Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Some pics from Ontario







Back home

Hi all! We are back home from our whirlwind southern Ontario tour. We had a great few days, and sang and told stories to more than 600 people! We keep receiving such warm welcomes and affirmations. It is very humbling.

World AIDS Day is in two days...December 1st. We started this work 8 years ago, and perhaps we were naiive, but I honestly don't think that Darryl and I thought that we would still be singing and raising awareness, and money through cd sales 8 years later. But AIDS has not gone away. Sadly, tragically, it has only become more urgent. 33 million people living with the virus. 16 million orphans from AIDS. Statistics say that very time one person receives potentially life saving antiretroviral therapy, another two people are infected with HIV. And resources are drying up. Governments, organizations and individual donors are losing interest and moving onto other issues. People are suffering... specifically grandmothers, mothers, wives, young women, children...the most vulnerable. They are the ones who are feeling the weight of the crisis.

With the cd project, we are close to having raised $700,000 for MCC's work with AIDS just through cd sales. It is so exciting! But there is no room for us to stop. The work has to continue. MCC has felt the impact of the economic recession, as have so many others, and as a result, program budgets are being cut. Partners that we have supported for years are now receiving tens of thousands of dollars less. This cannot be acceptable. We have to keep reminding people how important this work is. AIDS, food and water security, peace work...it is all connected.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Hello from Ontario!

Hi all! We are writing to you from Vineland, ON. It's day 2 of our four day tour in southern Ontario, and we are having a great time! Yesterday we sang/spoke at 5 events at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, beginning with chapel at 9:20 with 300 students, and then speaking to 3 classes throughout the day, ending with a concert in the evening. Fun day! This evening we were at Vineland United Mennonite Church for a fundraiser, and sang/spoke to 120 folks, sold lots of cds, and raised money for AIDS work. It has been a good two days! Tomorrow morning we are back at the Vineland church for the worship service, and then we are off to Leamington for an evening concert.

People have been so gracious, warm and affirming, and we have been told over and over to not stop what we are doing to promote the crisis of AIDS, and the work that MCC partners are doing with AIDS. 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS, 15 million orphans, and generations lost to AIDS. Poverty, desperation, hunger, violence, lack of access to basic resources like food, water, education, war, rape as a tool of war...that is AIDS. Every time we view the video on the Take Your Place dvd and see the people that we met in places like Najile, and remember their stories, their kindness and hospitality, their struggles, we are reminded why it is so important to keep doing what we do.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Off to Ontario!

Hi everyone! Darryl and I are sitting at the Winnipeg airport waiting for our flight to Toronto, ready to hit the ground running in southern Ontario! Abe Janzen, Exec. Dir. of MCC Alberta, will join us a few hours later. We sing at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate tomorrow morning during their chapel, and Abe will tell stories from his recent trip to Nepal, visiting MCC AIDS partners there. We also will be speaking to three or four classes during the day, and a concert tomorrow evening at Rockway. Should be fun!

More later, with pics and no doubt pithy and witty blog entries.

Kim

Friday, November 5, 2010

MEDA Convention

Just home from a very fine evening at the MEDA Convention in Calgary. This evening Darryl and I led two songs and sang one song on our own to a crowd of about 400 people at the Westin Hotel in downtown Calgary. Tomorrow morning we are back there for a 75 minute sing-a-long session. And back again on Saturday and Sunday. Darryl has far more experience leading singing than I do, so this feels like a bit of a stretch for me. But people were very gracious, and seemed to enjoy the music this evening. Hopefully that will be the case over the next few days as well!

If you don't know about MEDA, check out their website: www.meda.org They are doing some amazing work!

Kim