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Puppy love

8/27/2019

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He was six years old and had already been in 49 foster homes.
 
She had become so reactionary and violent that she was only allowed to attend school one half day each week and just one on one with a teacher.

 
On a small spot of earth, just beyond Bendigo, Victoria, a group of ordinary, everyday people are changing the lives of these two children and thousands of others. It’s an inspirational story.
 
What began as a vision to reach out to children struggling with health or life issues using the powerful connection with puppies, has blossomed into an organisation called Righteous Pups, which to date has helped 5000 young people through animal assisted therapy.
 
The dogs are trained for approximately two years at a cost of $29,000 per dog and then the real miracles begin. 
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Some are given to children on the Autism spectrum and the changes can be life altering for the child and their family. The dogs provide a sense of security, safety and connection as many children with autism are often more able to interact with pets than people. They often have little awareness of danger and the dog will protect them by anchoring or tethering the child so they can’t run onto a road or railway line.
 
And these trained puppies are also being used to help children with Type 2 diabetes.
 
Then there are the traumatised children, like the six year old who has experienced 49 homes in his short life, oh my heart broke when I heard his story. But working alongside a counsellor, the dog and his trainer can help these children process and reestablish their lives. They bond with the dog and learn important skills, like trust. It's a slow process but one that can free a child to live a much more settled and successful life.
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But that’s just half of the story. While trained dogs are helping many children navigate their lives successfully, many more children and teens who are struggling with life are being helped in a very different way. Some are bullies; some have been mercilessly bullied, while others are disengaged educationally and at risk of not being able to get a job in the future.
 
These young people are able to spend one school day each week at Righteous Pups, learning to care for and eventually help train the puppies. For many of them it's their first taste of community and achievement and gives them a sense of worth and motivation.
 
One young man who was causing constant interruptions at school because he was finding it difficult to concentrate and sit still was given a dog to train that had the same personality. The boy got frustrated at the dogs inability to follow orders and his restlessness. Slowly he came to realise the frustration his teachers must be feeling. He learned from experience what words could never have taught him.
 
And now the organisation is gearing up to train court dogs.
 
Court is a terrifying place for a child and if they have to relive the horror of a crime they witnessed or an abuse they experienced, it can be extremely traumatic. In the USA they have found that a trained dog can reduce stress and cortisol levels, lower blood pressure and let the child feel they are not alone.
 
Often the child will feel able to tell the dog what happened rather than the trauma of opening up to a stranger, something many of them can't do. The dogs are permitted to sit with the child in the witness box and just being able to pat the dog somehow brings a sense of calm and comfort that enables them to cope. Often it’s the first step in helping them rebuild their lives.
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Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the insurmountable need I see all around me. I think that's why I love to discover ordinary people doing small things that can be life changing. Its not just the dogs and their trainers but the myriad of people doing their small bit; the donors, without them the organisation couldn't exist; the 30 volunteers who give their time and passion to support the work, and the tireless team that make up Righteous Pups working alongside children and transforming lives.

It's a beautiful thing to witness the changes in these children and to realise how different their futures will be because of someone's vision and the dedication of a team of ordinary but exceptional people.

They are leaving a legacy in flesh and blood. Changed lives that can lead to changed generations and they will never know the reach of their passion and commitment into the future.


Read more of their story.
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26 letters

8/20/2019

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They fill the libraries of the world, construct every declaration ever given and hold the power of life and death.
 
It's a remarkable thought that if you speak English, every thing you say and every word you write is made up of just 26 letters. Each one of those letters a mere squiggle on a page yet it’s their combination that provides the power to draw people together or tear them apart.
 
Just 29 of them changed the course of history when Neville Chamberlain declared, “This country is at war with Germany”. It is estimated that a total of 70–85 million people perished as a result, which was about 3% of the 1940 world population (est. 2.3 billion).
 
Martin Luther King, in his deeply moving and passionate speech calling for justice and equality for his people, used 11 letters to frame the words that have become synonymous with his name; I have a dream. He paid the price for his activism with his life.
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Letters. Words. Life-changing. 

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Those 26 letters can just as easily shape gratitude, encouragement and hope as criticism, negativity and judgement. They are keys that can open the door to apologies, reconciliations, forgiveness, truth and relationship. And sometimes it's the simplest words that mean the most; I love you, I care, thank you, I appreciate you, or can we talk about what happened? They are very small keys with enormous power.
 
They also give us the opportunity to share a part of ourselves, to share the world as we see it and to understand each other.
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I’m currently helping a friend proof his autobiography. It's a life summed up in 281 pages, the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs and the faithfulness of God through it all. It’s liberally sprinkled with humour, woven through almost eighty years of memories, including some gut wrenching losses. A life spelled out using just 26 letters.
 
I imagine those words introducing future generation to a great grandfather or great, great grandfather they will never get to meet in person, but letter by letter they will come to understand not only the man, but the journey of his life, his passion for God and something of the lives he touched.
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Recently, I was reminded again of the miracle of language.
 
Little miss 4-year old is learning her letters. She now knows p, o, and y so she can write her name, Poppy. Every time she learns a new letter or can put it in a word, the excitement and joy on her face is beautiful to see. There’s that wonderful unashamed sense of pride that only children can exude.
 
A whole new world is opening up for her; discovering how to read. Before too long she will be able to read a simple story and the day will come when words will move her to tears, or make her laugh out loud. She will have discovered the magic we once knew.
 
Along the road to adulthood words come as naturally as breathing and we lose a sense of the miracle and power locked in them. We forget that they are a gift. But unlike other gifts, words are a gift we all receive.

