Doors Open 105 Gibson Centre, 2016, Markham, Ontario

Samuel helping with the signs

20,000 flyers and invites were distributed for Doors Open

All the preparations were done!



All the signs were up the day before the big event!

Signs and schedules were up for the Doors Open event

June 4, 2016 - a clear blue sky with mild temperature and no rain in sight! A perfect day for our neighbours and friends to come out and visit us at Doors Open 105 Gibson!

One of the helpers at the Stone Y. Cooking Demo

105 Gibson Centre is a great place to be for people of all ages in the community! But we are only two years old and few people have heard about us.

Pastor Wesley encouraged audience to participate

As the Chair of the Doors Open Organizing Committee,  my  role was to coordinate and oversee the planning and organization of this  event so that we could reach as many residents as possible and let them know about our community centre.

Story telling at the Kids Zone

Pastor Jonathan, Director of 105 Gibson Centre, and Pastor Monica, Director of Volunteer Services, assembled  a great team working on this event. 

Young people helping at the Photo Booth

Since March 2016, our group met weekly and planned for this event.  Dedicated  to sharing the programs and the great facility of 105 Gibson with others ,  Committee members and volunteers worked extremely hard on this project.

The Photo Booth - a highly popular booth at Doors Open 105 Gibson

Their  dedication and passion for this event was evident and to be commended as they spent countless hours accomplishing their assigned tasks.

The magician  entertaining the crowd

Praise God! Our efforts and hard work paid off as we welcome over two thousand visitors to 105 Gibson on June 4; many of whom were on their first visit to our centre.

First time visitors to 105 Gibson - learning about a magic trick from the pro!

Many came to attend the Mental Health Workshops while some were here to see other events.

Visitors to Doors Open 105 Gibson were invited to take part in the free classes

Numerous shopped at the Thrift Store, tried out various free classes such as line dancing. dancercise fitness, painting and arts and crafts classes

Visitors enjoyed many class demos

Many watched the Karate, Erhu, and cooking demo classes.

A robot welcome visitors at one of the 60 plus booths

Many groups and organizations from the community took part. There were a number of interesting and creative booths giving information ranging from health, to recycling to recreation and science  There are over our sixty plus booths.

Delicious desserts from our Middle Eastern families!

Off course, there were lots of food! Visitors enjoyed sampling delicious foods from various countries.

Malaysian food offered at Doors Open

Desserts from the Middle East to curry dishes from India, Malaysia, there were lots of scrumptious food from which to choose.

Senior group members and Pastor Jonathan

Everybody had a  part in Doors Open 105 Gibson.  From the oldest to the youngest, many participated in this event.

The Senior Fellowship Group worked all night and contributed their specialty desserts to the event.

Great desserts by our new Middle Eastern families

Our new families from Syria and Middle East showed off their fantastic sweets.

They were highly popular among the visitors!

One of the Committee members at the Food Booth

Some people were very creative not just in their cooking but in their presentation as well!

Everyone had a great time!

It was a fun and exciting event for the community!

Community open mic on Friday night featuring the visually impaired participants

What a privilege it was for me to have worked and served along side an outstanding and committed team of volunteers for the past few months!

The All Stars Concert on Sat. evening during Doors Open 105 Gibson!

 Initially, I  thought  I was sacrificing much time and efforts working on this committee.

Great audience participation at one of the concerts

After seeing the bright smiles on visitors' faces at the various events and watching their enthusiastic participation  that day gave us a tremendous amount  of pleasure!

A fantastic Concert of Hope took place on Sunday evening!

We knew that our months of hard work was rewarded!

A good friend of ours drove five hours to help us in the event!

The best part was knowing we did play a tiny part in letting people know 105 Gibson is here for the community and  serve the community!

On a personal level,  God has blessed me with a fantastic group of new friends who share the same passion, vision and positive attitude as me in serving  the community of Scarborough/ Markham!

It was an exhausting sixteen hour day but a joyful and exhilarating one for all the Committee Members!
















 We were grateful at how well everything turned out at the open house event. Praise God!!!

R.T.

Doors Open 105 Gibson Centre

Markham, Ontario

Youth Centre, Alberta

 Youth Centre in a northern community

Today was our last day we spent with the people of a reserve in northern Alberta,  after our almost two week long visit there.


We started our day at the Youth  Centre which was like the second home to us for our stay at this northern Reserve.

We sat around in a circle, much like the indigenous people do and took turn sharing our impressions about this trip.

We came as a group of strangers; but are leaving knowing a little bit more and gaining a greater appreciation of each other and the aboriginal cultures and the people.

P., our host and a the local volunteer for the youth programs has done a lot to make our trip there such a positive and pheasant experience.

Many remote small communities in Canada have few employment opportunity and recreational activities for their residents.

The youth volunteer has such a burden for the young people in this northern community. He is working full time while running some quality programs to attract high school students and young people to the centre so that they would have some meaningful after school activities to occupy their time.

A favorite place for the young people at the Youth Centre - A fitness room

Interested in athletic activities himself, P. worked hard and got help to start a fitness room at the Youth Centre. He is there two to three evenings a week from around 4pm - 7pm working with the youth.



The Youth Centre is a happy place for the young people indeed!


 The staff tried to create a happy welcoming place for them.  Many positive messages were posted on the walls of the centre.







