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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.