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Check out what’s been going on in our world!
Check out what’s been going on in our world!
Do you love people, technology, literacy, and learning? This could be the summer job for you. This is the fourth year for the Astonished Summer Literacy program and we are proud of the knowledge and skills we have developed together. The summer literacy program is designed to meet the specific strengths, dreams, and needs of the Core Members who participate in the program.
Astonished! is currently looking for two summer students to work with the Astonished! Program Coordinator to plan, implement, and evaluate our summer literacy program. This literacy program is open to all Astonished! Core Members and participation is limited to approximately 8 Core Members. The summer position would start the week of May 30th and would conclude the last week of August. Click here for job description and application. All applications due by noon May 13, 2016.
We are often told to follow our passion, but not everyone knows what their passion is. This is not so for Kaitlyn Hoar. Kaitlyn has a passion for and a fascination with India. She is not sure when this began, possibly when she was eight and her grandfather spent several months working in India.
Kaitlyn wanted to share her passion with others at the Astonished! Teaching and Learning Centre (A!TLC). With the help of her companion Hannah, Kaitlyn interviewed someone from Regina whose original home is India. She also did online research, read articles, and watched a documentary about India. On Thursday April 28th, Kaitlyn and Hanna presented Kaitlyn’s story of India to the A! Student Researchers, staff , and U of R volunteers. We learned some about the history, religious diversity, and cultures of India. Kaitlyn and Hanna told us about safety issues, especially for women travelling on their own. Kaitlyn also brought some of the gifts she has received from her cousin while he was living in India. She showed us a sari that is the traditional garment of women in India, and many feet long .
Kaitlyn paid particular attention to what it would be like to live in India, or visit India, if you have a disAbility. She told us about ADAPT (Able Disabled All People Together), a national resource centre for inclusion. ADAPT is making big changes in the culture and accessibility but overall wheelchair travel and inclusion in India is not easy. But none of this deters Kaitlyn, her passion to visit India remains strong.
“Rebekah really sees me, not just the surface of me. She always greets me and kids around with me in ways that bring a lightness and brightness to my day.” Debra Brown.
It is tough to write a blog about yourself, so I consulted a few friends to help me with this. I am a natural consultant; I check with others rather than assume they want to do what I want to do. I am also a planner; I like to anticipate my day and be consulted about plans for the day, week, month, and year.
If you live on a dairy farm with your mom and dad, and in the city with your two aunties, have three older brothers, three sisters-in-law, seven nieces and nephews, plus more cousins and aunts and uncles and friends, and you are a Student Researcher at Astonished! with a companion who supports your active life YOU NEED TO PLAN. If you don’t do it someone else will do it for you. I am NOT someone who likes to have others plan my life for me.
For example, it took more than a year of planning, but I am now deep into a quilting project with my friend Deb Ottenbreit (and an auxiliary quilting team). The whole thing started because I wanted to spend more time with my friend, so I thought what the heck could be a project where we could spend more time together, and look what happened… great big fun quilting parties, more time with my friend, and a quilt that is turning out to be very cool and beautiful.
“Rebekah notices things and laughs at things that are funny but not everyone notices, but everyone laughs when she does. It is such a great sound.” Ruth Blaser
I am told I am also a gracious hostess. For example, my mom and I plan events for my friends at my farm. We call them Broyhill (the name of my farm) Bashes. It is great to have my friends rolling around the farm and learning a lot more about farming.
I am cautiously adventurous, I know, it sounds like I should be one or the other, but I am both so I am always trying new things. I am currently planning a yoga project with my Auntie Ruth. This spring semester (May-June 2016) we are going to lead a yoga pilot project with the Astonished! Student Researchers, A! staff, and University of Regina volunteers. We were inspired by the work of Matthew Sanford. He is a nationally-recognized pioneer in adaptive yoga for people with disAbilities.
Thank you for your interest in me and my blog post. Rebekah
Photo: Deb Ottenbreit, Rebekah Lindenbach, and Randy Ottenbreit choosing quilt fabric.
Noticing gestures of love is like eating good food, it nourishes us. At Astonished! there are many gestures of love to notice. For example, the way the Student Researchers, staff, and volunteer lean in to listen to one another as they ‘check in’ at A! TLC; or the generosity and faithfulness of donors; or the way Core Members keep one another in the loop.
A particular gesture of love is the gorgeous quilt Phyllis Matt created specifically for our annual fundraising event, Wings on Our Wheels ~ Astonished! in Flight 2016.
Phyllis is a Registered Nurse who has lived and worked in many outpost communities in Northern Canada. Phyllis says ‘Part of quilting is about building a “Great Stash” of fabric and friends’. Quilting has been a great way for her to meet new people from all over Canada. She now works and lives in Saskatoon and spends much of her spare time quilting and reading at the lake.
Thank you Phyllis for adding Astonished! to your ‘Great Stash’.
The March A! newsletter highlights some of the variety of life at Astonished! We hope you will take a few minutes to enjoy catching up with us. The big question is ‘How did Rhea Boysen and Katherine Taylor look so fabulous at Wings on Our Wheels ~ Astonished! in Flight when they spent the day racing around doing event preparations’? Thanks to everyone who made it such a great night.
On March 5, 2016 we celebrated our 4th Annual Fundraising Event, Wings on Our Wheels ~ Astonished! in Flight. To get a sense of this remarkable community and fun event please check out our event page. Thank you to everyone who made this wonderful evening possible. This conversation between six year old Mason Lindenbach and his dad Josh will give you a little sense of how much fun we had:
Josh: Mason, this is just like Christmas.
Mason: Dad, this is way funner than Christmas!
Thank you to our event photographer Tanys Rae Photography for sharing her wonderful images of our evening together.
We work in inclusive community to address barriers facing young adults with complex physical disAbilities (core members) by creating opportunities for teaching and learning, social, recreational and cultural engagement, and for employment and housing.
The Big Sky Centre for Learning and Being Astonished Inc.
University of Regina
3737 Wascana Parkway
Regina, SK S4S 0A2
Phone:
Bonnie Cummings-Vickaryous, Executive Director, 306-737-9560
E-mail:
BCV@beingastonished.com