Making Pancakes on the Man Made Mountain

Arriving at the site, David our guide turned and told us that he used to drive down into the site about 400 ft. Now we drive up about the same distance, as the ground has been built up nearly 700 ft. over the past few years. Exiting the vehicle we are met with a strong scent that hits you like a ton of bricks. Our first task is to take our 2 jugs of water and go around giving all the workers something fresh to drink. Our attention is turned towards a fight between a few workers that are competing for something valuable that has just been brought in from the city workers. This isn't an uncommon occurence from what we are told. Our kitchen crew quickly begins to prepare the breakfast/lunch of pancakes and yogourt. We have the locals form a line at the mobile feeding centre and start serving. I take several requests at the front of the line for extra plates, more glasses of water, trying to judge what requests are valid and which are not. After feeding everyone at the top of the hill, we then proceed down, feeding all the children we come across until everything, down to the last pancake and last bit of yogourt is gone. This was without a doubt the area with the most "need" that we visited, in my opinion.

Happy Belated Wednesday

After a long day at Modero and some late night pizza and wine at Freds (the head honcho at La Vina) we missed our posting for Wednesday. I´ll do my best to piece together a long day of events. We started out by heading to Sams (kinda like Costco down here) to pick up groceries to be later handed out in the community. We picked up Corn Oil, Rice, Tomato Sauce and other such ingredients to help stock some of the less than full fridges in Modero. A lot of the kids there do get to eat a fair amount but are a bit malnutritioned because they don´t get much variety in what food they do get. After picking up groceries we headed over to Modero where 4 or 5 of our guys were already there helping dig a trench for the sewage line being layed for the bathrooms we were helping build earlier in the week. After handing out all the groceries and finishing up one more mix of concrete we headed back to La Vina for lunch.

Later in the afternoon we headed back to Modero to serve some desert and hang out with the kids. When we got there the kids were already bouncing off the walls so we were excited to see what would happen when we fed them some coke, cake and cookies. Needless to say this sent them into new levels of horse play and we spent the rest of the night trying to keep the peace. It helped calm them down a bit when we pulled out about 60 Project Smile shirts and got them to fall in line. We then rallied everyone together for a big group shot. Some of the kids got shirts that fit and others looked more like long green robes but they were all equally thankful. After saying our goodbyes and figuring out how to say "see ya next year" in spanish, we piled in back into our yellow bus to head to Freds for pizza.

Over some pepperoni and cheese pizza Fred gave us a bit more background on what some of the greater needs are within some of the specific communities. He also talked about how we´ve helped to make some long term change in places like Modero. How the presence of organizations like the one we´re involved in have helped make a dent in things like prostitution and drug trafficing. We are excited to come to Calgary tomorrow and start to plan towards how we can begin to make a larger impact for next year and the years to come!

Foto explosion

So Project Smile 2007 is slowly winding down, as we just wrapped up our last work day at The Dump. I must say this year has definitely been an exhaustive nine days but also the most wonderful nine days as well. I don't know if it is just us getting old, or us fueling the children with lots of sugar, but boy do do they have endless amounts of energy! But it is this energy that fuels Project Smile and keeps us wanting to come back every year. It is the most rewarding to see the smiles on their faces as cliche as that may sound, but coming from one of the photographers on board this year, it makes for some beautiful opportunities to capture the smiles that we were witness to this year. It saddens us when we leave because we know the happiness that we bring is only temporary and we can only hope that we will leave a lasting impression. Please check out the photos from this year, as many more will be added to the flickr account as soon as we can. Here are a few of my personal favorites from this year, please enjoy!

-Tim

Concrete and Hamburguesas

Today we defined what it means to be a mans man.

The day started out as usual at La Vina, after an early morning breakfast the team packed up the portable kitchen and split up. Those who stayed behind did soft activities like sort donations before heading out to Stone "Island" (it's more of an inlet thing that looks like an island from mazatlans shores) via boat which only takes about 15 minutes. Joel, Ryan, Dan Johanson and myself, Daniel Opden Dries, headed out to the community with Dave in the back of the work truck which is definitely the long way at about an hour and a half commute.

After a few stops for supplies we arrived in the community we would be serving. The rest of the team was waiting in the under construction feeding/education center playing badminton and soccer with some of the local kids.

We were quickly briefed and put to work. About half of the team started up the kitchen while the rest of us began construction.

My first detail followed naturally after unloading the scaffolding we'd travelled with to the site. We set it up in the center which had a second floor poured sometime in the past month or two. Some of the moulds that had been used to pour the second floors cement supports were still stuck to the roof. Our job was to climb two stories of rickety scaffolding tear the large pallet sized moulds down using crowbars. It got pretty intense at times.

