WORD FROM THE STREET Ken MacLaren

Against All Adversity
The determination and resolve of our street friends to pick up and carry on – usually in the face of adversity – never ceases to amaze me the stories I hear each week are almost overwhelming.

Steve's Story
I often connect with my Inuit friend Steve at our Wednesday drop-in. He has experienced many troubles throughout his life, we have built enough relationship that he now confides in me.
He has two children that he doesn't see often enough because his ex-wife has gone back North. More than this, he carries a tremendous amount of pain that is the result of residential school abuse and several traumatic incidents that he experienced as a child.
He tells me that he feels locked into a life that he cannot escape.

Hardship and Pain
Outside the drop-in Steve told me of his niece who took her live in Iqualit. She hung herself in the school cafeteria. She was thirteen.

He told me this story and stared at me. The depth of his pain was so evident. He sought desperately for understanding, empathy – anything so as not to be alone.
What to say? What words could adequately convey any sens of understanding? Who could speak to this?

Never ending Troubles
Next week I saw Steve again. He drew close to me and whispered, “Can we talk when you have a minute?” His breath smelled of alcohol. “It happened again. My nephew's gone. Same place. Same way. He was fourteen.”
I could not believe my ears. How could such trouble compound itself over and over? “Let's talk now,” I said. “Come over here where we can be alone.” He told me his pain and troubles. Even though we talked for quite some time, I still felt inadequate to respond.

The Scriptures Speak
Proverbs 31:6,7, speaks to us; “Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more”(NIV)
We do not condone the abuse of alcohol, but at least we can understand how people use it to try to deal with life's pain. I can't adequately answer Steve's questions, But I can listen. I can support him in times of trouble, I can point him to a God that understands pain, and who really dose care.

Real people, with real needs.
It really is so much more than 'Please don't feed the pigeons'

Stem cell breakthrough

Scientists have developed a new way to produce embryonic stem cells that could lead to an endless supply of the basic building blocks of the body and avoid ethical controversies that have dogged their use in cutting-edge medical research.

In a new study, researchers from UCLA and Harvard University say they were able to transform skin cells from adult mice into embryonic stem cells, a process that holds promise for organ and tissue transplantation.

If it could be duplicated in humans, the reprogrammed stem cells — which can grow into any type of tissue in the body — could be used to create individualized replacements for diseased organs and tissues that wouldn’t be rejected by the immune system.

There's a lot of talk about this and I just want to add my two cents. I don't know how 'harvesting' stem cells is done, but I do know that there are abortion clinics in Canada and in the US that could donate stem cells to research and all the other places that need them.
Myself, I can't have children, and without children there is no one to help Paul or myself if we got sick. Yah that might sound selfish, but that's part of what having a family for, so that there always someone to look after the others.
As with all things in the age we live in, there will be advances.

If not for our generation, for the next.

Day 1 ~Hello Everyone!

Hello to everyone!
This is my first post on my first blog. I'm sure that'll be the only one reading this most of the time, but that kewl. I can deal with that as long as eventually someone comes by to take a look and actually lets me know that they came by.


I'll tell you this much. If you really want to know what I think or who I really am, this is the place to come. I say what I want best when I write. It may seem that I go in circles or I get off topic and really what girl doesn't talk about 5 different things at the same time, I do it all the time. One subject always leads to another and I can admit it, I LOVE TO TALK! But don't worry, I can always bring the conversation back, if you ask.
What I want to try on this blog is to post pictures, and opinions that I have. I welcome any opinions back I'm open minded and always willing to listen... That's a big part of talking you-know, If you talk too much you hear little... if you talk to little there is nothing to hear... Well, I'm off to see what I can do here. I hope there's lots here for you to waste your time reading and looking through.

ttfn.