This note from Brian Gold after his recent escort of Jamal from St. Louis (after surgery), back home to Belize, is a good reminder of how great much of a difference it makes to have flight crews who support our volunteer program.
“On behalf of Airline Ambassadors and myself, Brian Gold, I want to send a huge thank you to AA IDF based crew for treating me and the medical orphan child Jamal on our journey to take him to STL from BZE for surgery he needs. –
The crew was so nice!
We want to let working crews know that if they ever have an AAI (Airline Ambassadors International [escort program] ) on board with a child(ren), please help as much as possible! We are non paid volunteers and usually working on off days getting these beautiful children with medical needs either to or from non profit hospitals. Trust me, we are having long days when we are escorting Thank you for AAl (and the great work) you do!”
This was a mission to Maligua Pamba in the Andes of Ecuador which was led by Pam Gilbert on April 2-16, 2012. Gilbert said, “It never ceases to amaze her what a difference two weeks can make especially when you have a Dream Team of volunteers.” AAI would like to thank all the volunteers and the mission coordinator for their outstanding service. The volunteers helped by improving the educational environment such as organizing the library and the computer lab, working with children of all ages. Other activities they fixed sewing machines and taught sewing. The most important activity was making a riser so that the kindergarteners can reach the hand washing taps. There is no hard work without a little fun, so the children shared their rich culture with the volunteers by exposing them to traditional dances, plays, and dialogues about how to improve their country.
AA flight attendant Maria Malon accompanied 13-month old Xinrui from Beijing to Ohio where he had surgery to correct a cleft lip and palate. All healthy and happy, we returned him in April to his excited parents. AA flight attendant Jody Gross brought him from Columbus, OH to Chicago where they met AA employee Richard Detweiler who accompanied him on the long flight from Chicago to Beijing. Maria was also at O’Hare to say goodbye and wish him well. Everyone who met this baby seemed to fall in love with him. Maria is in the “before” pic and Richard Detweiler and Jody Gross are in the “after” pic with Baby Xinrui.
On Dec. 1, 2011, 34 children participated on a Fantasy Flight to the North Pole (leaving from Santiago, Chile).
The idea was birthed last April, during a UNICEF site visit by our AAI team. The office of the First Lady of Chile and the Ministry of Justice also participated in this heartwarming flight for children! Many thanks for support from American Airlines Flight Service, and coordination from Rachel Martinez at the US Embassy. Additional thanks to Sam Santiago, Jim Mariano and Amy Doe who traveled from the US, as well as Paula Caviglia, Carolina Lara, and everyone who helped make this a memorable day for the children!
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Airline Ambassadors and Innocents at Risk hosted the Stand Up for Children Gala, October 19, 2011.
I recently got the opportunity to work with Airline Ambassadors to bring a little girl from Columbus back to Haiti. Her name is “Clessy” and I’ve attached a picture of us at the Columbus airport where I picked her up. It was such a thrill and pleasure to have serve a child in this capacity.
I have a children’s home in Carrefour, Haiti and and am pleased to lead regular missions there for Airline Ambassadors.
Following is a little story written by Joy, one of our escorts who, along with another escort, Lucy recently accompanied 2 little ones from Paris to Chicago. Onyx, 5 months old had a severe cleft lip and palate and Alvin, 2 1/2 had an imperforate anus. Both would have corrective surgery in Ohio sponsored by Children’s Medical Missions. The attached picture is of our 4 escorts changing hands in Chicago. The reason I am only using first names is because neither Joy nor Lucy wanted their last names mentioned.
I recently participated in an Airline Ambassador project to help bring a couple of babies from Africa who were headed to the US to have surgery in Ohio. I was part of a team of escorts in a quite complicated maze of paperwork, visas, and dozens of other details that our director, Margaret seems to manage flawlessly.
Onyx and Alvin came up from the Ivory Coast to Paris with Amélie, an escort from Aviation sans Frontières. I flew to Chicago and met the other escort, Lucy who is also a flight attendant, and we boarded a flight to Paris. We spent a fun day in Paris together and return to the airport the following morning to meet the children and Amélie. We had a wonderful trip with the children! It was so much fun to participate in a project with two babies, especially since we had each other for support.
We brought them back to Chicago where another team of escorts, Laurie and Evelyn met us and took them on to Ohio. Another thing that was nice was that the same flight attendants who brought us into Paris were the same team that brought us home. So they already knew the story and were expecting the children. They could not have been nicer nor more accommodating. When the children are recovered from their surgeries they will be returned to their homeland.
I wanted to share a few things I jotted down during my time with Onyx, 5 months and maybe 10 pounds and Alvin, 2 1/2.
What I learned:
I learned that when you carry a baby in a front carrier on your chest, your body temperature goes up about 10 degrees.
I learned that the leg truly does fit into the armhole of a baby front carrier and I was still confused when I had an extra limb I wasn’t sure where to put.
I learned that babies have lip gloss in their hair because you can’t help kissing their precious little heads.
I learned that babies really do weigh 5 pounds more when they are asleep.
I learned mothers have sore hands because they really need 4 hands, not 2.
I learned it’s hard to feed yourself with a baby in the front carrier. Onyx had a REAL experience with my crusty Parisian roll that I had for breakfast. I learned that after a few hours you are only careful with hot beverages and get over the crumbs
I learned after an embarrassing maybe 12 to 15 minutes that pacifiers have a hard plastic cover. Onyx did not mind; we both were having several firsts together on this trip.
God says he literally knits us together in our mothers womb. I learned that when you hold a baby your heart knows it’s really true.
Lastly, I learned that you really can fall in love at first sight – especially in Paris!
Linda Vigil-Feeney escorts Ani back to Honduras. You can read the full story that she wrote about this trip in the Santa Fe Hometown News here.
Join us and help to bring relief supplies to Japan by donating now. Airline Ambassadors is setting up relief teams that will transport aid to those affected by this disaster. You donations are vital at this critical time and we thank you for putting your compassion into action.
Help Japan Now! Read more about how you can help and download the PDF.
Reported by Hester Fleck, Continental agent and AAI escort
My trip to Ghana was a great experience. The United crew members were awesome. They even took time out to assist a couple of times while I took short breaks. Along the way, I ran into businessmen and women who were impressed with the work we are doing. The hardest part of the trip was when I took Rashida out of her mom’s arms. Mom was not upset but it brought tears to my eyes because I could only imagine what she was feeling inside. Rashida was not very happy at the start of the flight, but by the end of the day, I was her new best friend.
Rashida and Alhassan are great kids and I do miss them. Thanks to Pastor Ben and Elisha who looked after me from the moment I arrived. Thanks, Margaret, for late night or early morning emails and phone calls trying to rearrange travel plans back home when the first flight went out full and Rashida and I couldn’t get on. Tami, thanks for getting the kids delivered and picked up, and making sure I was taken care of in Ghana!
You can read the original report written by Hester here.
