Meet Callie, a six-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was rescued last October. We – my family and I – adopted her on October 20th and just passed the sixth-month mark. We have been so lucky to have Callie come into our lives. As my daughter said to me early on, “Mom, I feel like something just snapped into place when we got Callie; like our little family fits right, now.”

Callie came from a puppy mill. She had what I call ‘whoa’ eyes in her picture… major whoa eyes. We could see the whites of her eyes the whole way around. My wife felt a connection with Callie; she loved the puppy’s “wooly-bear eyebrows,” serious expression, and her beautiful coloring. I wish I had saved a copy of her rescue photo.

She was a breeding dog at this mill, so from the time she had her first heat until approximately seven weeks before we got her, she was either pregnant or having puppies. A puppy mill tends to be a large-scale breeding facility – although they can be smaller breeders – where female dogs churn out puppies for profit with little to no genuine care for the health and welfare of the dogs.

These dogs are left to live in kennels for their entire lives with minimal human contact. The females are bred every heat starting at 6-10 months, and their puppies are either sold locally, online, and at pet stores nationwide. There are a few things that can get a dog kicked out of the puppy mill: 1) Being too old to have puppies; 2) hitting age two without getting pregnant; and 3) not being sold as a puppy.

Those dogs, the ones deemed unfit for the mills, are either grabbed by rescues ahead of time or sold at breeder auctions where rescue organizations try to purchase as many dogs as they can possibly rehome. Lucky for us, Callie was one of those dogs grabbed ahead of the auction block by a Vermont rescue organization.

There can be unexpected differences between adopting a rescue dog and adopting what is sometimes referred to as a ‘puppy mill survivor.’ All rescues will have had different life experiences that will color their reaction to their adoptive families and new life. Usually however, rescue dogs in general are excited to meet their new people, their house, toys, and love. Puppy mill rescues tend to be very shut down when you first adopt them. They don’t understand the concept of love, playing, toys, or humans that touch them kindly.

It took Callie about two months to start reacting excitedly when our daughter arrived, about four months before she began really reacting to me, and recently until she started behaving like she is one of the family, sometimes.

She still doesn’t understand what toys are for or how to play. We’ve introduced her to a few safe dogs, and my favorite, a Lab, scares her a bit because he’s too bouncy. She can’t figure out what he is doing when he is playing with us, with the cat, or trying to play with her. He’s learned to leave her alone.

Callie is a relatively happy dog now. She still has her oddities, but every dog does. She will always have the trauma of the puppy mill behind her, but every time she goes on a new adventure, every time she gets to cuddle up with our daughter, every time Callie gets a bone, she settles in a little bit more.

We work very hard to accommodate some of Callie’s issues that we know will never go away. For instance, we know that the only time she saw a groomer was when she was rescued. That groomer had to do several of the rescue dogs that day, so she had to work quickly, she shaved her down (likely due to mats in her fur from being stuck in a cage), clipped her nails very short, and the next day the rescue organization took Callie to be spayed.

Due to this experience, we are aware that Callie is scared of going to the groomers. There would be several other dogs there waiting and stressing, it is an unfamiliar place, and I wouldn’t be there with her. Instead, we chose to hire an in-home groomer. The groomer, Dirk who owns Fresh & Furry Pet Grooming, was fantastic. He spent about 15 minutes on the floor with her first, just talking to her and letting her sniff him, his equipment, and such.

Molly and Callie

When I put her on the table, she didn’t freak out or try to get away. She sat stoically, or stood, depending on what he needed, for a long time. I never left the room, he and I chatted the whole time – either to each other or her – and she took it in stride for a while. Dirk recognized the signs when she started to get overwhelmed, and he stopped. While her grooming might not have been entirely finished, he did a fantastic job. I was impressed with my girl and with him.

I have made a concerted effort to socialize Callie as one would a puppy. She goes into the stores where she is allowed, and she meets new people all the time. Together we walk up to ‘scary’ things so she can sniff them. And we recently took an obedience class with Caron Bronstein at the S.A.V.E.S. Canine Club.

