Inside an IDP Camp. The children after receiving the kinder kits have returned home and are outside their home playing and telling others about their wonderful gifts.  At the corner of their house are the kinder kits hung on the wall Happy children displaying their gifts. Timothy’s legs have paralysis below the knees.  With the wheelchair [...]

I took this picture from a moving van. The girl was running home to show her siblings what a wonderful gift she had received from Veahavta.  I imagined what her feelings were and concluded that she was carrying valuable instruments in her kinder kit which would transform her life into a professional to care for her community.  [...]

The Kinder Kits finally were cleared through Kenyan customs by the Israeli Embassy one and a half weeks after we arrived. We were so happy this day finally came. The boxes were stored for one day at the Nairobi Synagogue and then picked up by Marafiki in a lorry for delivery to the many schools, [...]

Hello Sarah, I am now in Amsterdam on my way back. Everything worked well in Kenya; I feel very proud for the great effort my team put in assisting the marginalized families in Kenya.  I am also very happy with the Marafiki team for their great effort in helping us accomplish our mission.  Let me [...]

I wanted to share with you some of the details of my conversation just now with Thomas Ngobe, who is returning home to Canada tomorrow after working in Kenya for these past three weeks helping to distribute our shipment of 2,500 Kinder Kits, rehab supplies (wheelchairs, walkers) and other donations (flashlights, tshirts) to Kenyans in [...]

We are doing well in Kenya. Lisa broke her left hand finger on Thursday last week.  She was riding in the back of the truck delivering the Kinder Kits when she accidentally tipped a box and broke her finger. We made our first delivery of the Kinder Kits in a school in Masai land, a [...]

On Thursday October 28th we distributed the Kinder Kits to various places which Marafiki identified. The following day Lisa and Corrine went on a safari and I went to visit my family.  Tomorrow, November 2nd, we will start the actual distribution of the items to the recipients. Thomas

Hello! I hope you’ve had a great weekend. The team has now checked in at the airport in Timehri (near Georgetown) and should be departing shortly for Port of Spain, Trinidad, then Toronto.  They will be arriving home tonight! Their past few days have been busy and they have been slowly winding down.  They ran [...]

Hi Sarah, We received the kinder and they are now at the Synagogue for distribution tomorrow to various places. Mark leaves tonight and Izzo will drive him to the airport. It’s a pity Mark is leaving just when we received the Kinder Kits. We have been extremely busy working with the IDP Community at Maai [...]

by Bekkie Vineberg As I flew away, over the dense rainforest as the lone passenger on a small plane, there was a simple rainbow, and it overwhelmed me with a deep sense of gratitude for being able to do this work, for the loving, kind people we meet along the way, and for the support [...]

Hello everyone, This is a short note to let you know that our team is now safe and sound in Bartica.  They flew out of Kamarang today into the airstrip near Bartica, where they were picked up by the Lions.  Everyone is experiencing a new kind of culture shock – where the interior is quiet, [...]

Good evening everyone, I hope you’ve had a great weekend.  Our team in Guyana is doing really well.  They have experienced some big transitions and have been working through them cohesively and with great spirits.  On Friday morning, Ray Deonandan arrived to join the group.  His flight arrived in the morning, and he was picked [...]

Hello everyone, I received an update from the team at around 9:30 pm last night – they are in Waramadong and are doing very well. They were tired – they woke up quite early to get a head start but a downpour delayed their travel. The clinic has been busy, and there is also a [...]

Hello everyone, This is an update to let you know that our volunteers are doing well in Kenya.  Thomas and I have been speaking each day. The volunteers are doing well and Izzo of MaRafiki has been keeping them busy and engaged.  They are eagerly awaiting the clearance of our container of Kinder Kits from [...]

Hello everyone, This is a brief note to let you know that Bekkie called a short while ago to check in from Kamarang. They saw about 60 patients yesterday, got through a torrential downpour unscathed, and assisted a woman through her labour and then the successful delivery of a healthy baby last night! I jokingly [...]

Hello everyone, Today’s note is to let you know that Jessica called a little while ago on the satellite phone to let me know that our team is well and thriving in Kamarang. They ran a busy first clinic today. Despite their long day of travel yesterday, they still managed to see some patients as [...]

We arrived safely in Kenya and now we are residing at a Home-Stay near the city of Nairobi. Izzo let us know that the Kinder Kits are in the country but the container has not yet been cleared. I will be calling the Synagogue to get more information and will let you know the progress. [...]

