Merry Christmas

I thought you might enjoy a new Christmas song. All should listen, even the little ones. Have a wonderful Christmas.

BE GOOD AND DO GOOD.

Gordon Carter



The story behind the song, as told by Steve Haupt:

While at the mall last year, my 4 year old grandson saw kids lined up excitedly to see Santa Claus. Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of God's son, with the innocence of a child, he asked his mom, "where's the line to see Jesus"? If Christmas is Jesus' birthday, why don't we see Him more?
As his grandpa, I was so happy that little Spencer understood the meaning of Christmas at such a tender age, and then the words for a song were jotted down in just a few minutes. The song was inspired by my grandson, and the message was inspired by my Savior. Out of the mouths of babes come profound truths that many adults can not understand. Hopefully Spencer's observation and our song will cause people to reflect on the love of Jesus, and the certainty that one day we will all stand in line to see Jesus. Merry Christmas everyone.

Radio Interview

Gordon and Susan Carter will be on the radio show on Sept. 24, Thursday at 9 am. It can be heard on the computer at www.k-talk.com. Please listen in on the interview.

About CAF

Charity Anywhere Foundation
Non Profit Organization, 501c3
Charity Anywhere is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving service to Anyone, Anywhere in the world. We have organized service projects as close to home as Twin Falls Idaho and as far away as Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Mexico. We organize Dental and Medical expeditions as well as construction and re-construction projects. We normally organize 4 expeditions to Tijuana Mexico every year. Including Christmas, Spring Break, Summer Break and Fall.We have an office in Quito Ecuador which organizes Free Dental and Medical Clinics throughout Ecuador.

Our most famous trip is our Dental and Medical expeditions to the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. We have hosted up to 80 people on these trips. The Galapagos Island trip is an experience of a lifetime. If you are interested in any of these expeditions, please contact Gordon Carter for information on the Mexico Trips and Washington Zambrano for trips to Ecuador.

MOTTO:SLOGAN:

BE GOOD AND DO GOODI AM MY BROTHERS KEEPER

Dominican Republic Feb. 2009

Trip to the Dominican Republic in Feb. 2009 with the Charity Anywhere Foundation. Special volunteers were Chris and Srey, Brady Quinn, Brook and Brady Poppinga and Laura and A.J Hawk.

Here is their video from their Trip to the DR.

Guatemala Video

Derek Moss created this nice little video about his trip to Senahú and San Nicolás, Guatemala. Enjoy

Senahu Nutrition Program

I don't know if you have heard yet from Lauren, but we were together in Senahu for the Incaparina distribution last week. It was pretty tough... Passing through San Nicolas we were stopped by one of the mothers carrying a small child with severe burns all over its torso. We took them to meet the ambulance, and then in Senahu came a family whose toddler daughter had also badly burnt her arm the day before. They walked for five hours through the mountains to pick up their Incaparina, and then took her to the health centre for treatment. Protecting children from accidents around the fire is definitely something we will be including in the health education films...

This time the distribution took place in the town's maternal centre

(one room). Next time we have been promised use of a larger

facility where we won't have to all get wet in the rain.

All the children were weighed...

... and their weights recorded. We now have the help of two

health centre staff, as well as one woman, Matilde, who is paid for the day.

Lauren helped enormously with this and the education films

- as well as working for WHO. We really are very grateful and hope to

see her here again soon.

This is was Petrona last year (I sent you pictures of her in January).

We didn't think she would survive.

This is Petrona now, recovered and with her cleft palate

operated on by US surgeons in Antigua.

It was good to be able to tell this mother that her child will also

be able to have the surgery once she has been on the programme

for a few months and is stronger.

This 22-year-old mother arrived at the centre asking for Incaparina

for her child. Normally she would have had to be referred by a doctor

or health worker, but in her case we made an exception. Her husband

had died suddenly three weeks earlier. The shock stopped the milk

for her 4-day-old baby, and she had been left with no money to buy any,

nor feed herself or her other child.

