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A big
THANK YOU is in order!!! And a small celebration for the success of my little endeavor to help a handful of homeless children here in Kenya. Unfortunately, the grave issues of poverty, the AIDS crisis and a shortage of food supply have left many children here without parents or without a home that can support them and in this vast country children can easily go unaccounted for. There is much work being done to help these youth but it is a constant struggle for all who have given themselves fully to this work. It is surprising how far a little help from just a handful of people can go. But what surprised me most, (although I really shouldn’t be so shocked as I know that all of you are amazing people!!) was the outpouring of support from all of you and the fact that after reading only 7 emails from several super saviors I was able to raise enough money for the stove AND soon enough to buy new sweaters and shoes for the kids amongst plenty of other things that were more than needed at the home. The donations, in fact, have continued to come in and
the money has gone much further than imagined and I have been able to help out some other homes in need as well. (Of which you will hear more about in later entries!)
So!!! I would like to now extend a special thank you to a few people whose kindness made me burst into tears in the middle of the tiny internet café in Kisii Town where I discovered after checking my inbox only 3 days after posting my last entry that I had already raised enough money for the stove! So a very special thanks to old friends and to people I have never even met before:
Chris Lovell
Nicole Cooper family & friends
Alissa Gibbins
Susan Mumford
Linda Blitzer
Jay Lamm
Alison Blake
Danny Mellville
Tatiana Froud
Paula Hahn
Heikki Lampela
Johnny and Linda McFarlane
Jan Millar
Cookie Kincaid
Andy Leonard
Norman Girvan
Maia Madden
Kaitlyn Gioia
Gabriel Singer
Victoria Veys
Jessica Dehnert
Marilyn Denhert
Lisa Arrastia
Giles Man
Alex Riccum
The People at Global Exchange
Richard and Ali Sale
I would like you all to remember that aide and extending your hand to others cannot be a one time thing, a child does
not need just one sweater and a pair of shoes do not last forever. There are many organizations that we can support to continue helping people survive the hardships of poverty and the effects of capitalism and inequality all around the world. But it is not this which I wish to bring your attention to, I do not wish to tell you how to run the practicalities in your lives or make moral decisions for you. Rather, I hope that in sharing with you my journey, both inwards and outwards, I am helping to open up the boundaries that we set in our lives and contributing to the building of a more connected world that is going on all around us. A more connected world that will uncover the ties linking us together in our actions as we each go on our individual journeys and help us to see that all though we each have our own path to follow and as much as I believe that we are individual autonomous actors with different traditions, cultures, histories, stories, beliefs, habits, dreams… we are all living in one world and so, as Jamaica will never let me forget and as is
reinforced by my travels each day, we are out of many, one people.
By helping these kids out here in Kenya you are helping your own children, you are helping my children and I want to thank you with all my heart and on behalf of all the smiling faces and happy hearts that you have helped.
A small note of apology for the major delay in these blog entries. Internet access is not the same here, quite expensive if you can get on at all, and very very slow. Unfortunately this blog site takes a very long time to upload my photos which I have to do one at a time. So please check back as the photos really make the blog and I have some smiling faces that desperately want to say thank you!
Also... I still need to upload a photo of the beautiful stove as well as many others when I have my photo Cds on me next. So keep checking. Will try to send a notification when all photos are up.
Much Love to All - Tessa
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Cookie
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Darling Tess- Your journey continues to inspire and seems to arrive at the very moments when we are going into ourselves (and our "poor me" mode, for whatever reasons) and need the reminder that our hearts must always be open for both giving and recieving. Thank YOU. Love you so very much. Walk good. Cookie