Integracion Juvenil Telethon

BushBaby

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For what it is worth & should anyone have the interest to watch, there is to be a charity Telethon on behalf of Integracion Juvenil this coming Friday (28th).

The telethon will be on channels 3 & 9 & will be screened from the TV studios of Musa's here in Puerto Plata between the hours of 17.00 (5.00 in the afternoon) until 22.00 (10.00 p.m.). Yours truly will be manning the phones between 16.00 & 20.00 in case you want to pledge something to an English voice/response!!

Benefits of the telethon will be going to rebuilding the wooden facade of the Old Victorian house Integracion Juvenil have already purchased in the centre of town (right opposite the Amber Museum). The property will then be used for helping Puerto Plata's street kids to learn a trade or profession AND as the charity's main administrative offices.

Feel free to PM or e-mail for any additional information you might require but DO switch in to see us on Friday if you get a chance. Ta etc. ~ Grahame.
 

BushBaby

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Thanks to the kind sole who pointed out my error in the above post................
Yours truly will be manning the phones between 18.00 & 20.00 (6.00 pm - 8.000 p.m.).

As I am not a heavy drinker who can carry his own in front of him, does anyone have one of those Red Clown noses that I can put on whilst the cameras pan the helpers manning the 'phones?? I could make this the beginning of the Dominican Red Nose Day!!! ~ Grahame.
 

Lambada

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Thanks to the kind people who contacted me this morning about this (while 'yours truly' was playing golf ;) ). Just to clarify: he isn't looking for people to man the phones at the Telethon, he'll be doing that. He would like people to switch on the programme on Friday & phone in to the TV station with a pledge for Integracion Juvenil if they would like to. Sorry we can't give you the number because it will not be allocated until later, but if you tune in to the programme the number will appear on your TV screen.

And, dearest, I am NOT a flat fish :cheeky:

Thanks to the kind sole who pointed out my error in the above post................
 

Lambada

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So..........I switch the TV on at 5.50 pm Channel 3 thinking I'll shortly see Bushbaby manning a phone, instead of which there he is talking straight to camera, no script, no preparation, explaining for English speaking viewers what the Telethon is all about. Did very well - not a single um or er.

Gotta love Dominican TV organisation :cheeky: - it is now all happening in the street outside the TV studios (they have the Integracion Juvenil children there, painting etc) presumably as an outside broadcast and the phone (singular) will be manned from the street. Not from 6-8pm but from 8-10 pm. You will have noticed phone (singular) - there is one instead of 7, so BushBaby will be taking calls on his cellphone as well (1-809-721-1769) to ease the congestion.

Great exercise in flexibility this ;).
 

Lambada

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This is getting to be like a saga :cheeky:. I switch the TV back on just before 8pm and 10 mins later BushBaby drives into the carport.........

I'll let him tell you when the steam has finally stopped coming out of his ears :cheeky:. I jest, but this turned out to be a bigger exercise in flexibility that I had first imagined.
 

BushBaby

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If someone hadn't already written the play I would have done so tonight ..............
A Comedy of Errors!!!

Being a conscientious sort of guy & anxious to meet the right protocol at these things I shower, shave & get spruced up in my beige suit (no, not the zoot suit for weddings, the normal one for important meetings & looking the part!!) & then don my gaucho hat. I get to the studios early so IF make-up is required for the session, the make-up artists have enough time to do a FULL job on my ancient features.

"What Ho My dear Blond Bombshell" said I to Patria who invited me along to the telethon so that I could entice the English speaking who phoned in to lay out even MORE money for a good cause. Patria has recently 'changed' to become a blond & she enjoys me speaking in English because she likes my friendly jibes to her!! ...... What's happening, why are you all outside?" I continue.

It appears that Sn. Musa (Waldito) has changed things around a bit & now is only offering 8 p.m. until 10.00 p.m. a the slot for the telethon & FURTHER, the whole thing is to be done outside in the street rather than in the studios. ALL WITH JUST ONE TELEPHONE INCOMING LINE!!!!!!