Callie still won’t let strangers reach for her to pet most of the time, even when she goes running up to greet them. They have to go for her sides, and sometimes I have to be petting her, too. But that is only true when it comes to adults. Kids are Callie’s one true love. She can be surrounded, in a way that might make another dog feel overwhelmed, and will be more comfortable than she is anywhere else.

We had thought about training Callie as a therapy dog. Now we know we have to. There is nothing she would love better than to show up in a place like the children’s cancer wing and bring smiles to the kids there.

When the historians finally compile the legacy of Norwich’s Dr. Dean Seibert, there may be a slight conflict when published. Will his distinguished medical career be in the forefront of that legacy or will his dedicated world-wide service to humanity take center stage? In both categories, Dean Seibert has become a living legend.

Perhaps we can take a hint from the man himself. During a visit to his Norwich home on a rainy spring morning, Dr. Seibert gave some insight into that issue. At age 84, he is still very active, both as a physician and for the last 25 years as a volunteer for the ACTS (Americans Caring Teaching Sharing) Honduras organization. ACTS was established originally in 1986 to foster cross-cultural understanding and to promote, with our Honduran partners, sustainable programs for health, education, agriculture and economic development.

After looking back at all those trips to Honduras, Dr. Seibert narrowed down his list of highlights and memories by reciting his favorite quote from American anthropologist Margaret Mead. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

“Yes, that is my favorite quotation and it sums up perfectly the work and dedication by ACTS volunteers.” Dr. Seibert noted. “For the last five or six years, I have traveled with a team of volunteers to Honduras twice a year. We would stay there anywhere from ten days to two weeks and I think that was a key to our success. Short visits to help the people there decide their priorities whether it be medical needs, engineering aid, or agricultural. Especially with supplying a source of clean water. Thanks to the Engineers Without Borders organization, that is becoming a reality. What a critical element. With clean water everything is possible.”

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere and is roughly the size of Tennessee with a population of approximately 8.5 million. The economy in recent years has experienced slow growth, but the distribution of wealth is polarized with 50% of the population living below the poverty level.

“You have to realize that in Honduras, the residents there are extremely lucky if they graduate from the sixth grade. The poverty level is simply incredible and education opportunities are almost non-existent. There is no comparison to living here in an affluent community like Norwich and living in some of those remote villages. Traveling back and forth is a stunning shock to the system. It opens one’s eyes to the reality of this world.” Dr. Seibert stated.

When asked to break down all those trips and experiences and pick a favorite for the past 25 years, Dr. Seibert’s eyes sparkled and a warm smile spread across his face. He was quick to respond.

The dedication of the Dr. Dean Biblioteca in Honduras

“Well… five or six years ago, we started a project where we converted an old building in a local Honduras community and made it into a library. Now, you have to understand that very few of the people here have the ability to read and that is what made this so incredible. When completed, we had – believe it or not – a modern, high-tech library where they could learn to read and benefit from the educational offerings. My proudest moment came when they named the building The Dr. Dean Biblioteca (Library).”

Dr. Seibert’s complete résumé could fill many pages. He was hired by the Dartmouth Medical School in 1965 as an instructor in medicine and the director of graduate medical education. He was familiar with the school having done a fellowship in hematology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock from 1961 to 1963. Dr. Seibert earned his M.D. at Albany Medical College in 1958 and completed his residency at Albany Medical Center in 1961. In 2004, he was the recipient of his alma mater’s humanitarian award. Following that, he worked for a few years at the National Cancer Institute and then served as a commissioned officer in the US Public Health Service. From his earliest days at Dartmouth, he has helped to bring a more global orientation to the medical school and its students.

Dr. Seibert and his wife Anne moved to their Main Street home in Norwich in 1965.

When I was a student, I avoided history. Both my brothers and my dad are dyslexic, and sometimes I feel like I am, too, says Heidi Fishman of Norwich. “I never aspired to be a writer.” So how did she come to be the author of a compelling historical novel about surviving the Holocaust? The story that so strongly moved her beyond her experience as a student, and her practice as a psychologist, was the tale of her mother, Ruth ‘Tutti’ Lichtenstern Fishman, a child survivor of the Holocaust. The result of Heidi’s work is Tutti’s Promise.  Heidi gathered the anecdotes her mother had told her and her brothers as they grew up, and conducted research in Holocaust archives. The book is aimed at middle-school readers, but is a worthwhile read for adults as well. It is told largely through Tutti’s eyes. She was almost five years old when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands; her family had moved there from Germany in 1936 to avoid Nazi rule.

