Countdown: 10....9....8....7...6...5...!

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Jennifer is in the skies!

Well, Jennifer took off this morning on an earlier flight and is now in the skies headed for Kenya via Minnesota, through Amsterdam, to Nairobi. For those who don't know yet, Jennifer is my niece, but also an incredible hard-working Volunteer Coordintor for One Child's Village. So she will hit the ground first in Nairobi, while Heather and I are still in the air. We leave the Edmonton International Airport tonight at 7:50pm (8 hours to London).

Actually, we have planned a slight detour (time permitting) to take the Heathrow Express (bullet train) into London during our 8-hour layaway at Heathrow Airport. A few pints of Guiness, and a walk out to Hyde park for the afternoon, is just what Todd needs to unravel a bit from the last 5 weeks of stressful activity, preparations and long days of work. I must admit, I am wound as tight as a $2 watch and am hoping the 30 hour flight to Kenya will provide the needed "unwinding" time. So when you are all tucked away in bed tonight, in the middle of the night, you can dream about me living it up "real-time" in London.

We have lots planned on this trip including, but not limited to: Art Project, Community celebration (with government members attending), establish the Volunteer Centre (set-up and inauguration), establish a full health clinic at Bumala, visit Michelle who recently had a large skin graft and who is doing well, visits by doctors to do a full examination of the children, nutrition program, interviews of teachers and students, insitituting a new international values-based education program, safari and meetings with the Masaai warriors (I will be personally handling the negotiations for a Masaai husband for Jennifer - don't worry Dave, I will get you a good lion-hunting son-in-law!), starting a micro-credit loans program (interest free), several business and legal meetings in Nairobi, and a trip out to a Plan Canada project site to visit Heather's foster child. It is pure adventure from one end of the trip to the next, and I hope to be able to give you some incredible stories along the way.

So stayed tuned, tell your friends to "blog on" to this page, and watch for regular updates. I also recommend that you all be sure that you are signed on to our main newsletter by going to the web site at One Child's Village and signing up to receive updates of our activities, events, new news, and more!

I will be out of email range now for about 30+ hours so I will try to send another message with our first impressions in about two days. This is my fourth trip to Kenya now, but it will be wonderful for me to see it all again fresh through the eyes of those newbies who will be going along with me on this trip.

Bye for now,

Todd
*Making New Karma Since 1962*

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