farmgirl - Shari Harris-Dunning

We are a family that currently resides in Central Oregon, on a small farm. Shari is 48 years young and works as a Natural Resource Specialist in the field of Solid Waste (Waste Prevention, Recycling, Composting). She enjoys music, reading, outdoor activities and sustainable living. Andy is 53 years young and works as a photographer, doing both free-lance work and as a photo-tech at COSTCO. He is also a person of many trades and skills, from car repair to cooking. He is an incredible guitar player and musician. Ansley is 14, and attends Cascades Academy of Central Oregon as a ninth grader. She loves to read, loves art, loves cats, and plays violin. Marleigh is 8, and attends Cascades Academy of Central Oregon as a third grader. She loves to read, loves to play with her toys, loves her cats and plays violin.

Last year, the Dunning family embarked on a 3-week adventure to Guatemala. We spent 1-week at a language school (Sakribal) in Quetzaltenango and two weeks learning what we could about this amazing country. It was a humbling and remarkable experience and left us wanting to help, as a family, in some region of Latin America, for an extended period of time.

So - this January through April 2010, the Dunnings will be taking a leave from work and formal schooling, to travel/volunteer in South America (Ecuador and Peru). Please join us as we work on gathering our funds and supplies, conducting research on Ecuador and Peru, learn about pre-travel plans, set up our itinerary, and 'set sail' on our journey. We welcome all positive thoughts, ideas, suggestions, recommendations and stories.

Con Abrazos,

La Familia Dunning

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Joined on: August 18th 2009
Last Login: November 27th 2009

Blog Entries: 8
Photos: 9

TB Code: [blogger=132858]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by farmgirl, order by Date newest first.

By farmgirl
November 25th 2009

Ayudanos, Por Favor y Muchas Gracias! South America » Ecuador » North » Quito

Necisitamos libros
Libros, libros y mas libros!

The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. This is the time where we gather with our family and friends, enjoy each others' company, bake and bake and bake and bake -- and eat and eat and eat and eat. So -- first off, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope you all have a wonderful, celebratory day. In this time of giving thanks, it is equally a humbling time. It is a time to recognize those that are less fortunate than ourselves. This is the time, when the best of humanity shines forward to provide help to those in less fortunate [View Full Entry]

By farmgirl
November 3rd 2009

Two Months Before We Leave South America » Ecuador » North » Quito

Las Chicas Dunning
Shari, Ansley and Marleigh at the 'Rainbow Cafe' in Antigua, Guatemala (August 2008)

Hmmm -- where has the time gone? I can remember when we first conceived of this idea, many, many, months ago, and wondering whether it would be possible. How we started squirreling away some money, little by little, then started holding some fundraising events (and people scratching their heads wondering why we were trying to raise funds for a trip so far in the distance), creating summer camps and wondering how it was going to come together. Well -- here we are with plane tickets in hand, reservations for 2-weeks of language schooling, a month of volunteering at the 'Fundacion del [View Full Entry]

By farmgirl
October 9th 2009

Acabamos de Comprar Los Boletos -- We Just Purchased The Tickets South America » Ecuador » North » Quito

"We're Leaving...On a Jet Plane...Don't Know When We'll Be Back Again..."

Well - after much email communication to Exito Travel, searching other Travel Agencies, watching the airfares creep up, we decided it was time to take matters into our own hands and secure the tickets. We originally thought about departing Oregon on January 3rd, 2010, but the airfares are particularly high during the holiday season. So, by pushing the dates out to January 9th, we were able to save over $40/ticket. We opted for travel insurance, which added about $51 to each ticket, so in the end we ended up spending just a little more than the quoted price, but we feel [View Full Entry]

By farmgirl
September 22nd 2009

The Fine Art of Fundraising - Success Stories Welcomed Part II South America » Ecuador

Some weeks ago, I sent out a letter and a packet of information on our upcoming trip. The letter was sent to family members and family friends and was essentially the same as our first Blog Entry: "The Fundraising Begins in Earnest". Some weeks later, I am ecstatic to report that so many of you who have received the letter have been so, so gracious with your money and have put your trust in us. As of this writing, we are now well above the $7,000 mark. All I can say is WOW!! WOW!!! WOW!!! Thank you so much (so far) [View Full Entry]

By farmgirl
September 15th 2009

The Fine Art of Fundraising - Success Stories Welcomed South America » Ecuador » North

The Art of Fundraising
Any professional fundraisers out there with a bit of advice?

If you've read our first blog entry "The Fundraising begins in Earnest", you know that we've made substantial progress on raising funds for our 4-month trip to South America (Ecuador and Peru)...but, that we also have quite a ways to go to where we need to be. Aside from all of the wonderful projects we've been involved with so far (community yard sale, summer camp, leasing out our property for camps, craft fairs), we've also been writing to our family and friends about our trip. We are definitely novices in the field of fundraising and feel a bit squeamish about outright [View Full Entry]

By farmgirl
September 5th 2009

To Innoculate or Not to Innoculate before heading to South America...that is Part of the Question South America » Ecuador

vaccine
To Innoculate or Not? Or What to Innoculate For?

Four months to go before we head off to Ecuador and Peru for our four month family travel/volunteer trip. I went to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, to learn more about traveler's health recommendations for Ecuador and Peru. Measles, H1N1, Yellow Fever, Dengue, Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Rabies, Malaria... Oh My! Needless to say, our heads are spinning around as we try to make heads or tails out of all of this. While I want to take all necessary precautionary measures as we head off to a region of the world that may have different health threats [View Full Entry]

By farmgirl
August 30th 2009

Entry 2 - WISH LIST For "La Biblioteca Interactiva de BAÑOS" South America » Ecuador

THE WISH LIST - September 2009 BOOKS - Of course the most welcome gifts are hardcover Children's Picture Books in Spanish or Bi-lingual (Spanish/English). Our greatest need at the moment is for novels in Spanish for the 7,8,9 year old age group. LAPTOPS (preferably Windows (not Apple) and with XP Operating Systems and WiFi)I believe current customs rules say that each person can bring in one used and one new laptop. We don't need new, used and in good working order is fine. DESKTOPS - XP Operating Systems and Internet Capabilities EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE -(250-500GB) to back up all ou [View Full Entry]

By farmgirl
August 29th 2009

Entry 1 - The Fundraising Begins in Earnest South America » Ecuador

To Our Family, Our Friends, Our Friends of Family, and Friends we have yet to meet, We are compassionate, love to discover, and are very mindful people. We love our daughters more than anything in the world, and always think about the future with their best interests in mind. As many of you know, in August 2008, we took a 3-week family trip to Guatemala. You might ask “Why Guatemala?” We asked “Why not Guatemala?” Land of the Mayans, land of contrasts, land of conflict and destruction, of beauty and richness. Our short trip to Guatemala left us feeling humb [View Full Entry]

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