After myself and a few others brought some to the ground we moved on and began mixing cement. Since the the community has a boy in a wheelchair they wanted to add a ramp for him to get in. So we got to it, mixing up what felt like 5 tons of cement and helping La Vina's cement master Hosea make the center wheel chair accessible. Pete almost got heatstroke.

Around the time we finished pouring the wheelchair ramp the hamburgers had been cooked and serving was ready to begin. Despite a few line jumpers and the usual antics of the kids things went off without a hitch and everyone left satisfied. We also did the usual candy for garbage trade to get the lunch mess cleaned up. It went well but almost proved to be an to intense a motivator for the kids and we could barely keep up with swarm looking to get a sugar fix.

We got thing settle down, and cleaned up though in the end. By this time it was late in the afternoon and we were all ready to call it a day.

Everyone but Trent and myself headed back to the mainland/hotel via boat. The two of us stayed back with Dave and after a few more heavy, nail studded moulds made clattered to the floor we loaded up the scaffolding and supplies and headed in the truck for our hour and a half journey home.

Foot Tracing for the Special needs School

Lisa here - first-time poster.

Today, a handful of us went to the special needs school to continue the foot tracing. What is foot tracing, you ask? Well, it's exactly what it sounds like: we trace the footprints of a bunch of local kids, so La Vina and their partners can provide new shoes in the right sizes.

There was a much smaller group of children today. 50 attend the school, but only 30 were there today - we found out that a lot of the kids miss school as they tend to be sick more often than not. Their special needs range from Autism and Downs to physical and mental disabilities. The kids were quite playful and excited to see some new faces.

We broke up into groups of 2 and each headed to a class room. The first class Heather and I went into was full of smiles and waves. With one boy named Alfonso sleeping in the corner, it took some coaxing from his teacher to wake him up. A child through and through, not wanting to get up from his nap, he saw us there and pretended to keep sleeping but the smile gave it away. He then got on his knees and continued to sleep with his head on the mat. It made me smile to see that kids are all the same no matter what; they just want to be kids and enjoy their nap and tease us into thinking that they do not know we are there. One of the other classes ran and hugged another team, and the third team got high fives all around.

After returning to the hotel, Heather, Amanda and I went the City Market, which was an event in it self. There were lots of vendors selling everything and they were not shy about helping you find things you wanted - and did not want, in some cases! Talk about customer service.

On a different note, I just wanted to say that this being my first time anywhere outside of Canada and the USA, I am glad that have this opportunity to see life outside of the 'pretty' area. If I had traveled on my own, I never would have seen this side of the Mazatlan. It is a good eye opener for me and I am thankful for all that I have, and that I am able to help like this. Just seeing that La Vina is fighting to make a better life in the colonials is heartwarming.

-Lisa

Day Off = Time to Reflect, Rest, & Sea-Doo

Hi this is Ryan Gill... and this is my first Blogging experience. Exciting stuff!! haha..

Well this is year 3 for me with the Suitcase Interactive team and our initiative Project Smile (www.projectsmile.ca), and the 6th year I have had the priviledge personally to be here to help the poor and impoverished children of Mexico.

As some of you may know, our company has grown considerably in 2007. This has been an amazing ride, and one of the big benifits, besides the obvious benfits of being part of a dynamic growing company, is that with a bigger team this year we are able to accomplish so much more. Triple the amount of work can be done in the same amount of time. The people we are helping down here couldn´t be more happy. We are getting so much done.

As a leadership team we couldn´t be more excited to have such a great bunch of people to work with at Suitcase Interactive, and each of our staff are showing their true colors and it makes me emotional at times to see everyone being so kind spirited and helping these children out with such authenticity. Working long hours but still taking the time to just sit and hang out with the children. It`s quite touching. They just want to help these kids, and they just want to see them *SMILE*

For those that know me well, you know that I like to reminiss. I often get jeered by my good friends because I am always looking back and remembering the good times... its kinda funny when they bug me. But with my friends and business partners Trent, and Joel I really like to think about the stuff we have done, and how that has had an affect on what we are doing now.... And today was one of those days. We had our first day off, and I got to thinking about the early days of Suitcase Interactive, and our beginnings. We said when we started our company, we wanted to make a difference, and that one day we would do something really cool for this world. Hence Project Smile was born out of Suitcase Interactive and we are doing something so cool... and I am so happy to be a part of it!!

I was talking to a tourist here last night and he made an off the cuff comment to me that got me thinking. He said..."it must be great to be rich, so you can do the stuff you are doing"... it kinda made me laugh. None of us down here consider ourselves be "rich".. So...to that comment I thought, there may be some people that think that our group is generous because we are rich. Which probably isn´t the case... however you could make a strong arguement that we are rich compared to the people that we are helping, I think the clear truth is that we are rich because we are generous!

