A little child leads us

Youth from Jobat, India visit Canada for Canada Youth 2009 Conference

2009-08-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

On July 13th we were delighted to welcome to our home 4 young adults from the Jobat region in India: Roby and Deepak from Jobat, Sonya from Mendha and Deepika from Amkut. They stayed with us the week before the Canada Youth 2009 conference (http://canadayouth.ca/).

We showed them Niagara Falls and Canada's Wonderland and Square 1 shopping centre and they taught us how to sing Jesus Loves Me in Hindi and how to make chai tea the real Indian way. We miss you guys already and can't wait to see you when we come to India in September!

(Photo: Roby, Sonya, Deepika and Deepak on the steps of Knox church in Oakville on July 19th with Pam Leonard, Sarah Travis and Paul Miller)

Press release on the website of the Presbyterian Church in Canada
Youth from Jobat, India visit Canada for Canada Youth 2009 Conference
in International
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
OTTAWA, ON -- On 6 July 2009, a group of four youth from the Jobat area in India arrived for Canada Youth 2009.

Roby Tomar, Deepak Baghel, Deepika Tomar, and Jaklina (Sonya) Parmar were all a part of the hosting youth group for last year’s Youth in Mission trip to Northern India, with The Presbyterian Church in Canada's historic mission partners in the Vindhya-Satpura mountain range (formerly referred to as the Bhil Fields). Members from last year’s YIM trip, Aisling Boomgaardt together with Rev. Andrew Johnston hosted the youth for their first week in Canada at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Ottawa.

Pictures in the slideshow below are from their time in Ottawa, visiting schools, supermarkets and hospitals and experiencing Canadian wilderness at Camp Gracefield. The youth will spend this week with Sarah Travis in Oakville, Ontario, before heading to the Canada Youth 2009 Conference at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

The youth will finish off their trip to Canada with a visit to MacNab Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ontario, and two days in Toronto with members of last year’s Youth In Mission trip, Liz Brewer and Lindsey Hepburn.

slideshow on Flickr of India youth visiting Ottawa

Results from Sam's Day at Ten Thousand Villages

2009-08-01T19:26:00.001-07:00

Sam's day Ten Thousand Villages was extended through Mother's Day at the Oakville store and a couple of others as well, so it took a little longer than expected to tally up the figures. I am delighted to announce that we raised over $600 for Sam's fund. That money will make a huge impact to the kids in Jobat.

Thank you to Frieda at the Oakville store who proposed the idea of Sam's day and promoted it within the Ten Thousand Villages organization, and to all the staff and volunteers at stores across Ontario who made Sam's day happen.

Thank you to all of you who talked up Sam's day and all of you that came into the stores and shopped. Not only did you benefit Sam's fund but you also benefited the artisans around the world who sell their handicrafts through the Ten Thousand Villages organization.

Sam's Day April 4th at Ten Thousand Villages Stores

2009-03-20T21:46:00.001-07:00

Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit Fair Trade organization that buys products from artisans in developing countries around the world and sells them in retail stores across Canada. Sarah has been volunteering at the Oakville store and one day she was showing the manager the information from the Master Works concert. One thing led to another and now 8 stores across Ontario have declared April 4th 2009 Sam's day.

Here's how it works:
On Saturday April 4th, bring the attached coupon to a participating store (listed below), and 10% of your purchase will be donated to the Sam Travis-Miller memorial fund benefiting the children of Jobat, India.

Participating stores:

65 Heritage Dr. New Hamburg ON store info coupon

226 Lakeshore Rd. E. Oakville ON store info coupon

14 Ontario St. Stratford ON store info coupon

474 Bloor St. W. Toronto ON store info coupon

362 Danforth Ave. Toronto ON store info coupon

709 Queen St. W. Toronto ON store info coupon

80 King St. S. Waterloo ON store info coupon

3225 Sandwich St. Windsor ON store info coupon

Benefit concert Masterworks and Oakville Children's Chorus April 24/25

2009-03-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

On April 24th and 25th, Knox Presbyterian Church in Oakville will host Masterworks of Oakville choir and orchestra along with the Oakville Children's Chorus. Proceeds will benefit the Sam Travis-Miller memorial fund for the children of Jobat, India.

For more details please visit www.masterworksofoakville.ca

In order to defray costs and maximize the proceeds for the kids in Jobat, we are selling advertising space in the concert program. Prices start at $50 for a business card ad. If you are interested please contact me at millerpaulj@hotmail.com

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire last night. It depicts a boy growing up in the slums of Mumbai, who eventually finds his way onto India's version of the t.v. game show "Who wants to be a millionaire?"

