Meeting the Team!

Today, Sunday, January 17, Lori and I are in Lincoln City, Oregon.  We met with all of the other volunteers going to Ethiopia.  It was outstanding to see such enthusiasm and concern.  We were given supplies to take over with us and many, many instructions.  Boy, are we excited!  Now......we go back to Scottsdale and put all of our plans together and get the last of our shots.  (Ouch!)

Just an update

It is hard to believe that we will be leaving for Gimbie, Ethiopia in just one month!

Now that the holidays are over, I am able to once again turn my focus back to not only the upcoming trip, but also trying to continue gathering donations. Specifically, we are trying to collect toothbrushes, prenatal vitamins and childrens vitamins with minerals (both sealed and in plastic containers), tee shirts in adult sizes small and medium in dark colors, and money to help provide a pump for clean water.

It's amazing how once we find a way to fill one need another comes up. Like the tee shirts.....one of the people who sponsors several children in this community has dark colored tee shirts made for each of them. As they had them out, there are always other children present asking for a new shirt too! For these kids the only shirt they have is the one they are wearing, so a new tee shirt is not only exciting to receive, but also a necessity. We want to thank you all for your on going help in finding ways to meet these needs!

I think of these women and children often and pray that we will find a way to help them get all of the things they need. The things that they need seem so simple, so I have no choice but to continue to ask for your help. Thank you again for responding with your generous hearts......Lori

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Our excitement continues....

Now that we’ve finished celebrating Christmas and New Years we can concentrate on preparations for our trip to Ethiopia. We were pretty surprised with the amount of immunizations needed and the time we needed to allot in getting them. Are arms feel like pin cushions and we’re not even done yet! Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Hepatitis A & B, Meningitis, Rabies, Polio, Diphtheria/Tetanus/Whooping Cough, H1N1……and we’re still considering Malaria! And, these were simply recommended….not required. However, we’d rather be safe than sorry. We purchased 25 great water filters that attach to five gallon plastic buckets so the people can go collect their water from the rivers, have the water go through the filters, and receive perfectly clean, healthy water! Then, we got lots and lots of vegetable seeds from Feed The Hungry. We’ve requested drip system/irrigations supplies from a couple of companies but have not had any replies. Are excitement and interest continues to grow.