Just a brief note to let you know that the team is now safely in Kamarang, which is in the interior of Region 7. The tents are set up, the bags unloaded, and their immediate plan is to have lunch, rehydrate, and for those who are up to it, setting up the clinic. I think [...]

Good morning! I will be trying to email you every day for the duration of the trip with little updates on our Guyana team. This first update is to let you know that everyone arrived safely – and early – this morning in Georgetown.  The flight was smooth and ahead of schedule, and all of [...]

I cannot begin to describe my feelings of extreme pride and humility – proud to be part of Ve’ahavta, proud to be a Jew, proud to be Canadian and also at the same time, to be so humbled by the experience of how much individuals and groups can do to truly do to repair the [...]

Day 4 Haiti We had yet another wonderful day. I must tell you that as I write there is a tremendous thunderstorm – the first rains I’ve experienced here so far. Our morning began with a meeting with our partner Food For the Poor (FFTP) Haiti. Ve’ahavta is working with FFTP Canada to facilitate four [...]

Another incredible day. With each day, with each hour, I find my perspective shifting. I am realizing, for example, that while during my first few days here it seemed as though very little has happened here in terms of cleanup since the earthquake, I have been noticing a lot of activity on the streets revolving [...]

I am so excited to tell you about our first real day in Haiti. It has been so full and we have covered a lot of ground. We started with an early breakfast and in the light of the morning sun I glanced at the pool and saw what I had missed last night – [...]

What a day.  Wake up in the morning in my house in Toronto, my daughter asleep beside me still.  Last minute packing before the cab arrives with Alison to take us to the airport. It seems strange to be going to Haiti.  Neither of us had been and we had no idea what to expect. [...]

Our June 2010 Guyana team returned home this weekend. Over the past two weeks Ve’ahavta volunteers, Bekkie Vineberg (Site Coordinator), Dr. Sandy Buchman (physician), Seth Buchman (support) , Victoria Siu (pharmacy), Sarah Wilson (paramedic), and Sue Rebick (nurse) have been in Guyana on a medical mission. You can read more about their journey in our [...]

Hi everyone, The team got up super early this morning in order to be at clinic by 7 am so that they could ensure that they would see all remaining patients in Friendship before departing.  They just called from the bus which is on its way to Supenaam, the boat stelling. Before arriving in Supenaam [...]

Good evening everyone, Just a little note to let you know that the team ran their second last clinic today in Friendship, seeing about 60 people. Friendship is fairly remote and it took quite some time to travel there. Getting there including traveling for a few hours overland and then a boat ride down a [...]

Hello again, Just a short note to let you know that I did finally get to connect with Bekkie this afternoon. The team ran a very busy clinic all day in St Deny. It took about an hour to get there from Mainstay because of a very rough road, but they made it and will [...]

Hello everyone, The team has been running a clinic in St. Deny today. This will be a short email because there is limited cell phone access in that community and I haven’t been able to speak directly to Bekkie yet. She did leave me a message saying that everything and everyone is fine. Looking forward [...]

Good Morning, The team is doing well – they had a very busy day yesterday, seeing a total of 85 patients at clinic in Lima Sands and doing a significant amount of health promotion throughout the day. Bekkie noted that she has seen quite a few cases of infertility, which taken in context in a [...]

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. The team found their Thursday clinic in Capoey to be so busy that they decided to extend their work their by another day. The clinic was quite busy, and they saw approximately 130 patients. A few of the more significant health issues they observed included [...]

Good morning everyone, I just got off the phone with Bekkie. Everyone is doing great and they are just waiting for the boat to pull up to take them across Lake Mainstay and over to Lake Capoey. Capoey is the next village and is a magical place. Bekkie and I visited the community and met [...]

Good Afternoon! Our team has now arrived in Mashabo, another Seventh Day Adventist Amerindian community located along the end of Lake Mashabo.  It is a beautiful village.  The local health post (see attached photo) services a population of about 400 people.  There is a large population of children in this particular community.  The team got [...]

Good morning, Just a little note to let you know that our team is running its first clinic today in Bethany.  The turnout has been steady so far with a larger number of elderly patients.  The team has been joined by a volunteer from the Lions Club of Bartica, Beverley, as well as by Melissa [...]

Hello everyone, Good morning! This is a short note to let you know that our team, our bags, and all of our supplies have arrived safely in Guyana and were cleared through customs without a hitch.  Bekkie called at about 8:30 this morning to let me know hat everyone was great and that the team [...]