Knowledge and Points of View

Heidi Fishman

An adult reading the book hears the child’s voice which whined for more and nicer food, for time outside and trips to the park, and also understands the anger born of fear and frustration which drove Tutti’s father, Heinz, to snap at his family. Tutti’s mother, Margret, astounds the adult reader with her seemingly bottomless strength and calm. The parents’ obvious tension penetrates their daughter, stifling her complaints and leading her to help entertain her younger brother, Robbie.

The family’s situation was unusual and fortunate in two ways. Heinz was a metals trader, and his expertise and connections were especially valuable in the war. Furthermore, he had become good friends with Egbert de Jong, the Dutch minister of non-ferrous metals. The Nazi commissioner of the office of Reichs Metal wanted de Jong to stay at his job, and confided to him the Nazi plans for eliminating all Jews from the Netherlands. De Jong was not Jewish, but he was horrified by the Nazis’ plans, and, like a small-scale Schindler’s list, did what he could to get some of his Jewish friends declared essential workers as scrap-metal traders. The commandant of the transit camp was eager to turn it into a work camp for sorting scrap metal, since he knew most of the Dutch Jews had been shipped out, and he feared he’d be sent to the front if the camp closed.

This system worked for a while.

As you read, you can’t help thinking of the genocidal wars of the current era. Will help come from the outside if sufferers hold out long enough? Is escape to a safe zone possible? The parents’ efforts to hide the deadly reality of the situation from their children heightens these thoughts, by pointing out the ignorance of the big picture – and of the historical outcome – of the people involved.

Tutti’s Promise provides an excellent model for young writers. It is illustrated with relevant photos and images of documents, all usefully captioned. It has historical notes and references to further sources. It has pronunciations and translations of words from Dutch, German, and Yiddish.

Finding a Publisher

Ruth “Tutti” Lichtenstern Fishman

Heidi worked on her book for five years, visiting sites in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Germany, and researching archives in Europe, Israel, and the US. Eventually her thoughts turned to looking for a publisher, but she was given the usual advice to find an agent first. She began this daunting process in September 2014.

About a year ago, Heidi was trying to track down the yellow star which Tutti remembered giving to a high school boy who was interviewing her in 1975. There was some thought that he’d donated it to a historical society… How to find out? The boy’s name… Was it Cutler? Confusion reigned. Heidi’s father was listening to this discussion, and interrupted to say the name was Catler, and he’d worked with the boy’s father, who was a manager for a heating and air conditioning company who had retired to Florida. Heidi hunted around and left some phone messages. Not much later, she was staying at her mother’s house, and her mother came bursting in waving the phone when Heidi was in the shower. “There I was, standing in my childhood bedroom, dripping wet,” talking to the former high school student. Heidi continues, “He remembers the story, the house, the doll, but not the star. And then he starts asking some really pointed questions, and I can hear a voice in the background saying, ‘Ask her…’” The voice belonged to the man’s partner, Margie Blumberg, principal of MB Publishing, which publishes books aimed at middle grade students, and had recently published a Holocaust book. It was an excellent match.

Heidi has been careful to keep the reading level of Tutti’s Promise appropriate for middle grades. “My mother tells the stories as she remembers them as a child, so that helps keep the level good for kids,” Heidi notes. “I had to be careful in the part about the metal dealers.” While she found fascinating the machinations of de Jong and the Jews he helped, she recognized that most children would not want too much detail on this topic. She’s starting to plan for a book she thinks of as Scraps of Hope to delve into the topic.

A Good Message to Take Away

Popje (“Dolly”)at the conservationist

Some of the wisdom Heidi’s mother hopes to impart with her visits to schools closes the book. “Don’t judge,” she says. “Don’t bully. Help when you can… When you see bad things happening in the world, step up and do something. Even if that thing is small. We all have to work to make this world better.… [M]y story… reminds us that we must never forget what prejudice and hatred can lead to if we don’t confront them together.”

