this youth center. They came from Fort McKay, which is reserve land about 45 minutes north of Fort McMurray, with a lot of first Nations communities. This one of the most effected regions outside of Fort McMurray by the oil sands, because the observations of rights for the first nations peoples is incredibly limited, and because it is so close to the sands it is just being hugely affected environmentally and socially as well.
These kids were amazing though, they came in for a school trip to use the water park, but since a pipe had busted in it about a week ago, they all poured into the center and we really got to engage them in here instead. It was such a blessing to us, because I have never met youth that were so enthusiastic about getting involved in different activities, and just wanting to learn so much. It was amazing. I was able to organize a soccer game out back with a couple of other staff, and we got the kids running around which was just awesome, and really reminded me of the power behind team-building and life lessons that can be pulled from sports. It was also very powerful being able to pour into them, as they really responded to us just caring about them and wanting to know about their lives. Many of them also really responded well to music and wanting to learn guitar and drumming and vocals etc. We were all just really excited to use our talents also in engaging them, and it was incredible how they lifted each other up in everything that they were doing and just really positively interacting to each other. The teachers seemed really grateful for the afternoon, but we were blessed by it too. It seems that although the sands take such a huge toll on communities such as that of the Youth of Fort McKay, there is still people working really hard for positive change, and the youth that came in here were amazing. Hopefully we will get to see them later on this summer!Rick has fallen and he can’t get up. His skateboarding career has come to a skidding halt, after trying to skate down a ramp and falling hard on his side. He got back up and the only sign of injury we could see was his bloody elbow. Soon he wasn’t feeling very well, we decided we should get him to a hospital as his breathing became shallow as it gave him serious pain to breathe deep and also to raise his right arm above his shoulder level. After three hours in the little town of Marathon, we were on our way again with an injured, but diagnosed and drugged leader. Rick ended up with a couple broken ribs and a few probably cracked. His driving days for this trip are now over and he has moved to the car. Now it is myself and Sarah driving the car and Amanda and Adam taking over the van. Interestingly enough, we were able to reflect on His grace and all the things He has provided for us. He took away the opportunity to have the Winnebago, which was good because Rick was the only one who could drive it. We were merely minutes away from the nearest hospital, He blessed us with a couple people who have first aid and the hospital was rather quiet so he got in quickly. He even kept us moderately on track with scheduling and kept Rick from hitting his head off the cement. The injuries were not that bad in comparison to what they could’ve been and we were very thankful. We arrived in Thunder Bay VERY late but on track with our schedule, not a day behind.
Day Three:
Today has been a long day, we slept on a hard cement floor, in the basement of Farrand Street Bible Chapel. They were very kind and left us tonnes of food, unfortunately we got there very late from Marathon. Sarah took the first drive in the rain and drove for around 5.5 hours straight before we traded off, just before the border of Ontario and Manitoba in the town of Kenora. One thing I noticed about driving in Manitoba, aside from how flat it is, is that it doesn’t have near as many road signs and helpful things like that to help you find your way – it’s more of an, OH that was my turn... type deal, haha. We’ve also decided that it is exactly like the picture on their license plates – road, wheat, trees. All this in a very flat kind of way... I drove for a little more than 6 hours today on this wonderfully flat road, though there is the odd turn in the road you generally go pretty straight too. Eventually we found Fairford and got to see Dorothee in her natural habitat, the sheep farm. It was awesome, we got there at 8pm and they had dinner ready to go and had waited to eat so that they could eat with us. Their table can sit like, 20 people, it was incredibly long, and the food was amazing. We then went on a walk and got to play with sheep! There was a baby sheep next to the deck that was an orphan and sick but very sweet. We went into the stable where there were 10-15 of newly born infants (be them triplets or left behind) and got to help feed them. I think we were all pretty excited. They also had 6 ducks, haha. We went into the chicken coop and got to see them all put to bed. We also played with Frank, the orphan cow, a sweet but timid animal. The rest was great, sleeping in a room with just the KLBC girls and me on Dort’s bed, I got a pretty good sleep and was out when my head hit the pillow.
Stopped in Insinger, it is a tiny little ghost town where literally no one lives. It was strange, we stopped for bathrooms and food to find no one. The whole town is gone. We found two men, renovators of a house around the corner and they said that no one was there, some people moved away for bigger towns and others died but it’s been abandoned for around 5 or 6 years and the buildings looked it too, aside from one or two places everything looked either burned or broken, dead – just plain dead. Funny enough we went to a little place called Sheol and the lady who worked there said she was from Insinger, it was all we could do not to laugh hysterically, but she quickly told us that she lives in the country and suddenly the world made sense.
Everything went well until we got stranded just 235km outside of Fort McMurray when the van died. Smoke billowed out of the hood and it took practically all of our water to cool it down. We broke down about 4pm and I called CAA which was actually good, because I got us a free tow to Fort Mac, and someone to follow in and not get lost. We waited for three hours for the tow truck and when it came, it was glorious. Yet, the Lord still showed us that He is with us, allowing us to be found and the tow to be free and just in range (as it is only free up to 300km). It seems since we didn’t take the Winnebago, God has given the group some major bonding time, when there’s nothing else to do but hang out. Amanda learned a little djembe which was fun too. We arrive in fort mac around 9pm, at pizza and got settled into the purple palace, and it is purple. Sweet accommodations though!
Today was the first day in the Dug Out and very fun. I was surprised with how beautiful the place was and was definitely picturing the whole town differently however it was very sweet and I think we’ll have fun. I got readdicted to Rock Band and Sarah is now too and we played with kids all late afternoon/early evening. I played ping-pong with a cool kid named Noah and am really just trying to figure out what to do when I’m there. It’s just like I don’t know what is expected of me at all and anytime I try to figure out it just frustrates me.
We saw the 7/11 lot too, the lot next to it is smaller than I expected but it’ll be cool when we can build the stage.