This child, new to the programme, has normal weight

only because of swelling, but shows the scalp sores

symptomatic of malnutrition.

The next Incaparina distribution will be end October.

Later this month I will meet with health centre staff to review

weights, etc. A couple of children's weights hadn't increased.

It seems they are fed nothing but the Incaparina, since there

is no money to buy them food, which is why they ended up

on the programme in the first place. We will also be looking

at a strategy to deal with these cases.

Thank you, as ever, for your support and kind regards to Susan,

Yvonne

Ecuador Update

Just thought I would let you all in on the latest action in Ecuador. The church has assigned a part time missionary in Salt Lake to develop medical work for eyes in Ecuador. He met with Dr. Zambrano for a week and returned with a great report.

The first letter you read is the missionary, Dr. Christiansen, responding to another eye doctor in Otavalo, Gaby. She is 28, lds, and has to work for the government for 2 years before she works for us.

Dr. Christiansen called me yesterday and reported that the church is going to purchase eye surgery equipment and supplies for our clinics in Otavalo and Quito. Dr. Christiansen will also have Gaby come to the states and receive more training. This partnership will blossom into providing all of Ecuador with some wonderful vision care. Dr. Christiansen will also have eye doctors going to Ecuador to work in our clinics.

One other exciting news for Ecuador. Shell Oil has contracted with CAF on serving the indigenous tribes in the headwaters of the Amazon. Once every month for a year, CAF will send a team of doctors and dentists for a week to provide health care. Shell will fit the bill.

Hope this gives you something to smile about tonight.

Be good and do good.

Gordon

Miracle in Senagal

The Miracle at the orphanage in Senegal, Africa

In June, 2009 a small group of 8 from Charity Anywhere Foundation traveled to Mbour, Senegal, Africa to help an orphanage. As we met with Michelle, the manager of the orphanage, we found out that they were very concerned about the milk supply. They had 2 weeks supply for the newborns and 4 weeks supply for the older babies. They had been buying milk from Nestles in Dakar and were now behind $6000 on the bill . They had then changed over to buy the milk from a pharmacist in Mbour at retail. They were behind with him also. We also found out that they had 175 children there with 3 more coming that week. Half were under the age of 2.

The eight of us were very concerned about the milk supply because we had not brought enough money to pay the bill off at Nestles. We prayed and discussed various options on how to help. One option was to go to Dakar and meet with Nestles to see if they would forgive the debt. Our Senagaleze contact, Ousmane, made arrangements for 2 of us to travel to Dakar and meet with Nestles sales people. It took us 2 hours to get there and they were waiting for us. Just before we arrived, Ousmane had a relative meet us and go with us to Nestles. He was a pharmacist. The four of us met with Nestles and found out that since the bill was 3 months old that they could not forgive the debt. They did indicate that once the bill was paid in full that they would sell the milk at a special reduced rate to help the orphanage.

We left sad and disappointed. How could we get this milk supply problem solved?

On our last day at the orphanage we got all the donations we had brought out on a table to present to Michelle, the manager. As I was getting the last items on the 2 tables a big beautiful bus pulled up in front of the orphanage. Men in suits started to pour out of the bus with African women all dressed in their beautiful African attire. These were wealthy people. Once the bus was empty, they opened the belly of the bus and started to unload boxes. It took me about 10 seconds to realize that the belly of the bus was loaded with milk. We formed a human unloading line and stacked the boxes in a big pile. I was brought to tears when I realized that the pharmacist that went with us to Nestles had contacted all these pharmacists at the convention that week in Dakar and they all donated either milk or money to help the orphanage. What a miracle that was that day.

Charity Anywhere Golf Tournament

Here are some highlights from the Charity Anywhere Golf Tournament in Bountiful Utah.