I love being generous. It brings me such contentment, and affects every part of my life in such a positive way. Business, social, spritual, and my personal well being.. It does more for me than making me feel good (the warm fuzzies), its who I am, when i am generous i know i am being everything I was created to be. Some people are born to make people laugh, others are here to counsel people going thru tough times, and those acts are absolutely amazing... but my mission in life is to be generous, and thats why Project Smile was born and thats why we are here, to do my best to live out that personal mission.... and I know my business partners share that same feeling. To be generous to those that have nothing, to give of our time, money and serve the people of Mazatlan. It´s really great!

Like the well know pebble story, where the little stone is dropped in still waters, I feel generosity generates ever-expanding ripples of benefit that move over many layers of society. It produces a virtuous cycle of self-reinforcing benefits. I hope Project Smile impacts you in a way that will encourage you towards action. Be generous, in your way, and see the differnence it can make.

To those reading this blog...Thanks for all your support and for following our team on this journey! Thanks to the team from your leadership. This is "our" trip... and together we are making a difference.

Tracing burgers and eating feet...

This is Chris Pond and my first visit with the Suitcase staff to Mazatlan. So far we are absolutely atonished with the warm weather, cheap food, and amazing people. (Even though as I write this, it is pouring rain). We have decided to give the people what they want, and that is a real account story of a day in the life of Project Smilers in Mazatlan. And without further adue, we present just that...

It was a humid morning, but the AC provided a cool room which helped sooth our warm bodies. The watch alarm struck the tune of a 7:15am wake up, but we would have none of it. When the second snooze alarm awoke us from our slumber, it was ovious there was no time for showers. We had people to feed and feet to trace.

Arriving at La Vina, just in the nick of time, we quickly ate a hearty breakfast consisting of salsa and eggs. After that it was a quick dash into the steamy van. As you see the night before had brought rain, which in turn had brought the humidity. This extreme level of humidty brought sweat to our brow at all hours of the day.

Arriving at Sam´s club we watched the Queen DVD.

After leaving Sams, where others had gathered and pileged for the much needed food, we hopped back into our steam automobile and were off for the day.

We arrived at Madera at 930am, where the festivities of the day had already began to unfold. Looking to our left we could see a large group of kids playing a make shift form of "pogs", to our right was the church which you could hear kids running about in. A quick stop at the local convienient store, provided Trent and myself with a much needed game of FIFA Street. (The score was 2-2, but thats a totally different story).

We then fired up the grill and got the dishes ready to serve. A quick and precise assembly line orchestrated by none other then our own Lisa Sutherland helped to make the process a simple and painless procedure.

After firing over 200 burgers we immediately turned to our newest objective... Tracing feet and getting the kids "mug shots" ready for shipment. (The mug shots aren`t actually a bad thing, they just put a face to a shoe trace). Some kids went quietly, while others put up a fight like no other. When it was all said and done, all of the kids had gotten a burger in their belly, their foot traced, and a delicious cup of iced tea.

We did a quick, but amazing, job of cleaning up the church and then headed back to La Vina.

After our arrival back in the heart of Mazatlan we noticed that the weather had tooken a turn for the worse. A storm was a brewing...

So here Mr. Ponds and myself sit, in the humid sweat box also known as the "Exlusivo Huespedes", typing this email to you, the fans. If you want to hear more of our adventures let us know, because we would love to tell them.

So far from all of the experiences and adventures we have had here, it is safe to say that we are sufficiently safonsified [Just because you use it, it doesn't mean it's a word!! - Heather] with all that Mazatlan has to offer.

Sincerly,
Warren & Chris


***End Transmission***

Hamburgers for 200, please.

Another eventful day for the PS07 team - and it's only 3 o'clock!

Today, we returned to Madera - home of the half-finished bathroom - to further hone the culinary skills we'd busted out in the mobile kitchen. And while we thought it'd be easier than the manual labor we'd done in days prior, apparently, cooking for two hundred school kids is no small feat. And neither is racing through the community centre dragging blankets weighed down with children. Or, taking running shoe orders - by manually tracing feet - for the same 200 kids. But Warren will tell you about that later.

What I'd like to do is give everyone out there a better breakdown of what we're actually doing - and where your generous donations are going, if you contributed to our cause. By now, you've seen a lot of pictures and heard a lot of stories, but unless you're actually here, it's hard to get a sense of what's going on. So, I'll try to sum it up for you.