"No Matter" says she in the typical 'we shall overcome Dominican manner', "we can put our own cell phone numbers out on the broadcast & people can pledge on those &/or come down to see us all in the street"! A quick update by cell phone to 'The BOSS' at home to explain events as they have been described to me & 5 minutes later I find myself in front of the camera telling (in English because Patria has already given a Spanish version) what is going to be happening tonight, why & what the benefit is about. Oh how I LOVE the spontaneity (read 'playing things totally unscripted, unprepared & running by the seat of your pants) of Dominican TV!!!

By this time it is almost 6.00 p.m. & we have two hours to kick our heels. I settle down to making new friends & renewing old ones - lots of cuddles & a few pecks on the cheeks. Whilst doing this I am also mentally preparing for how I am going to drag some extra pesos from the friends & contacts I have spoken to about the telethon & who had promised to phone in!! 5 via this forum said they would ring me, 1 from Canada, 1 from the UK, 3 neighbours & 9 professional people I have been in regular contact with over the years.

7.50 comes & I start looking for movement of cameras etc ......... NADA. I look for the setting up of flood lights ........ NADA! I look for fretting Producers who should be biting at the heels of tecnicos ........ doble NADA!!

It is then that I hear nobody in the studios knows anything about the telethon!! Waldito Musa has reportedly left the office, the only producer on site knows nothing about a show in the streets & (would you believe this?) nobody has the telephone (at home OR cell phone) for the man who agreed the whole telethon evening ...... Waldito. I suppose that as he is the owner of the whole TV station, the studios etc. having his contact details at the studios is considered 'unnecessary? :ermm: :surprised.

On this information we all decide it is too late (now after 8.00 p.m.) to get people out of their houses & down to visit us in the streets to hand over their hard earned cash) so we knock the planned evening's charity funds raiser on the head & go our respective ways in sadness.

I think Waldito is likely to get a visit from me on Tuesday so that I can ask Canal 3 to cover the donations we would have received by the telethon.

To quote from another thread "I have to accept the way things are handled/planned & carried out in this lovely country of the DR, but I will NEVER get used to how important meetings or agreements can be changed at the whim of someone who can not accept responsibility for his own actions or in-action. I offer sincere apologies to those who have been messed about by this evenings failures, my THANKS to those who pledged even without the show going on TV & also my gratitude to those who made me so welcome down at the studios this evening. Roll on the next telethon - where I will keep VERY low profile until I am actually sitting at a telephone taking pledges!! :pirate: :ermm:

Good night all - I am going for a lay down in a darkened room!! ~ Grahame
 

J D Sauser

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I am sorry to hear (read) all that, Grahame... not just being sorry for you but most of all for those who were to benefit from the help.
But somehow, after reading this, we'd be hard pressed to show much surprise. Is it not that lack of responsibility and dedication by the loudest ones in this country which drives things here the way they end up being? Then, of course, the past or present government, the Haitians or the imperialists will be to blame, once more... it's what most do in an attempt to bend fingers likely to point at them to point away... just away.
A sad display of compulsive third-worldism at it's best... big attitude and nothing to back it up, and money, again was not the issue... just the lack of that "failure is not an option" mindset by those who really could and should.

I thought long about what I was going to do yesterday... I somehow wanted to call but I have come to be tired already at throwing money at the walls here... so, I thought I'd pledge 2 or 3 days of my hands on work, on site... my knowledge, my dedication and my ability to organize IF THEY care... but none of my hard earned cash... THAT, they will first have to learn how hard it is to earn it working.

So, if you don't have any better offers, heck, you at least got this one... my offer stands.
Oh... and there is a bonus... I just had Rene, my cousin read this and I asked him if he'd join in... and he said SURE.

Now, I'm sure, we'd only have to find somebody to chip in some wooden planks and nails, now don't we? But that's maybe backwards of how things are meant to be here... ?

... J-D.
 

tflea

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Seems to Me

They are well funded having visited a few times. They do very good work, and I know you have a good tie-in with them, but many other charities are more needy. As for for Walter. well.........that's politics.
 

Thandie

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I was walking by and saw a bunch of children painting various items.
But didnt know what is for.
 

