Upscale Shopping… at an Airport
For the second time, my travels have taken me through the airport in Doha, Qatar. Each time I have been impressed — if not amazed — by the high end shopping available… at an airport, of all places. If you want any famous label on your clothes, purse, or jewelry, then the airport in Doha is the place to go. Would you like to see some examples?
Mclaren is considered one of the fastest and best made cars in the world. In fact, they fall into the Super Car category. I don’t know how much this one would cost, but hopefully they will negotiate the price! I must admit, this was the first time I had seen a Mclaren in an airport!
In the shopping areas, I saw many bottles of expensive alcoholic beverages. Some of the bottles were quite large, as you can see in the photo above.
Speaking of beverages, apparently tea is taken very seriously in Qatar. As you can see from this display, you can have many different ways to prepare your tea, and there are several different types of tea to enjoy.
In the event your travels lead you to Doha, Qatar’s airport, you may want to budget a little extra time and money for shopping. Enjoy your traveling!
Helping People in Need… Globally
If you read my last blog, you would have seen that Global Partners in Life is now serving in Peru. I have found an organization that not only helps orphans, but helps widows as well. The orphanage is called New Life Children’s Home and it is located east of Lima, Peru, in an area called Cieneguilla, Peru. After my first visit, I must tell you I was very impressed… would you like to see why?
One of the first things I noticed was the large and very clean dining room and kitchen. The staff at New Life Children’s Home are very capable of providing nutritious meals, and yes, even birthday cakes in their industrial sized kitchen. The food I had there was absolutely delicious!
Probably the first thing I noticed about this children’s home was the wall surrounding the facility. Not only does this keep the children safe, but it had a colorful paint job as well. The children had lots of open space for playing and many different activities available for them. In the photo above, you can see the trampoline, swing set, rock climbing wall, and a structure like Noah’s Ark. In the photo below, you can see the basketball court that also is a soccer (excuse me, but it is called football in Peru) field!
The facility was amazingly clean! For the most part, the children live in barracks based on their gender and age. One of the most amazing facts about the New Life Children’s Home is they try to maintain one nanny for every 4 children, and the nannies actually live in the barracks with the children for whom they provide care. To my knowledge, there is only one child there with a special needs, which is different from the main orphanage we provide for in China. Check out how clean and organized the barracks are in the photographs below!
I am very happy to be able to give support to the New Life Children’s Home! The leader of the facility works very closely with the government trying to meet the needs of the children and help find adoptive families for the children. In fact, while I was there, a brother and sister were told they were going to be adopted by a family in the States!
For those of you that support Global Partners in Life financially, thanks so much! Because of you, the children in Peru are being cared for at a high level while waiting to be adopted! For that, I will never be able to say thank you enough!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
South of the Border
As I try to increase the size of the impact of Global Partners in Life, I look for reputable people that are serving orphans and widows. I just found a potential partner in Peru. Obviously, I wanted to check them out, so I just had my first trip to Lima. Would you like to see some of the sights?
All of the photos I will show you today are from an area near the airport in Lima. I am not sure what this building is, but I do know I saw several government buildings, historical buildings, and some museums.
As you can see from the photograph above, some of the buildings truly had some unique characteristics. This particular building was on one of the main streets going through Lima.
In the photo above you will find another beautiful building. The airport is near the coast, and for some reason, the coast is much colder than just 12 miles to the east. My apologies for the glare on this picture!
The last two photos are of some of the larger buildings I saw. The Peruvian people are very proud of their culture, heritage, and independence they won from Spain. They have many plazas and parks, which many people enjoy. The parks are nestled in between the buildings and traffic. It was interesting to see how just a small space would be used for a park, and many people would enjoy it, and you can see in the photos below. By the way, the next two photographs are not as close to the airport as the buildings.
If you have ready many of my blogs, you know I enjoy traveling. I can tell you my trip to Peru went well, and I look forward to sharing more with you about the trip. Hopefully you can enjoy some trips soon as well!
Something That Troubles Me
At the special needs orphanage supported by Global Partners in Life, there was a girl that had a huge smile that would make anyone who saw it happy. Unfortunately, she is no longer there — she was one of the many children removed from the orphanage by the government, because she didn’t have any official registration and she had never been adopted. Would you like to meet her?
Another unfortunate thing about this little girl named Qi Qi is that she had spina bifida with the tethered spine syndrome. What all that meant was that she had a hole in her spine at birth, but it was surgically closed. Also, she had no feeling from her waist down, and she couldn’t walk well at all, and she had to wear a diaper, so she couldn’t attend school. Additionally, she would get sores on her lower body, like her foot that would never completely heal.
