London 2014 Day 2 – London City Mission Summer School

On this day migraine hit me again, but I was determined to attend the one day of the five day summer school at London City Mission we had booked. Thank God, it eased a little later in the day.

In the morning we were told a lot about mission in a diverse megacity like London and I was able to meet some of the people I previously knew only via Twitter, Facebook or LCM publications.

In the afternoon the group travelled to the Isle of Dogs where LCM runs Café Forever and where we were shown around the neighbourhood and the special diversity in this place was explained to us. Among other places we were taken to the Mudchute Park where on a farm the city’s children are introduced to country life and real farm animals. It was a lot of information to take in on one day – though not too much – and a lot for us to think and talk about among ourselves later.

In the late afternoon Hermann and I left the Isle of Dogs with the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) where we were able to sit in front (it doesn’t have a driver for this part of the way). We changed to the Underground at Canary Wharf but stayed there a little while to take photos as we didn’t feel like returning to the flat yet. After all, that is one of the great things in London – you don’t have to catch a particular train or bus as there is usually one every few minutes.

London 2014 Day 1 Part 2 – Tower Bridge and Tower

We took the Tube to London Bridge Station and walked to Tower Bridge and the Tower from there. As you can see, the weather on this first day (and also the following days) of our visit was beautiful :)

London 2014 Day 1 Part 1 – Paddington and Café Eterno

Our first destination on our first full day in London was Paddington Station to collect the pocket wifi device we had rented. Of course we enjoyed using the Tube again :)

At Paddington Station we saw a young woman of the cleaning personnel who was about Hermann’s height and of course he went up to her and we talked to her and her colleague. She was from Romania and her name was Daniela. I took a photo of her and Hermann:

Later we went to Café Eterno at Covent Garden. This café is a project of London City Mission and part of the proceeds go to LCM’s homeless day centre Webber Street. We had read about it on the internet and so went there out of curiosity, but we returned several times during our stay because of the very tasty food and tea. It also has got free wifi :)

As Covent Garden station was closed (or rather, just open for exits) we had to walk to Leicester Square station which is not far away.

Bags For Freedom

“For Freedom” is printed on my new bag. One might think that this is just an ornament like the buttons, but this is not the case. “For Freedom” bags and accessories are created by people (mostly women) at Sak Saum in Cambodia who have escaped human trafficking or other abuse and poverty.

I had read about Sak Saum in the German Christian woman’s magazine Lydia and immediately thought that it was a wonderful cause to support. I browsed their website and fell in love with a bag which wasn’t offered in the German online shop where a smaller range of their items is being sold. So I started the order procedure directly on the Sak Saum website, but got stuck when it came to entering my home address – it didn’t accept any addresses outside the USA. However, with a bit of patience (from my first e-mail until I got the bag it took 27 days), a PayPal account and the kind help of Sak Saum staff mainly in the USA the beautiful bag is now mine :)

Shortly after this first order I bought a messenger bag for Hermann at the German online shop. Both bags are of excellent quality and certainly worth their price! If you would like to buy bags or accessories from them you find the list of (online) shops on the “Where to buy” page on their website. Unfortunately there are not many shops outside the USA yet, but I hope for all bag lovers around the world that this will change by and by!

A Special Gift from a Special Person

As you might know meanwhile that we are sponsoring several children in need in Armenia. We always enjoy getting news from them, either by reports from the charity Diaconia or by their own letters which are of course translated from Armenian to German. Sometimes we are even getting gifts from them like self-made pictures or needlework. These gifts are always a special treasure to us.

Today we received such a very special gift which we were very surprised and delighted about – a beadwork picture made by one of “our” girls, Astghik (propably with the help of her mother).

Astghik is the latest of our sponsored children (only since 2011) and the only one we don’t know personally. She is 15 years old and apart from “just” living in deep poverty has to cope with various disabilities and chronic illnesses. This can be tough enough in wealthy countries, but in a country like Armenia, where even healthy people are often struggling with finding a way to earn their living, disabled and chronically ill people hardly ever get a chance. Welfare payments for those unemployed or unable to work are by far not enough for even the most basic needs, let alone for any medical treatment which has to be paid for in full by the patients or their relatives. As long as our sponsorship lasts, Astghik will get basic medical treatment for free, as well as food, clothing and school supplies.

We pray that in the future even when the sponsorship ends she will be able to live a life in dignity and not end up in devastating conditions like far too many people in Armenia!