First Morning Back In Canada

... and I couldn't be happier.

Kindness and Compassion

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.
Dalai Lama

As I mentioned a few days ago, I have been volunteering these last few months with an organization that helps people who are homeless. I have been very impressed by the work they do, so I wanted to write a bit more about it. They are called The Simon Community and they are quite well-known in Ireland.

The Cork Simon Community runs a wide variety of projects. Firstly, they have an emergency shelter with 44 beds. They also have an outreach team working 7 days a week to target those sleeping outdoors, in squats, or in other rough accommodation. Thirdly, a nightly soup run offers hot food and warm clothing at various locations around the city. There are also 5 high-support houses which provide homes to people with physical and mental health needs. Lastly, the team I work with, Housing Plus, oversees people who have moved on to independent-living apartments or semi-independent flats.

Housing Plus is a very small team, currently made up of only a manager, two full-time workers, one new half-time worker, and myself. I am a full-time volunteer, but will be leaving in a few weeks. They also have a Social Work student who comes in one day a week, but she will be leaving soon as well since her practicum hours will be done. Essentially, this is a tiny team and they serve over 100 residents. The majority of our time is spent visiting the residents who live in a few houses around the city centre. We support them in whichever way they may need help. Some need company and someone to talk to, while others need help getting to appointments or assistance with paperwork and bills. Some residents want to be put in touch with other organizations who can help them get a job or take some courses. We also deal with a variety of emergencies that come up in peoples' lives related to mental health issues, addiction, budgeting trouble, etc. There are no boring days at Housing Plus.

I feel like a new and better person since I began doing this work. My coworkers are great. They are my new role models and friends. There is absolutely no better feeling for me than spending my days with people whose values are so similar to mine. It makes me feel a sort of automatic bond and a respect for them. And then there are the residents. Oh, how to describe my feelings about them? They are certainly a colorful bunch, and I would be lying if I said that I find it all easy or all gratifying, but I don't think I have ever learned so much from a group of people in my life. A few of them have made me laugh until I cried, and of course some have just made me cry. Some moments are so sad it is unbearable, and some are so full of hope and beauty that I can hardly believe they are real. Within the chaos, there certainly are moments of clarity.

I have tried to rewrite this post to make it sound less corny, but to be honest my entire volunteer experience at Simon up to this point has been an emotional one, and I can't find any other way to describe it right now, so I'm afraid this will have to do. Such is the life of an under-slept full-time volunteer!

Onward and Upward

I have been accepted to the Counselling Psychology M.Ed. program at OISE, a department of the University of Toronto, beginning this September. I'm thrilled!

We certainly have a lot to deal with now, since Jon's work contract here in Ireland does not end until early December, but we will figure it all out somehow. I will find a place to stay on my own for a few months in Toronto and he will move into a smaller (cheaper) place for his last few months here, and we will LOVE skype. It will be complicated, but on the long term it will be great.

The next adventure is on the horizon.

No Words Left

Having just returned from Tel Aviv, and with so much of my family living there, it is impossible for me not to feel strongly connected to the recent news from that part of the world. For anyone who may not know about the flotilla story, you can check out these links. For more information, google the words "gaza", "flotilla", "israel", etc.

I have discussed this issue at length with many, many people, and frankly I have no words left, only sadness and frustration. Instead of using my own words here, I would like to post a couple of links to other peoples' eloquent words. These people express what I feel and think far better than I can.

1. David Grossman's June 2nd article in Ha'aretz

2. Salon's interview with Gaza-born journalist Taghreed El-Khodary from June 2nd

I'll stick to those two instead of listing an overwhelming number of links. The only other thing I'd like to mention, since I'm often asked about it, is that a great progressive media source for Middle East issues is Tikkun.org. They do come from a very Jewish perspective, but they are extremely progressive and they are excellent at collecting articles from various voices, including non-Jewish.

Warning: Verbally Explicit and Offensive Content

I was going to write my own post about this absolutely shocking ad, but I simply could not say it better than M. LeBlanc, so here is a link instead (Just click on the word 'link').

Haiti

These last few days I, like the rest of the world, have been thinking a lot about Haiti. I couldn't pass up the opportunity give you these links:

1. Chris Sacca's exellent blog post, Six Ways You Can Help In Haiti. Very succint and easily readable.

2. One of my favourite organizations, Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres) is on the ground in Haiti. They have an Irish branch as well as a Canadian branch. They could really use your help right now. No matter what your financial situation, there is no doubt that those in Haiti are worse off than you are right now. Any little bit would help.

My New(ish) Obsession

I've been really loving board games lately. I always enjoyed games like Boggle, Scrabble, Clue, etc. I think I liked them because I was good at them. Now I'm entering a whole new phase of game-playing in which I really appreciate the brilliance of the games themselves. And it's ok if I lose (although J might tell you otherwise).

The game that started this board game obsession for was Settlers of Catan. We played it with friends a lot, and I finally bought it for Jon for his birthday 2 years ago. I actually miss it here in Ireland - It is AWESOME. Other great ones I've discovered are Carcassonne (which we now own here), Ticket to Ride, and Saboteur (which I would like to buy). While in Toronto I also re-ignited my love for Scrabble so Jon & I brought it back to Cork and have played about a million times.