“We are about change…we are about hope…we are about the continual dream & reality of making a positive difference in the world…”
LIVE DIFFERENT was established as a Canadian charity in 2000 and as far as I can see, they are definitely “walking the walk..”!
Essentially a volunteer organization, LIVE DIFFERENT helps to transform lives one family at a time with their “Builds” projects. Builds programs address critical needs within host communities in developing countries. These include schools, playgrounds, water lines, bridges, fences, medical clinics, homes and much more.
This past year, Nick Hudson, VP and Senior Project Manager at Hudson Restoration, participated in such a program. The impact was much more than he had ever anticipated.
“To witness such poverty, and then be a part of the transformation…it is indescribable joy.”
Over the past 18 years, the program has reached out to over 1.5 million students and facilitated over 500 builds internationally.
When you are vacationing in the lush, all inclusive resorts of the Dominican, it is hard to imagine that in the rural regions, children typically live in homes made of corrugated metal sheets. Houses are easily damaged or even destroyed during storms. “The flimsy dwellings seldom have electricity or running water, and the community usually shares a common latrine. Without fuel, families cook their meals over wood fires”.
The website for LIVE DIFFERENT offers some very colourful accounts of families who have been helped by LIVE DIFFERENT. For instance, Diana, a young mother of two children recounts a dark moment as a storm was approaching:
“(One of my) biggest fears was looking up at the sky and seeing dark clouds. When the rains would come, it would soak all of our possessions and cause a lot of heartache in my family…”
Current projects underway include “THE FREEDOM CENTER” in Haiti, a transitional home for young girls who have been victims of human trafficking.
LIVE DIFFERENT (and those who choose to do so) reminds me of one of my favourite quotes by Mother Theresa, known for her missionary work with the poor and homeless and considered to be one of the world’s greatest humanitarians, “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean…but the ocean would be less because of missing that drop”….Next drop…Thailand..2019…all aboard!