Many different medicines were tried to help her with this wound. Both Eastern and Western medical approaches were tried, and sometimes the wound would almost heal, but then it would open again. Through all of the daily treatments and medicines, she never seemed to let this health issue get her down.
What is troubling to me is that now she has been removed from the special needs orphanage and I can’t learn how she is doing. I truly care for Qi Qi, but now that she is in the government’s care, I doubt I will ever see her again.
There is a new government program in China which guarantees orphans an education and medical treatments, and I have been told by an American doctor this program has been good so far. I do take comfort in that, but I would still love to see her smile again and know how she is doing. Watching her grow up and then suddenly she is gone has been difficult for Qi Qi, the lady that leads the special needs orphanage, and me!
I am very thankful for the supporters of Global Partners in Life, who enabled us to provide for Qi Qi and meet her needs while she was at the special needs orphanage.
Learning from Traveling
It would be very difficult for me to itemize all of the different and surprising things I have seen and learned during my travels to Asia, but I am thankful for all to which I have been exposed. Some things were a little more expected and less of a surprise than others, but always interesting to see. Would you like to see some of the sights from a trip to India?
The photo above was taken in a small city in eastern India. I have no idea how this young lady could keep the sack on her head balanced as she wove through the traffic, but I was impressed — and I knew I didn’t want to do that myself! This sight became very common as I spent more time in India, and I have never seen anyone drop the load off their heads prematurely.
Many times I saw a water buffalo or an ox pulling wooden carts in India, but I was not sure about what these animals were. They had the bodies of a cow, but I am not sure about their horns. I haven’t seen this combination before.
Being from the Atlanta area, you know I am a Coke guy when it comes to my cola preference. In India, Coke is called Thums Up, and I can’t say that it taste exactly like what we have in the States, but it is very close. Now, if I could just find some that were cold when it is 100 degrees and 100% humidity!
I was never truly into academia, but I can say that I do enjoy learning by traveling. There are many things you can learn through traveling that simply are not in books . . . but books are a great way to learn also.
How about you? Do you have your next trip planned? This week I booked a trip, and I can’t wait to share with you about it!
The Importance of a Gift
Recently I reviewed photos from a trip to China in 2014, and I realized the impact the donors of Global Partners in Life were having should be shared. In a very short series of photos, I obtained some amazing young people struggling to have a healthier life. Would you like to see them?
This little friend of mine just had the second of 3 surgeries for a cleft palate. He already had the surgery to close his lip, and this surgery closed the gap in his gums. The third surgery is to close the gap in the roof of the mouth, but it must be performed when the child is considerably older. He must have had lots of swelling, because I have never seen the breathing device inserted in the nose like that. Oh, and his cheeks are pretty plump also! This little guy has an incredible amount of energy, so it is unusual to catch him sleeping!
As you can see in the photograph above, this little boy is getting individualized care. Through the donations to Global Partners in Life, we were able to pay for a medical procedure which implanted a stint to allow drainage for this young boy with hydrocephalus. Again, through the generous gifts to Global Partners in Life, we are able to pay the salary for the lady providing care for the boy. Her name is Loa, and she is over 70 years old and she has a bad back. Her husband wants her to retire, but she says she loves the children too much to stay away from them. Loa and her husband have reached a compromise, and she has reduced the number of hours she works each week.
On behalf of the people in need, Global Partners in Life, and myself, I want to thank everyone that gives their time, talents, and funds to help others who can’t provide for themselves. Who knows, it could be you in need one day!
Blue Skies Over Beijing
There is continued good news from China! I know some of you may have heard negative things about China on the news, but there is something happening there that is an improvement. Would you like to know what it is?
The air quality in Beijing is improving at an amazing rate! The photo above was taken in the afternoon during the winter, so the sun was lower in the sky, and you can tell by the lack of leaves it was winter. The sun wasn’t brilliant and clear that day; rather it was dull from all of the air pollution. Many times I have taken groups to China and our flight would arrive in the afternoon. While walking up the ramp (which had windows on each side) from the plane to the airport terminal, my friends would say, “Oh, it is going to rain today.” As I kind of chuckled to myself, I would explain to them the air in Beijing just looks like that on some days.
When I lived in Beijing several years ago, I lived on about the 20th floor of an apartment building. On some days it was difficult for me to see the telephone poles by the street from my apartment window. So, I am very happy to report that Beijing has done a marvelous job of improving their air quality.