Lambada

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Integracion Juvenil were indeed funded for the purchase of the property but not for it's repair, which is why it has sat untouched for well over a year while they have attempted to get funds to be able to turn it into a school/trade learning centre to enable the kids to learn a trade so that in the future they are able to provide for themselves. I won't enter into any comparisons with other charities because I'm sure we all wish well for all the good charities which do good work.

One thing I've found here is that many projects have only got funding assured for the next couple of months & after that they don't know where the money is coming from - this equally applies to some of IJ's outreach projects as it does to many other charities here. Operating on a shoestring doesn't adequately describe how many of the charities here seem to work. But as always Dominican optimism plays its part in that those involved hope for better days.............

JD, what a wonderful offer! I'm sure they'd love your help. :)
 

BushBaby

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Thank you for your offer to get involved AT the property J-D, I shall put that in front of the Directors tomorrow. How is your painting arm?? Having got a great deal of the walls now erected, I.J. need to PROTECT the wood from the elements & the voracious termites that used to live there!! Regrettably I think buying of the paint might prove to be a little too costly out of this months budget ..... but I will check that & let you know when your artistic talents might be required!! :cheeky: :bunny:

If anyone has good contacts within the ferreterias &/or would like to buy some paint to donate, I will gladly get the manufacturer/style/colour details & pass them on to you. Don't worry, I shall make SURE that the stuff is ONLY used on the house & not hiked away for someone's personal use! :pirate:

I totally agree tflea that there are numerous charities out there waiting for support & help of one form or another is always welcome. I know for a fact that I.J have several projects they have had to curtail because funding has reduced over the last 18 months - the 'half-way house' at Mu?oz is one, the building of a new outhouse for woodwork, metalwork, hairdressing (the ladies get a little excited doing this I gather) classes, have all had to be put on hold until a serious sponsor can be found.

We can do only what time & effort permits - that is why I was so disappointed that the Telethon did not come off in the way it was supposed to do. This would have got the LOCAL Puertoplatanians aware of what I.J. was doing & hopefully got their long term involvement (AND CASH) flowing!!

Politics???? I HATE that word showing it's face when charitable works are involved!! I'll STILL have a 'chat' with him though!! :ermm: :cheeky: :pirate: ~ Grahame.
 

J D Sauser

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I paint like hell Grahame, what did you expect? :D

You may remember I told you once I got involved in school building in Ecuador. I applied a system which I had witnessed in Switzerland, which was to take the students and make it part of their education to build, renovate and even design and fully erect new schools. It was a success and I think that it's not something I seem to see here. No, it's not child labor or exploitation but rather a fundamental teaching in many ways, when done right. Practice beats theory many times over.

But sure... I'll paint any shotgun shack!

... J-D.
 

Thandie

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You may remember I told you once I got involved in school building in Ecuador. I applied a system which I had witnessed in Switzerland, which was to take the students and make it part of their education to build, renovate and even design and fully erect new schools. It was a success and I think that it's not something I seem to see here. No, it's not child labor or exploitation but rather a fundamental teaching in many ways, when done right. Practice beats theory many times over.

But sure... I'll paint any shotgun shack!

... J-D.

JD,
How long did that school building project take in Ecuador?

and....

Grahame,

I am only 5'1 but I can help paint if there is a painting project coming up soon!
 

Lambada

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No, it's not child labor or exploitation but rather a fundamental teaching in many ways, when done right. Practice beats theory many times over. ... J-D.

I worked on similar principles with the kids in a boys club in the east end of London 47 years ago. I inherited a drama class & through the production of an annual pantomime we trained those boys to become the future club leaders & staff, thus making ourselves redundant. But as it was voluntary work redundancy didn't matter, the great thing was they then took over running the whole club themselves.

Now if the kids who get a training at the IJ trade school can either come back as instructors or contributors........:)
 

J D Sauser

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JD,
How long did that school building project take in Ecuador?

and....

Grahame,

I am only 5'1 but I can help paint if there is a painting project coming up soon!