Editor’s Note: For a few years now, the Norwich Times has been featuring our young people thinking, doing, and living outside the box. Rather than follow the traditional four-years-of-high-school onto four-years-of-college route, these adventurous souls are recognizing that there are many paths, and that some may lead to a whole new world to explore. Read about Ebben Whitehair, Gabrielle Alexandrescu, and Sarah Bibeau as they tell us about their exciting travels to distant lands and about their humbling experiences back home.

Nils Kingston, Ebben Whitehair (center), and Katrina Wheelan all did gap years in Chile.

Ebben Whitehair

I don’t plan anything in advance. Just ask my Mom. I started out my gap year knowing that college immediately after high school wouldn’t work for me. I also knew that I had no idea what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I hoped that by taking a gap year I could figure that out.

To give some background, I’d never been on a plane before this year. Take that as you will, but other than two roadtrips south with my family, I hadn’t seen much of the world. I knew that I wanted part of my gap year to involve traveling somewhere. But I needed money to travel, so I had to do some work as well.

Taken from Ebben’s time in Patagonia, Chile

I’d gotten my EMT certification a few months before school ended and realized I could use it to make some money to fund my travels. I got in touch with some friends who worked at a local ambulance service and secured a job as a per-diem EMT. It made me happy; I had spent time and money earning my EMT and now I had a chance to use it.

On my first shift, I was lost. Working in the real world was so much different than learning things in a class. In class, we just worked on simulated patients in fake situations. In real life, people’s lives depended on our actions. But I liked it! Never knowing what was going to happen next helped me get through every day and made me eager to come back. I started picking up more shifts, earned some money, and my hopes of being able to see the world became more of a reality.

Later in the year, my friend, Nils, and I decided to make a trip to Chile; my first real trip out of the country. Nils has extended family outside of Santiago, so we decided to start our trip there. We purchased some plane tickets and in mid-October we set off. We had two deadlines: we had to be in Santiago 24 hours after we took off in order to use a borrowed car, and had to meet another friend two weeks later over 1000 kilometers south. It was the first time I’d been far away from home, just a friend and me, with a whole country to explore. We travelled all over, speaking extremely broken Spanish and trying to spend as little money as possible. We ended up in places I never imagined, and admittedly made some mistakes. One time, we misread some directions and ended up on a dead-end road, literally ending in the ocean. The whole trip made me feel free; and I wouldn’t have changed anything.

Back in the states from my Chilean travels, I longed for more adventure. But once again I was short on money. Winter had arrived and I was back to my ambulance job, and I had also returned to ski patrolling. While most of my friends were off at school, I was working between seventy and eighty hours a week. Admittedly, it may have been too much for me. But, once again money was adding up, making more traveling feasible.

Once ski patrol was over, I looked at my travel choices again. I was looking for a few things, but the most important was a place to stay for free. After talking with some friends, I concocted a plan to visit a friend in Germany for a few days, head to Holland and stay with some family friends for close to a week, and then go to London and spend a week with yet another friend who was studying abroad. This trip felt different than South America. I was on my own, going from country to country on my own. If nothing else, I felt like I’d grown up and found some courage to get out into the world.

I learned that college isn’t the only answer after high school. At this point, it doesn’t look like I’m headed off to a four-year school next fall. I hope to continue to do what I’ve been doing: help people through my ambulance work, find myself through some travel, and grow up into the person I want to be.

Gabby Alexandrescu

Gabby with new friends at a volunteer-based school for laboring children

Taking a gap year has, without a doubt, been the best decision I’ve made. I made the decision quite late, about three weeks before graduation. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I would do with my year, but I knew that I wanted to make it meaningful. With that, I decided I would spend the first half working, and the second half traveling and volunteering abroad.

I learned a lot more than I ever imagined by working. The purpose was to give myself some real life experience, to see what life outside of high school is like, and what life without college would look like. I worked at my mom’s chocolate shop, My Brigadeiro, as a full-time manager. Being there was a positive experience. I thought it would be very difficult to ‘stay behind’ while all of my close friends went to college. If anything, it gave me a whole new outlook on life and the sort of person I would like to become. Working made me grateful for the opportunity to go to college, and eager to set and achieve higher goals than I had ever previously imagined. Along with all of that, it was wonderful to spend that much time with my mom we became absolutely inseparable. More than the work experience, I am most thankful to have spent that time with her.