Great Memories of Ecuador

Great Ecuador Team

We were delighted to meet and see first hand what the Ecuador Team have been accomplishing. They are fun, hardworking, dedicated individuals who are making a HUGE difference in their country. We helped work in 2 of the clinics, one in Tena and one in Esmeraldes. When we arrived in each place the people were lined up to receive the free medical and dental work they CAF offered. The crew included doctors, dentists, surgeons, drivers, assistants and technicians. They worked hard hour after hour helping to relieve the pain and suffering of the people.
I was so excited to see the equipment that had been donated by the people in the US being used so well. I had only seen the supplies as we dug them out of storage units or lugged them up the stairs from the basement accumulation spot. They were dirty from not being used and some of them lacked this or that part to make them functional. But here they were, all clean and detailed and repaired. It made all the work of picking them up, transporting them and putting them on containers and dealing with customs, worthwhile. The experience there also brought firmly to our hearts and minds the NEED for help in this country.

Tijuana Project

Here are a couple of video's from some of our volunteers that have helped in construction projects in Tijuana Mexico.

Trip to Ecuador

Gordon and Susan sent me these pictures of their trip to Ecuador. They definitely had a blast while they were down there. Washington Zambrano has been doing an outstanding job with CAF in Ecuador.


Here they are at the beach at Esmeraldas Ecuador drinking my favorite Colombian beverage called Pony Malta.

Here is a picture of the Charity Anywhere Van in Ecuador and the Charity Anywhere Medical Center.


And, my personal favorite, the Charity Anywhere Medical Bus. It think they call it the Portable Medical Center.



I am sure Gordon and Susan will have a lot more to post when they get back.

Golf Tournament

We want to thank all of the golfers who came out and supported Charity Anywhere foundation during our first annual golf tournament at Bountiful Ridge Golf Course.  We did a 18 hole scramble and the winning foursome scored a 57, 15 under par.  Congratulations to Dave Palmer, Dan Palmer,  Brett Higgins, and Bart Purser. 

The most beautiful foursome, made up of three women and John Conover scored one under par.

Congratulations to Blake Carter and Bob Hughes for winning the i-pod shuffle and a new golf bag in the raffle.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to next year's 2nd Annual Golf Tournament.

Family serves in Tijuana

During Spring break our daughters and their families drove from Oregon and Idaho to give their children an opportunity to help a family in Tijuana. It was a long drive for them. I had been in TJ with a group from Utah State University. Susan flew in and we met Rachael and Melinda and Mike. We stayed at the hospital. We hammered and painted and sheetrocked and roofed. It was a great time.

Blake and Thomas are working together to complete the roof of the newly finished bathroom on Nora's house.

Samantha, Tara and Carrissa turned out to be roofing specialists. They laid the tar paper and got it ready for shingles.

The painting crew with even 3 year old Luke and 5 year old Megan. We painted out the ugly graffiti and made it beautiful.

Rosalva's mother fixed us the best Mexican lunches. Will said, "You don't get this quality of food in the United States. Mom, why don't you ever make meals like this?"
Of course you have to know we were served beans, rice, cactus, avacados and corn tortillas.

By Friday we had completed the little bedroom addition and tarred and finished the roofs to keep their houses dry. We had sheetrocked another house and put siding on the outside. I did the wiring for electricity and we worked to get the new bathroom to function. They were so happy and we all hugged and had a good cry before we left. I was surprised how hard the kids all worked and how happy they were. They didn't want to be sitting around when they realized there was so much that needed to be done.

I love this good work!
Be good and do good

Back home and trying to catch up

I returned to Salt Lake on Thursday night after flying from Sao Paulo, Brasil to Lima, Peru to Quito. I stayed overnight in Quito and caught an early morning flight on American to Miami to Dallas to Salt Lake. On the flight to Dallas I sat by a very nice couple from Denver. You all know that the airlines do only drinks now on the flights. The lady next to me asked if I wanted some peanuts. I took some. She then insisted that I have some M&M's with the peanuts. I had some. She then insisted I have a piece of banana with the M&M and peanuts. I had some. Then she insisted I have a little piece of a brownie she had to finish of the treats. I had some. Such good people. I am going to remember to do that next time I fly. He, the husband, is a water expert and I told him about the bad water on Galapagos. He might be willing to go down and take a look.

