Be the change you want to see in the world

Outreach is a really important part of the mission for me, not only because HSCV is providing the support for CardioStart but because I genuinely believing in making people's lives better. We were fortunate enough to be able to go to a rice distribution today. HSCV offers a sponsorship program, where $205 can sponsor a family for a year's worth of rice. This rice is given the first of the month to the families in need. Giving families this rice means giving them means to use that money to pay for other things like school, clothing or even medicine. While at the rice distribution, we met a 57 year old woman that was going to carry the rice essentially on her back all the way home. Mike and Lian saw this and wanted to help. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. We learned a few things a long the way. One, that carrying sack of rice over your shoulder is very hard. In fact, when Lian and I tried carrying it, we barely made it a few feet without nearly tipping over. We were shocked by how heavy it was. We also learned that here, this old woman, perhaps 100 lbs, was going to carry this rice for 3 miles on her back. That's a far distance for a walk, let alone with a bag of rice on your back. Also, I have to admit, at one point during the adventure, somewhere between the third and fourth turn into yet another alley, I remember my husband telling me I'm far too trusting. And become painfully aware that we were in an area that probably sees very little outsiders and very susceptible to getting lost or ambushed. But in fact we were fine, and it mattered less and less as we learned more and more about her. We learned her husband has no legs and her mentally retarded daughter had been raped and had a child. The child now is four. Talk about heart breaking. You couldn't make this up, nor would you want to. I've heard more stories then I can share, stories about families soon to be homeless, children living in horrid conditions that make them ill, attempts of suicide, abandoned children with old grandparents that are forced to care for them. It is overwhelming meeting these families, but eye opening.



It is these moments you think, people shouldn't be living like this and start to think hard about what you can do to help.