As for the second half of my year, I knew I wanted to go abroad, but it took some time to decide on where and what kind of experience I wanted. I finally determined that what was most important to me was to give my time and energy to someone else while immersing myself into a culture far different from my own. With that, I decided to spend time in Nepal, working with several different childcare initiatives.

I discovered Nepal through an organization known as IVHQ which connects volunteers with local NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in countries looking for assistance. The thing that appealed to me the most about volunteer-based travel is that you are completely out of your element (culture, language, etc.), all while making a difference.

I spent my first two weeks in Nepal touring two different cities. The highlight by far was being able to ride and bathe an elephant, and getting an elephant trunk shower in return! After my initial travel, I was ready to start my volunteer work.

Every child made an impact on Gabby’s life, including at the Rainbow Children Home Nepal

One of the best things about being in Nepal was being able to live with a host family. This truly allowed me to experience day-to-day life within the culture, rather than as an outsider. I lived a 20-minute walk from the tourist hub, in a suburb known as Masbar, entirely local with very few tourists venturing anywhere near. I really enjoyed this because it made me feel a part of the culture, and less like a tourist. After a while, I became very familiar with my neighbors and really felt like I was living there, not just staying for a period of time.

I have nothing but positive things to say about my host family: father, Dharma; his wife, Sandhi; and their two sons, Santosh (16) and Sabodh (13). The first thing that my host father said to me when I arrived will always stick with me: “Starting today, we are your second family and we will care for and love you as we do our own children. Welcome to your new home.” They were beyond kind to me. I can never thank them enough for all that they did for me.

I spent most of my time in a local orphanage known as Rainbow Children Home Nepal. The orphanage cares for 43 children and is run by a woman named Goma and her family who welcomed me with open arms each day. Although the orphanage itself is rather self-sufficient, it was still struggling. The children only had two sets of clothing; their school uniforms and one set they could wear when not in school. The living situation was not ideal. Eight children (ages 3-19) shared two sets of bunk beds per room. In other words, two children per twin bed!

Gabby at the beginning of her trek to the Everest Base Camp

Before I left for Nepal, I started a fundraiser through GoFundMe to help raise some money to donate to the orphanage. With the help of my friends and family, I was able to bring around $1000. One of my favorite days in Nepal was going with the orphanage owner to buy new school uniforms and bedding for all 43 of the children. I felt that the orphanage was the place that needed the most help, and the gratitude I received was indescribable.

In addition to the time I volunteered at the orphanage, I helped my host father who ran before-and-after-school tutoring sessions for the local village children. I also discovered and helped out at the Laboring Children’s School Project which focused on local children who cannot go to school because they, in fact, work to provide an income for their families.

I will never be able to fully describe my experience working with the children that I came across. Each one made an impact on my life and I can only hope that I did on theirs as well. The whole experience was nothing but a blessing. What was most amazing to me is that these kids, whose lives are more difficult than I could ever imagine, are some of the happiest people I’ve ever seen. All smiles all the time. They find happiness in nearly anything.

To round out my experience in Nepal, I was fortunate enough to join a trekking group and spend 20 days in the Himalayas. This gave me the opportunity to experience a whole other layer to Nepal, and a different kind of beauty that I had never seen before. Being able to see some of the tallest mountains in the world (Mount Everest especially) was one of the most special moments of my life.

Sarah Bibeau

Sarah in an apartment in front of Saint-Michel

I never intended on taking a gap year or gap. I wanted the typical college experience: get paired up with a roommate, decorate a dorm room, go on an orientation trip… When I got my acceptance letter to Colby College, there was a slight hitch. I had been accepted into their Global Entry Semester Program. Instead of driving up to Waterville, Maine, in the fall, I would be flying across the ocean to Dijon, France.

Summer quickly passed and then it was time to go. We reached the airport and I recognized one of the girls in my group. We said our awkward hellos and our parents introduced themselves. Soon it was time for us to say goodbye to our parents, and then it became real. I would be with these people for the next three-and-a-half months in a foreign country.

