A Walk to Remember

I've mentioned before that I love working in a hotel because of all the interesting people that I get to meet on a daily basis. My feelings on this proved true Sunday morning while I was working front desk and breakfast duty.

I noticed a few guys wearing the same jackets with a picture of Oprah on them that looked like this:

The story that came from asking a simple question was amazing! These six university/college students from the southwestern Ontario area are walking from Toronto to Chicago to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. As many of you may know, there has been a civil war going on in Sri Lanka since July 1983 and many innocent people of both sides have been killed or severely injured in the process. I talked with one of the members, Veejay (photo below), and he filled me in on their mission.

He assured me that there was no political agenda to their walk. They want to bring awareness to the plight of the innocent Tamil civilians who have been suffering throughout this war/conflict. I find it especially admirable that they would walk such a long distance to ask for help for their people.

Hopefully Oprah will let them on the show and give them a voice. That is their main goal. Veejay remarked that they it would take about two and a half months to reach Harpo Studios in Chicago. They walk between 20 and 40 kilometers a day. That's such an unbelievable thing to me. I can't help but be impressed the the resilience of these young men and the strength they all must have for taking action for a cause they so deeply believe in.

If you would like their voices to be heard too, please go to Oprah's website and send her a message: Oprah Show

Similarly if you would like to see the progress the guys are making or if you would like further information, please visit Oprahgiveusavoice.com

The Plight of my Nephew

The title of this blog sounds like a title of some horrid novel that you're never going to read, but I don't know else how to put it exactly. My nephew, Krysiu (Christian), was born on September 24, 2008, and has grown into a big six-month-old bouncing boy, but at four months of age, my parents noticed he had a problem. His eyes would not focus on anyone. They just darted everywhere and didn't fixate on a single thing or person. He has since been to the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati to have an MRI. The results came out that he was blind or at least partially blind. His optic nerve is intact but extremely thin. Unfortunately, they can't determine the full extent of his vision loss until he can actually talk and tell them what he can or can't see. I feel so bad for my brother and his wife, but mostly I feel for Krysiu. There's nothing he has done to deserve blindness, but you can't pick the cards you are delt in life. I know this lesson all too well on a personal level.

Although his blindness is horrible, there are worse things that being blind. He could be mentally repaired or unable to walk, or worse. There are also special schools for the blind where he can get the attention he needs and can be taught in a proper fashion. Here's to my nephew with love!!

-Auntie Magda