Grahame, the schools we built in EC were very simple wood and paja (straw instead of cana roofs) buildings. They were taught the basic principles of building a foundation using water hose levels, proper layout of columns and mostly about the power of triangles (roof trusses). They were shown to draw a PLAN and then to follow it. Families would come down, men and children of both genders participating in the building and women making soup for everybody. The actual building process would take a few days over a week or two. Delays only are costly... people get disenchanted and stuff gets "lost". Once they experience it "happening" for real, they also come to recognize the advantages of ORGANIZATION. Kids catch on quickly, especially if it serves their interests and is fun.
You should see the face of pride of a 3 foot kid standing next to a building the 6 times over it's size it helped erect!

Later on, in these same schools, "we" developed designs for new and better schools... mostly made of bricks and wooden roofs. They caught on fast... even brought in ideas.
I also took a class to rebuild a solar water heating system on a hospice for terminally ill cancer patients. The system had originally been installed the wrong way, never worked. So "we" looked at it, taught to ANALYZE and RE-THINK... and then we did the hands-on thing and they got water so hot, we actually had to add cold water to the system so they wouldn't get burned... at 2500 meter altitude!

When I left EC, the "program" was working by itself... but I did not keep track... I never do when I leave, I don't want my heart broken. But I would like to think, that somehow, at least a generation of students came out KNOWING how to solve and DO things.

It was EASY and CHEAP. A lot was done with scrap materials from building sites. Some companies also donated MATERIALS (second grade or cutoffs). It's always easier to get materials than money from companies.

We built a bridge once using rail road rails we... erm... "helped ourselves to" in the mountains... the train system (except one track) had been abandoned for decades... so.... :bored:

When I first arrived in Ecuador, I was surprised at least once a day. I had imagined that country so differently and also, I basically came from "my" developed country into a really not so developed country with little preparation. All I had learned did NOT seem to apply there... until I realized that the biggest lesson we had, was that we had been taught to learn, to ANALYZE and to teach OURSELVES. Soon, I found myself "fixing" or re-install correctly systems I had never known about before and that they, on the other hand were working with for ages but yet had, in so many ways failed to get the proper know how for. Why? Because, in all these countries people have either NO formal education or graduate from university. There is nothing in between. "Good" private schools, gave lectures university style, instead of EXPLAINING and DEMONSTRATING the fundamentals. And never were they taught to ANALYZE. So, what they had not been taught, they did NOT know... FOR LIFE.

Analyzing is ALL a kid wakes up to! Physics is nothing but analyzing the existing... Kids are all born physics. Just gotta nurture the flame and not suffocate it with "theories".


Aren't you glad you asked, Grahame? :D

... J-D.
 

BushBaby

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Duhhhhh,
I didn't ask a THING J-D, it was Thandie!!
JD,
How long did that school building project take in Ecuador?

I have known you too long to ask questions of that nature - I know how an educated, intelligent & compassionate EU citizen can pontificate with excellent ideas/thoughts given half a chance!:cheeky::cheeky:

Seriously though, Thanks SO MUCH for sharing that experience with us. I will put the ideas to the Driectors of I.J., organise a meeting for you all to chat & then retire into my normal corner while THE WORK gets done! ~ Grahame.
 
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Chirimoya

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I worked on similar principles with the kids in a boys club in the east end of London 47 years ago. I inherited a drama class & through the production of an annual pantomime we trained those boys to become the future club leaders & staff, thus making ourselves redundant. But as it was voluntary work redundancy didn't matter, the great thing was they then took over running the whole club themselves.

Now if the kids who get a training at the IJ trade school can either come back as instructors or contributors........:)

It's amazing how many 'charitable' projects don't take this commonsense approach of involving the beneficiaries, and so keep them helpless and dependent. :(
 

J D Sauser

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Duhhhhh,
I didn't ask a THING J-D, it was Thandie!!


I have known you too long to ask questions of that nature - I know how an educated, intelligent & compassionate EU citizen can pontificate with excellent ideas/thoughts given half a chance!:cheeky::cheeky:
...
It seems I've been unable to ANALYZE the thread right... :bored:

... J-D.
 

A.Hidalgo

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Lambada

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Sure is, A.Hidalgo. Kudos to the young lady for wanting to help. In the interests of accuracy (& I'm sure the journalist made the most of this for tugging at heart strings ;)) the children are now picked up from their homes by the school bus, which was donated. They might (??) walk barefoot to the bus but they actually get a ride to school. :)