Lynn Blake picked me up at the airport and we drove to his house. Sharon soon showed up and we had dinner. It was good to see them again. I then went over to see Leon and Suzanne. They hadn't changed a bit. I hope to get them involved in Charity Anywhere.

Blake was in Provo and wanted to stay in the Condo in Park City. I borrowed Lynn's key and drove up there at 9 pm after visiting with Leon. Mom flew in from Twin the next morning and we spent the day together. Blake went to Scot Jones wedding in Logan. He finally showed up at midnight so we didn't get to talk much. On Saturday we spent the whole day together. We delivered some Spanish books to the Rose foundation for a library in Guatemala.

We then went shopping for grand kids and then went to the condo to watch college football. I was very tired and took many naps. I was very surprised at how exhausted I was. Two days flying from Asunscion, Paraguay to Salt Lake is very trying.

We went to church on Sunday in Park city and saw Drew Blake there with his daughters. Those girls are growing up to be very beautiful. We tried to rendezvous with Lynn and Sharon but they were busy with visiting people. We drove home late in the afternoon. We visited Clint and family to see what they had been up to. On the way home from clints house we stopped at the Stallings. All was well for them.

Monday was a catch up day and I was busy trying to get bills paid and other problems solved. I think in 90 days it will all be over with the business. I did visit a shoulder doctor and have scheduled a right shoulder operation for Oct. 23. It has gotten progressively worse.

Today, Tuesday I worked hard on trying to get a buyer for the business. There is some interest out there that I think might pan out. I am at home now and got our old phone number working. One of my old mission companions, Stephan Phelps, called and we talked for quite some time. He was the pianist for the Mormon Sons. He has 10 children and 29 grandchildren. We had some good laughs.

Susan goes in for an exam for her colon tomorrow. She has me scheduled for me to do the same next Wednesday. We are trying to get all the checkups we can get before we loose our health insurance.

I am going to be better at writing daily. Gordon

Where is Gordon NOW?

I just arrived Quito. It is 5 pm. I stayed overnight
at the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I about froze to
death until I realized the Paraguayan Foundation gave
me a hammock. I wrapped up in it and was just fine.
It took me until 2 pm to figure that out. I had no
problems in transit. Walked right to the gate and it
left on time.

In Lima they didnt have a plane for us so I had to
wait 6 hours until they found one. I was suppose to
meet with the Mayor of Otavalo at 5 and he has not
shown up yet. I will just hang around the hotel to
see if he comes. The traffic is terrible. It took me
30 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel. In
the morning at 4:30 they say it will take 7 minutes.
By the way, this is one fancy hotel. Two chocolates
on the bed when I arrived. Thanks, Washington.

Paraguay is definately poor.- WE went to a little
village next to the school complex and found an
indigenous tribe. They used to hunt and wander to
survive. Due to the modern society wandering is no
longer a possibility. They are having a very hard
time adjusting to living in one place. Very poor
conditions to live in. I have a few stories on some of
the terrible conditions I saw.

PARAGUAY


WEll, I am going to leave you now.
Love you all. Be good and do good.
Gordon

Service in Paraguay

I had a very interesting experience yesterday. I
visited 13 Paraguayan women in a microcredit loan
program by the Paraguayan Foundation. They started 2
hears ago with just a $20 loan. They pay it back at
$7 per week over 6 weeks. They each pay the leader
every week and the leader pays the foundation. After
6 weeks they can apply for another loan, $50. It goes
for a longer period of time. They were applying for
their 3rd loan which could be $180. Their pay back
record was so good that they all decided to take the
bigger loan.