The Youth Centre is a vital part of this northern Reserve as it provides opportunities and a safe place for local youths to hang out, get together, play sports, and get some of the teenage's energy out of their systems.   Or they can be with their friends, just sit, talk to each other or play some games.

The Youth Centre is well equipped with a spacious kitchen.

The Centre staff is busy and provides the children and youth who take part in the program with nutritious food to eat. Tonight - our last night at this reserve, the organizers put together a special dinner for us and invited the youth to take part and experience something different.

 I am sure that many parents of these youngsters really appreciate what this volunteer youth worker has been doing for the past few years. He has established excellent rapport with them and earn their respect and trust. A committed and dedicated Christian, full of love for the aboriginal people, P. has given much if his time and his life to this community. He has become a friend to many of the families and young people in this northern community.

We pray fervently that God will bless and use P.'s sports ministry at the Youth Community Centre and his work in northern community!

R.T.
Alberta
Week of May 16, 2016

Beautiful Art Work by the Cree People of Alberta, Canada

I love art and architecture!  Sometimes when words cannot express our feelings, a piece of drawing, artwork can speak for us.

Native art work is special and different!

Many native artists incorporate elements of nature or wilderness in their art work pieces.

There is something unique about native arts which  invoke images and the power of nature and animals.

I have seen many pieces of beautiful spectacular artwork during this trip to northern Alberta,









My most favourtie one is the one below with brilliant colours depicting a group of young children.

Beautiful and colourful art work by a native artist 

 It brings me back to the more innocent time of my childhood when there were few worries.























But whenever I see artwork by native artists, it always reminds me of nature as if it was beckoning me back to the wilderness.

We went and visited a number of different buildings and historical sites in a northern reserve community in Canada.




















 I was delighted to find that many of these places were decorated with beautiful genuine pieces of art work by native artists.

I would like to share them with my blog readers. Enjoy!


R.T.
Alberta
Canada

Enjoying the Food and Hospitality of the Cree People in a Northern Alberta Reserve

It's an honour to have been invited into people's homes

Wherever we go, the part we enjoy the most is always meeting the local people, learning from them about their cultures, trying new food and breaking bread with them.

S. relaxing in our host's home

On our trip to a northern reserve, we were not disappointed at all! The hospitality and warmth of the people overwhelmed us. Our group and the local people we met hit of off and there was so much camaraderie between us. We felt we as if we were for long time.


There was no greater honour of being invited into people's home and enjoying home cooked meals by our hosts. We were fortunate enough to have been invited four times during our less than two weeks stay.

Not only did Wa. invite us to her sister's house for dinner, she knew that we wanted to learn how to make bannocks.  She invited us for a typical native meal and demonstrated for us how to make the traditional Cree  bread - the Bannock.

Ingredients for making the bannocks are simple 

The ingredients for this traditional aboriginal quick biscuits recipe was simple. Wa. showed us she  only needed four ingredients:

Flour, egg, milk and baking powder, a tiny bit of water if needed.

Wa. showed us how to make bannocks

She put all the ingredients in the bowl, mixed them all well into a dough like consistency. Then she took the dough out of the bowl and knead it a few times to flatten the dough.













We were told that when people were making bannock, they had to be in a good mood as the maker's emotions and feelings would be passed  from him/ her to the dough!

Cutting the bannocks into serving size pieces 

Using her hands, Ma. flattened the dough to a desired thickness, She cut them into squares. Bannocks could be baked or deep fried. Ma. chose to  deep fry them quickly in the deep fryer.

Freshly fried bannocks

After the bannocks are deep fried or baked, they could be cut opened and used as a bun.

A fresh delicious bannock burger!

A bannock burger is a burger filled with a piece of a meat patty and all the trimmings.












Bannocks are very versatile food; the native people make many different food out of the bannocks. Two other food we tasted were the Bannock hot dog and Indian Tacos.

Bannock dogs!

To make Bannock dogs, or Bannock sausage,  we placed a piece of hot dog or sausage in the bannock square, rolled it up and deep fried for a few minutes in the fryer. They came out nice and fresh, yummmy!

Ground meat for Indian Tacos

To  make Indian Tacos, Ma. cooked up some ground meat in a pot. She cut up fresh shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, grated cheese, sliced onions and put each ingredients separately in a bowl on the dining table.

We picked up a bannock and loaded it up with all the fresh ingredients and topped it with sour cream or salsa sauce. It was delicious!!!

Moose meat dinner

Off course we tried moose meat!
We were served moose meat prepared in two ways: moose stew and fried moose meat.
Both tasted good!









The traditional way of life for the indigenous people in Canada was hunting and gathering. Though most of them move away from their nomadic way of life, some still practice the self sufficient traditional living.

Rom. lives the traditional way of Cree life

We met Rom. who lived in a cabin in the wood without the modern conveniences.








He has no water, no electricity and he hunts and fishes for his food. He shared the whitefish which he caught himself and smoked for three days and nights in his own smoke house.  The fish was crisp and crunch as if it had been deep fried!

Our gracious and generous host - Ma.

We were overwhelmed by the warmth of the residents in this reserve community

 Our two weeks trip in this northern reserve has been amazing! We have seen a lot, learned a lot and most important of all met quite a few of Canada's indigenous people.













The people we met and befriended have touched our hearts and souls! They are the most friendly and welcoming people we have ever met in our lives!

R.T.
A Northern Reserve
Alberta