I may not be able to paint a masterpiece or write a concerto, but my words are capable of changing someone’s day, or even their life. 
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The surprising thing about light

8/13/2019

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In the right light, everything is extraordinary. In my photographer’s toolbox, the most important thing is not my camera or the lens or even the subject, but the light. The right light can change everything.
 
It's a transforming power. Shabby, disintegrating buildings and rising damp mellow with an exquisite softness in the early morning light. In that moment they become alluring, enchanting.

The hopeful fisherman and his trusty rod glisten in the first rays of dawn. Who would have thought that a few lowly fishermen and their tackle could create such an emotive picture?
 
Whether it's the soft, forgiving early morning light or the mellow rays of late afternoon sunshine, light has the power to reshape the commonplace into something exceptional.
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I don’t always see things in the right light. I sometimes judge too quickly or see what presents on the surface instead of what crouches beneath. Just recently I saw only anger instead of the significant pain my friend was struggling with. I missed her when she needed me most.
 
I allowed what was going on inside of me to obscure that was happening for her. Ironically, it's photography that’s taught me that sometimes all I need to do is move a few feet and shoot from another angle to get the right light on an image, and maybe if I’d shifted my perspective a little I could have been there for her in meaningful ways.
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To paraphrase some words of that exceptional author, Toni Morrison, what does your child see on your face when they come through the door? Your critical eye summing up the messy hair she’d forgotten to comb, the untied shoelaces or the remnants of breakfast still clinging to his lips? Or do they see your face light up with joy just because they’re there? Maybe that light will go with them into the day, or maybe into the rest of their life.
 
Not many things surpass that feeling you get when someone is excited to see you, when their face radiates that wonderful delight because you are there.
 
I’ve experienced that a bit lately. One of the inevitabilities of getting old is going to more funerals. The other inevitability is meeting up with other friends who’ve come to say their goodbyes. Some you haven’t seen for 20 or 30 years, maybe longer. They’ve aged as you’ve aged, but the excitement at catching up again after all those years is extraordinary. The years fall away and there is joy and laughter and light all around.
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The more I get out with my camera, the more I realise how precious is the gift of light. It makes things come alive. 

I have people in my life who make me come alive. They bring light and joy with them, a generosity of spirit, a sense of humour and an ability to have fun. Their transparency shines through and they open doors to hear my heart and make space in their life for me. Often they give me a fresh perspective, shed new light that helps me see  something differently.
They are light bearers.


Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see.  Roy T. Bennett
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School shoes

8/6/2019

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I hated those school shoes. They were black and heavy and what my mother called sensible shoes.
 
Those shoes took me everywhere. I walked the mile to school each day, rain hail or shine. If it rained I wore my raincoat and hat and my mother would pack slippers in my case so I could put my shoes out to dry ready for the homeward walk.  
 
Every Saturday morning my father would sit on the back step and polish the family’s shoes ready for church the next day. I dreaded wearing those school shoes to church. All the other girls had pretty court shoes but no matter how much I begged my mother she insisted there was nothing wrong with good, sturdy, sensible shoes.
 
It was even worse when I had to wear them to birthday parties. The other girls wore party shoes; some even had black patent leather shoes. I thought they were the prettiest shoes I’d ever seen.
 
But school shoes I had and school shoes I wore, anywhere and everywhere. My mother didn’t believe in airs and graces, she was a practical, no nonsense mother and thought patent leather shoes were just vanity.
 
Maybe she was right. Maybe I should have been satisfied with what I had but those school shoes seemed like a curse worse than death to a little girl’s heart.
 
Looking back now I realise that money was scarce so perhaps she couldn’t afford to buy me more than one pair of shoes or maybe she did want me to learn to be satisfied with what I had.
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Today we are overwhelmed with choice. We have become an acquisitive society, generation after generation of must-haves. Most children have more toys than they can play with, more books than they can read, more clothes than they will every need and more shoes than they can wear before they grow out of them.
 
I didn’t have that problem.
 
I had a ferocious appetite for books. I read in the bath, under the bedclothes by torchlight when I was supposed to be asleep and on the long walk to school (except when it rained!). I could sometimes be found curled up in a corner of the schoolyard reading at lunchtime.
 
The problem was, when I finished one book in the series I had to wait for my birthday or Christmas to get the next one. When one has to wait from March to December to find out what happened next, it seems like an eternity to a child.
 
So I read, reread and read them again until I almost knew them by heart. But oh how I valued those books. I treasured them and today, although the pages are a little yellowed with age, they are still in excellent condition.
 
What have we lost in our quest for belongings, in the satisfying of every want and longing? We’ve lost the lessons that only waiting can teach, patience, self discipline and the reality that not every want and longing can or will be met.
 
We’ve lost the joy of anticipation; we want instant gratification and in the process we’ve lost the value of things.
 
But most importantly we’ve lost the art of being satisfied with what we’ve got and the deep sense of thankfulness that enough is enough.
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Today, consumerism teaches us that everything is disposable, replaceable and acquirable. Business is going to extraordinary lengths to give us what we want whenever we want it. Groceries home delivered, restaurant meals brought to our door, and soon if you are lazing on the couch and decide you want chocolate, ice cream or something else, a drone will drop it on your front lawn.
 
But when we can have it all, we lose the joy of treasuring things and I can’t help thinking it is spilling over into our relationships. Those same attributes, patience, responsibility and being thankful and content with what I have are also the foundation stones of healthy relationships.
 
Perhaps there was more wisdom in those old school shoes that I ever realised!
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    Author

    Glenyss Barnham
    ​I'm a mother and grandmother who loves  discovering beauty in unexpected places.

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