Some of the businesses they had going was selling
milk, 5 cows, making and selling charcoal, candy on
the streets, little stores in their houses, clothing
sales, baked goods. This has really helped their home
income. If one can´t make the payment for the week
then the others help her come up with the money. It
is a team effort and they don´t want their credit hurt
with the foundation. I visited the little store that
one woman has and she had just a few items. She said
that 50% of her profit came from pop and beer sales on
weekends. She was out of pop waiting for the money to
come in so she could buy more goods. It is high
interest but the team effort certainly was impressive.
After the meeting and I was driving away from the
group walking down the street and I stopped to take their
picture. They all waved and seemed like they were in
a wonderful club. The foundation makes money, the
mothers make more money for the family and others are
also employed. Win win win.

The Paraguayan Foundation has really rolled out the
red carpet for us. Yesterday our group helped 400
people. This morning they had over 500. 300 traveled
over 4 hours to be here. The church has put out the
word and they are coming in droves. Our volunteers
work so hard. They are doing a wonderful job. The
plastic surgeon took a boy with 4 fingers and gave him
five. When the boy was born, both hands had the 3rd and
4th fingers were hooked together. Last year the
surgeon did the right hand and then the left hand this
year. The dentists are soooo busy.

We have local professionals that are coming to help.
I am so pleased to see that happen. We hope that they
will do more volunteer work seeing our people doing
it.

Construction has been a disaster. The Padre keeps
telling us that the building materials will show up
but at the end of each day some, but not all, has
arrived. We have done some work, but nothing like we
had wanted. There is always tomorrow down here.

The weather right now is just like Twin in the spring
and fall. Cool nights. Our first day was hot and
muggy but it has rained and cooled off.

Sunday church was interesting. The chapel is very
small. About the size of the relief society room at
home with a small over flow room. 6 of us went. They
made us sit on the stand. The music was interesting.
A member played the piano with one finger and didn´t
know about sharps and flats. It was a different
melody for sure.

Well, I must leave to see how the construction is
going. I eat at 1 and start for the airport at 3. I
am concerned about Brazil. They were not nice to me
or the Ecuadorians. I don´t know why but they treated
us very poorly.

PS. I have caught 12 little frogs, 1.5 inches square
so each family can have 2 frogs each. They are
soooooo cute.

gordon

Toilets in Paraguay

When I got to the hotel here in Paraguay I went into
the bathroom. I saw some black stuff in the stool so I
decided to flush the toilet before using. Well, as I
watched the flush a frog jumped out from under the
side of the flushing stool. The water had forced him
out. It scared me to death. He jumped back up into
the hiding place in the stool. I jumped higher than
he did. Well, in my room was a side room with a
bathroom. I went into that toilet. I flushed. Yup,
you guessed it, another frog. He jumped out of the stool
at me. I again jumped higher than he did. He jumped
out of the room. I then decided to flush again to
make sure I had no more unwelcomed guests in my
toilet. No frogs. I carefully sat down and wondered
what my private parts would do if a frog jumped on
them. I decided that they would yell and then of
course I would yell and jump very high. It added a new
adventure to my life as I sat there on that toilet.

I just came back tonight and I have another frog
friend on my wall. Before using the toilet I flushed
again and guess what? No frog. I sat in peace and
comfort. NO I lied, I again thought what would happen
if a frog jumped on my --------------.

Going to the bathroom here is going to add a new
dimension to my thoughts as the natural activities of
my body do their thing. I hope this is put in tactful
terms to satisfy everyone.

Ecuador to Paraguay

We spent Wednesday flying from Galapagos to Quito. We
are now getting ready to go to the airport to fly to
Brazil and then onto Asuncion, Paraguay. We have a
lot of luggage.

We are still working on the container problems. We
are learning as we go. We might have to hold the
containers in Mexico until we get all the paper work
straight.

I will leave Asuncion on Tuesday at 6 pm. Get to
Quito at noon and then Thursday morning leave Quito
for Salt Lake. Arrive at 6.30 pm. Probably will
drive home that night.

I will keep in touch.
Be good and do good.
Gordon