While we're down here, we work with an organization called La Vina. Their 'headquarters' of sorts are right in the Golden Zone of Mazatlan (near where we stay). This is the area that most people stay in (and never leave) when they come here. And because of this, most people assume that all of Mazatlan is as prosperous and well-kept as the tourist hot spots.

Unfortunately, it's not. In actuality, most people here live in poor colonials, and hold down jobs making about 40 Pesos a day(about $4 Canadian). So it's those people and areas that La Vina - and Project Smile - work in down in Mazatlan.

Most of La Vina's work happens out of community feeding centres, that they build from the ground up, in these poor areas. The community centres serve as schools, a place to play, and of course, a place to get food.

But, these feeding centres cost money to build, and more money to operate. So that's where Project Smile comes in.

The money we raise helps with construction and supplies for new centres (paint, bricks, concrete, roofing materials, etc.) and things like food for existing ones. This year, it also paid for socks, toys, games, and all sorts of small trinkets that will serve as Christmas presents.

While we are actually IN Mazatlan, we do our best to help out with day-to-day operations of La Vina. This includes construction (i.e. those pesky bathrooms we slaved away on), but it also means lending a hand wherever it's needed. We spend a lot of time cooking in the feeding centres and in the mobile kitchen (which is a glorified trailer with a grill in it), painting, making sandwiches, whatever. More often than not, we also spend time just playing with the kids - be it a pick-up soccer game, or putting on a puppet show.

So that's the just of it. I hope that helps you guys understand what happens down here, and how much impact your donations & support have had. Keep following the blog to learn more about our day-to-day adventures, and remember: Project Smile happens EVERY year. So if you want to help out but didn't get a chance to this time around, get in touch with us when we get back. We're so happy that we can make this happen, and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Fast Food

Our day began as a continuation of the work we began yesterday forming the foundations for a bathroom, as well as moving countless amounts of donated cinder blocks and applied fresh coat of paint to one of the feeding centre's. There is nothing like the Mexican heat, just waiting between the days tasks takes it toll on all of us. Nevertheless, it's fantastic being able to assist in helping develop buildings that will continue to serve the people of Mazatlan.

After a much needed siesta, our team headed out to a colonial in the evening where we hitched a mobile kitchen onto the back of a pickup truck. As a team prepared and served roughly 200 meals to a community of lively and sometimes mischeveous children. It was enjoyable for the whole team to play games and fullfill a basic need of food to these beautiful children. Many of the kids our team members recognized from years past and we are looking forward being involved with more of the kids over the coming week.

It's great to be back in Mexico!

The Meaning of Hard Work

Wow. What a day!

Though we landed yesterday - and met the cool folks from La Vina and got to know Mexico - it wasn't until today that Project Smile really kicked off.

The day started bright & early with breakfast at La Vina. Dave - our official La Vina host and all-around amazing dude - arrived shortly after, and corraled us into the back of a pick-up (Mexico-style). We got off to a rocky start (the pick-up truck died, resulting in some pushing and a brief walking detour), but we arrived at our destination despite it all, and got down to work.

And work we did.

I don't want to lead any of you (specifically our clients!) to think that we don't work hard in Calgary - because we do. Creative work is tough - mentally, it can be draining to get that concept "just right." But that being said, I don't think I have EVER worked as hard as we did today.

Today's project involved construction in Mazatlan's red-light district. So when they said dig, we dug. And when they said lift, we lifted. It took several hours, shovels, a pick axe, hand-mixed concrete, and help from seven year olds who were probably stronger than us. But by the day's end, we'd built it: the foundation of a bathroom.

...Okay, so it doesn't sound like much. But for a bunch of web-geeks by trade, I think we did pretty well.

The van ride back to La Vina for a late lunch was significantly quieter (and smellier!) than the one going to our project. The entire group was exhausted and covered in a fine mixture of clay and cement. All in all, it was a tough (but rewarding) day.

I gotta say: all that labor almost made us miss our desk jobs. But of course, after a long day at the office in Calgary, we can't boogie board for three hours in the warm, crashing ocean waves. So in conclusion, this place still has Calgary beat.

Suitcase has landed

Just letting you all know that we made it safely to Mazatlan. We immediately got briefed on the weeks itinerary after arriving here and then followed the rest of the day up by getting well aquainted with the food, the sun and the ocean here in beautiful Mexico. We have a big day ahead tomorrow so join us as we officially launch Project Smile 2007.

Fun Raising at the Shanks Project Smile Fundraiser

Thanks everyone who came out this year to the 2007 Project Smile Fundraiser and silent auction at Shanks. Everyone had an amazing time, thanks to the Calgary Stampeders, Cabbie from The Score, Jill Belland from Citytv, Shanks and all the volunteers and Suitcase employees that made it happen.