The horror of the movie is that the suffering and poverty are all too believable. Is Jobat like the slums of Mumbai? Not exactly. The issues are different, but some of the themes are the same: access to nutrition, health care and education for poor kids; threats of violence from religious extremists; corruption of public officials.

In spite of the suffering, we see joy and goodness. The plot is ingenious and the movie is well-crafted. Good food for thought.

Eggs and Bricks

2009-01-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

Women's Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada has set up two funds to benefit the children in Jobat.

1. The Sam Travis-Miller Memorial ("Eggs") fund flows to the children of Jobat at the discretion of the local leadership (the principal of the school, the superintendent of the hospital and the minister of the church). Sam's family raises funds in Canada, the WMS transfers those funds twice-annually to Jobat India, and the local leadership reports annually on the use of the money. The only stipulation is that the money must benefit the children of Jobat.

School children in Jobat India

2. The Jobat Hostel ("Bricks") fund is being raised specifically to build a new hostel for the children from outlying villages who board at the Jobat school. The existing hostel lacks latrine facilities and is located some distance from the school, outside the safe compound. For $25 you can give a brick in honour of a loved one.
Rev. Sarah Travis with children in Jobat

Donations will be gratefully received by:
Women's Missionary Society
50 Wynford Dr.
Don Mills ON M3C 1J7

Please make cheques payable to Women's Missionary Society
and indicate Sam Travis-Miller Memorial or Jobat Hostel in the memo line

The India Connection Part 3

2009-01-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

At Sam's funeral in October 2007, we asked our friends to make memorial donations to the Jobat Christian Hospital so that kids there could have a chance like he did. We raised over $20,000 which was enough to refurbish the whole children's ward and equip two pediatric critical care beds. The community decided to name the new ward after Sam. In January 2008, Sarah and her father traveled to Jobat with a delegation from the Women's Missionary Society. While they were there they helped to cut the ribbon at the new children's ward.

Slide show of WMS India trip January 2008 (4 minutes 46 seconds)

The WMS group toured the hospital and the school and the church in Jobat and also in several surrounding villages. Part of the school in Jobat is a hostel (dormitory) where children can stay if their home is too far away to walk back and forth each day. The children are provided with meals and a place to sleep, but the conditions are poor.

Sarah asked what the children eat. The only food available is a bowl of porridge each day. Sarah had some cash from Sam's memorial fund and she gave it to the principal of the school to augment their nutrition. The next day the principal told her "they had eggs today". An egg in Jobat costs about 2.5 rupees or about $.08 Cdn.

The children sleep on bare concrete with inadequate bedding, with sacks of food stacked in the room. There are no latrines in the building, and the school compound is a distance away, so children must walk up the street. In a province where Hindu extremists have targeted Christians, the safety of these children is a concern. The WMS representatives decided to start raising funds for a new hostel in Jobat.

January 10 2006 (The India Connection Part 2)

2009-01-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

On 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday January 10 2006, Sarah was in a staff meeting at the church. Wilma Welsh announced that the Jobat Christian Hospital had received the money from Sam's baptism and they had successfully installed a new baby warmer in the maternity ward.

At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday January 10th 2006, the paramedics arrived at our house. Paul and Sam were at home recovering from the flu and there was something very wrong with Sam. He was in shock. The paramedics rushed him to Emerg at the Guelph General. The team there revived him and sent him to McMaster University Children's Hospital by air ambulance.

Our email updates about Sam's situation reached Pauline Brown in Jobat, India. The church held a special service of prayer and the schoolchildren in Jobat said prayers for Sam's healing.

After two weeks at McMaster, Sam was well enough to come home to Guelph, but then in February he developed blood clots in his liver and had to go back to McMaster. By the end of March, the team at McMaster had done everything they could for Sam and so he was admitted to the liver transplant program at the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario in London. By the end of April, Sam was well enough to come home to Guelph once again while we waited for a donor liver.

We got the call at 2:00 a.m. on July 27th and Sam underwent his first liver transplant surgery. The surgery was successful but then the setbacks came one after another. His immune system rejected the biliary tissue in the new liver... four bowel obstructions in 6 weeks... back on the transplant list... in December, emergency surgery to repair a diaphragmatic hernia. Sarah resigned her position at Knox Church in Guelph to care for Sam full-time.

Christmas 2006 with Santa at the Eaton Centre in Toronto

In 2007, Sam was still on the waiting list but he was home most of the time. Sarah decided to go back to school. We sold our house in Guelph and moved to Mississauga. We took lots of day trips to Niagara Falls and the zoo.

