We spent our last day with the kids on Saturday and decided a games day would be a good way to have some fun before going. We played egg & spoon and wheelbarrow races and ended everything with a waterballoon toss which turned into a kick ass water fight and everyone was drenched by the end of it! It was hilarious!! We also decorated cupcakes and friends of ours visited to play football with the kids (which they loved) and they also brought sodas, chocolate and samosas for a treat. Gloria made us a special lunch (pilau with beef!) and we even had special seats for the day. It was so adorable and a really fun day overall. It was sad saying bye to them.. even knowing we are back in three weeks!
Asante Sana means thank you in Swahili and I want to say a huge thank you on behalf of Joel, Gloria and the children. They are all extremely gracious and almost in shock by the amount you have managed to do. Thanks to your very generous donations Denise and I managed to raise a total of $3100. This is huge!!!!. Normally they don't get much more than the volunteer donation of $300 (times 4 volunteers) that we pay per month. This is what gets them by each month.. and now you probably wonder what we did with the money right?
Electricity: Yup, they will have electricity thanks to you. We took $800 (and topped up another $1200 donation from a company that had done some fundraising in Britain) in order to bring the kids electricity. In total it cost $2000 and it will reduce their monthly costs because the generator is more expensive to run than the monthly electricity bill will be. Asante sana a million times :)
Rice: An entire year supply!!! (another $800)
Those were the big items. We also bought medication for each child (for a month they had to take pills and use a special shampoo) and we managed to clear up the fungus that was all over their heads and bodies (it was pretty nasty and uncomfortable for them). We bought 17 pairs of (used) school shoes, 7 new mattresses (really good ones that won't deteriorate in a month like the ones they currently have), 9 new mozzie nets, 10 new schoolbooks and reading books and a basketball net. We had a delicious chicken dinner (it's real treat to have meat) with sodas for our first sleepover and we also treated them to sodas when they went to the beach for the day. We had a pizza party (most of them had never had pizza) which was a total hit and we had a kick ass dance party after. Those kids can dance like nothing I've seen before. It was pretty amazing and so much fun! We also printed pictures of them and decorated their rooms and did a nail painting party (even the boys joined in). We also took one lil guy for a few doctors appointments (malaria, worms and bronchitis) and bought tons of meds to get him better and organized a full checkup (I am happy to say he is negative for HIV and overall pretty healthy).
We tried to do a mixture of fun and practical... and I still have $250 to spend which I may use in July or save. I am fundraising right now to send them to the Serengeti at Christmas time (it will cost about $500US for all of them to go) so we are half way there.. :)
ps - keep you eye on the mail.. there are some hand made thank you's on the way...I think they will make nice fridge art in my opinion :)
No comments:
Post a Comment