Our group of fourteen and our program director/professor, Jon Weiss, arrived in Dijon after a two-hour bus ride. That night we stayed in a hotel and ate pizza in Jon’s apartment in the center of town while easing into getting to know each other. We made it back to the hotel and after almost twenty-four hours of traveling, it was finally time for bed. I just lay there thinking, “This is real, this is happening, this is my life.” I was excited and terrified at the same time.

The next couple of days consisted of getting settled and going through our orientation. After a couple of days, we finally moved in with our host families. Being an only child, I had asked Jon for host siblings, and he delivered. I had five host siblings under the age of fourteen. They were funny, cute, and kind and helped me feel more comfortable in my new home. My host mom, Éliette, and my host dad, François, were wonderful as well.

rah helping host brother, Séraphin, ice skate in Place de la République, a square in Dijon

We began classes at the Université de Bourgogne. At first we were split into two groups for an intensive language course before we would start our normal classes. After one week of that, we took our first official excursion to two chateaus. The next week, we had another excursion to the south of France. We took a bus down with our history professor. We explored incredible Roman ruins, swam in the Mediterranean Sea, and danced until we dropped. It was an incredible week and brought our group closer together. We drove back to Dijon and resumed classes for a week.

Then the next Monday, we took off for Paris. We stayed in a youth hostel about a five-minute walk from the Seine. Each morning we would wake up to see whatever Jon had scheduled for us, and by noon we were free to explore the city for ourselves. It was a magical week.

After Paris and the Loire Valley, we traveled back to Dijon and got back into classes. Although I was in a classroom for a couple hours every day, my proficiency in French was growing exponentially outside of the classroom. Sitting at the dinner table, eating at a restaurant, just walking around the city… everything helped. We met people everywhere who were interested in our ‘American-ness’ just as much as we were in learning their language.

For the next couple weeks, we stayed in Dijon and before we knew it, it was our ‘fall break.’ We had a week off from classes and many people’s parents came to visit, including mine. We traveled the whole week. We started in Dijon and drove to the border of France and Germany where we spent two days exploring Vieux Charmant and Colmar, cities of my great-great grandparents heritage. We then crossed into Germany and then continued on to Bern, Switzerland. We finished our exciting week in Paris. Having the opportunity to share with my parents what I had been experiencing for the past six weeks was a gift.

The day my parents left, I caught a flight to Scotland to visit one of my best friends at Saint Andrews University. After I landed in Edinburgh, I was lucky enough to find a Saint Andrew’s student heading back to school who helped me navigate the bus to the university. As we chatted, the student revealed that one of his dreams in life was to hike the Appalachian Trail, which happens to pass through Norwich! Hearing this, I once again realized no matter how far you travel, the world really is quite small.

Classes resumed in Dijon for the next couple of weeks, and our group became even closer. The following weekend, my three closest friends and I hopped on a train to Switzerland. We were able to stay at a family friend’s house in the beautiful city of Lausanne. We walked around the city, I rode a horse, and two of my friends jumped in Lake Geneva. It was a perfect weekend.

After another week of classes, a large number of us planned a trip to Barcelona for All Saints Day long weekend. We got an AirBnB in the center of the old part of the city and made the most of our three days. After a beautiful, warm, relaxing weekend in Spain, we returned to Dijon where we once again dove back into our studies.

Group lunch at the Chateau Comarin

My last weeks in Dijon were incredible. The city had been decorated with lights and the Christmas markets were in full swing. For my last weekend in France, instead of traveling I stayed home and spent it with my family. I had no desire to add another country to my list; I was home, and it was perfect. The last five days flew by, and suddenly it was my last meal with my family, my last sleep in my bed. I said goodbye to each of my siblings, holding on as long as I could. I sat on my bed and burst into tears. I was excited to go home, but I was heartbroken to leave. The hurt made me realize what I had accomplished in only three-and-a-half months. I had become a part of a family. I fell in love with a city, a culture, and a language, and I had found a new home. If you had asked me what my goals were at the beginning of the trip, I would have said to become fluent in French, to travel as much as possible, and to make great friends. While I accomplished all of those, I gained more than I could have ever imagined. I will never forget my time in Dijon, and will be forever grateful for the opportunity I didn’t even know I wanted.