Ben and Sam August 2007

At 4:00 a.m. on October 4th 2007, we got the call once again. Sam underwent his second transplant surgery. It did not go well. The clots came back. The transplant team expedited yet another transplant and Sam had his third surgery on October 6th. Unfortunately, the strain was too much and his heart stopped on October 7th. It was Thanksgiving Sunday, Sam's 3rd birthday. Most of the family was at the hospital, so we all got a chance to hold him for a few minutes and say good-bye.

On the long sombre drive home without Sam, we thought about the kids in Jobat and wondered how we might help them and honour Sam at the same time.

The India Connection Part 1

2009-01-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

In September 2004, Sarah was working as the Associate Minister for Youth and Families at Knox Presbyterian Church in Guelph. Pauline Brown came to speak about her work in the Bhil field. Later that night over dinner, she told us more about the health programs and some of the needs at the Jobat Christian Hospital.

Community health workers in Jobat India

Sam was born October 7 2004 at Guelph General Hospital. 8 lb 10 oz

Sam being examined by the midwife shortly after he was born.

In honour of Sam's birth and baptism, our friends at the church wanted to help us celebrate so we asked them to make a donation to the Jobat Christian Hospital. We raised just over $2,000.

Sam's baptism January 2005

Sam

2008-12-29T20:15:00.001-08:00

Facts & Arguments: LIVES LIVED
The Globe and Mail December 20, 2007
SAMUEL JONATHAN TRAVIS-MILLER
Son, brother, grandson, hero.
Born Oct. 7, 2004, in Guelph. Died Oct. 7, 2007 in London, Ont., of complications following two liver transplants, aged 3.

Sam was born at 2:01 a.m. on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, a healthy and bouncing 8 pounds, 10 ounces. He was a chubby, hungry, normal baby.

But at 15 months he fell suddenly and catastrophically ill, with no explanation. The mystery illness resulted in blood clots in his liver, necessitating a liver transplant in July, 2006.

His body rejected that liver and he waited 11 months for another transplant, followed immediately by a third when the second liver failed. Sam spent weeks at McMaster Children's Hospital followed by months at the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario. Although he slept in his own house many nights, his days were a blur of hospital visits and procedures.

Despite pain, despite tubes in his nose, chest and stomach, Sam always laughed. He loved Blue's Clues, balloons, bubbles, stars, helicopters and his big brother, Ben. He didn't learn to walk until he was 2½, but his physical limitations never stopped him from having a good time. During one medical procedure, as Sam began to wake up from being sedated, he looked around at the nurses and surgeon and said with complete sincerity, "Thanks for coming, thanks for coming!"

Sam always participated in his medical care. When his IV machine (affectionately called Ivy) beeped, he would stand at the door of his hospital room and shout, "Nurse! Nurse! Ivy is occluded," which meant the flow of intravenous fluid was blocked. But he also learned to say the important things: "I love you" and "thank you" and "want to cuddle."

He will be remembered for his smile, his dimpled cheek, his hair standing up on end and the wicked sparkle in his blue eyes. Sam was affectionate, wise beyond his years and a joy to those who shared his little life. This little life was lived big. Thanks to e-mail, hundreds of friends, relatives and acquaintances were kept informed of Sam's illness.

He taught us how to be brave and how to cry knowing that a smile is just around the corner. And we learned about other heroes - the health professionals who saved him time and again, and the families who donated the organs of loved ones who died tragically young.

Sam died on his third birthday when his heart stopped following two transplants in 72 hours. We miss him every minute. Yet we are blessed by his legacy. When Sammy sensed we were sad, he would come up and whisper, in the words of Blue's Clues, "Don't give up, just go on." We will go on. And we will give thanks that our lives were so enriched and changed by our little miracle.

Rev. Sarah Travis is Sam's mother.

The Bhil Field

2008-12-29T19:40:00.001-08:00

The relationship between Presbyterian Church in Canada (click here for more about the PCC) and the Bhil people in central India dates back to 1897, when Rev. Dr. John Buchanan and Dr. Mary Buchanan arrived in Indore.

The Bhils are an aboriginal tribe native to the state of Madhya Pradesh. Historically, they faced discrimination because they were without caste. In other words their status was below even the lowest caste.

The Buchanans and others who followed after them set up churches, schools and hospitals throughout the region including Jobat, a small town located at the western edge of Madhya Pradesh.

In 1952, a young nurse from Ottawa by the name of Pauline Brown arrived in the Bhil field under the auspices of the Women's Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. She set up public health programs to train local villagers in nutrition, disease prevention and midwifery.

Pauline ended up staying for 55 years, with a short break in the 1970's to earn her MSc degree in public health at McMaster University. Pauline is widely recognized for her distinguished service in India. Honours include an honourary doctorate and the Order of Canada. Pauline retired officially in 2007 but she continues to live and work part-time in India.