The photo above shows a building in Beijing. As you can see, now there is a beautiful blue sky!
Some industries have been invited to relocate outside the city, and I think that has had a positive and visible impact on the skies over Beijing. Public transportation is available and encouraged in Beijing, which has also helped control the air pollution.
If you had considered travel plans to Beijing and were concerned about the air quality, I would encourage you to book your trip! Based on what I have seen, it would be surprising to me if you saw a return to the days of horrible air pollution. Maybe I will see you there!
Another Friend with Hopelessness
If you have read many of my blogs over the last few months, you may have noticed many of them were about a group of rural elderly widows near Gumma, India. These ladies have varying degrees of health challenges, but they all have one thing in common; unfortunately, that commonality is a sense of hopelessness.
Today I wanted to share the story of another new friend I met earlier this year during a trip to India. Would you like to meet her?
The lady in the photograph above is Marthama Pani. We know she is over 65 years old, but we are not exactly sure of her age. Her story is a sad one for us to hear, but it must be a heart crushing one to live through.
In the local culture, the oldest son should take of his widowed mother. Unfortunately, there are not many consistent employment opportunities in the area, so many guys are day laborers. The expense of having his mother in his home was more than the son could afford; so when he kicked his mother out of his house, he gave her a bowl and said, “here is a bowl, now go and beg the rest of your life!”
Global Partners in Life is in the process of building a facility in Gumma, India to provide housing for 20 elderly widows! We have actually broken ground in July, and the progress is continuing. This facility will have an industrial kitchen, which will provide three meals a day for the ladies, and it will have clean running water and restrooms for them. Additionally, the facility will have a dining hall, sick room, bedrooms, and a conference room for meetings and counseling.
If you would like to help us complete the facility, please visit our website at https://globalpartnersinlife.org/ and make a much needed donation. I would be extremely grateful for any support you could give for this worthy project for these truly needy elderly widows!
The Daily Market
Please allow me to take you on a brief tour of a daily market in eastern China. This city is not considered a large one, but it has grown extremely fast in the last few years. Even though the vendors are busy, they have always been kind, patient, and fun to be around. Would you like to meet one?
Obviously this guy is a butcher, and he said he would give us any cut of meat, just tell him what we wanted. He did, however, take time to let us know that his sausages were the best in the city. He was very good at marketing, and laughing at his obvious selling techniques.
As you can see in the photo above, cleavers are VERY common in China. I can’t imagine going to a market and not seeing them. Additionally, the hard wood cutting blocks are frequently used by the butchers.
From what I could see, there was absolutely no way this chicken could have gotten out of the cage, but it looks like somehow it did. It kind of looks like he is the boss looking down on his workers. Yes, at this market you can buy your chicken alive or already dressed. It is your choice!
It is quite common for a Chinese family to go to the market each morning to get the food for the day. This way the freshest food will be served, and you get great prices at these markets compared to the big grocery stores . . . usually! Often the farmers will get up very early in the mornings and drive their products into the city. Many of the markets are only opened in the mornings.
If you have an opportunity to visit one of these daily markets, I strongly encourage you to partake. Remember, you never know what you might see!
Happy traveling!
Where It All Started
For those of you that have followed Global Partners in Life and the work we are doing in Asia, you know that the first group of orphans we supported were from a rural area in China. There was a horrible fire in an illegal fireworks factory in this rural area called Junan, and 20 students became orphans that day.
Through the support of our generous donors, Global Partners in Life had been supporting these orphans before I had an opportunity to meet them in person. Would you like to meet them also?
As I said, this was a rural area and you can see the roads were not paved. We visited the orphans at their school, and even the school’s band showed up to welcome us. I felt very sorry for the students in the band, because it was 105 degrees that day and they had to wear their band uniforms.
The orphans we were supporting were allowed to come to school that day without wearing their school uniforms. We had a formal ceremony, and those particular orphans were given some gifts and sat in the front row.
As you can see in the photo above, the students in China wear uniforms to school. I have more photos of the orphans, and as you can tell, they were different ages. Global Partners in Life made a commitment to them that, regardless of their age, we would pay for their school fees, school supplies, uniforms, books, and lunches until they graduated from high school. I am thankful to report that 19 of the 20 did actually graduate from high school. One boy ran away one month before he graduated, and we have no idea what happened to him after that.
I am so thankful the donors of Global Partners in Life enabled us to meet the needs of these 20 orphans. Through their contributions, we were able to change the trajectory of these children’s lives by helping them receive an education.
We would love for you to partner with Global Partners in Life also!