December 4th

Ticksy, "my" dog in the Village, gave birth to her puppies!

December 4, 2014

Happy December! I can’t believe that it is already December. Its really hard to imagine that it is winter back in the States, when it is still boiling hot here in the Village. I also can’t believe that I have been here for 5 months! Time really has flown by.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with toothbrush distribution and my basketball fundraiser. As the children are on school vacation, it has been difficult to gather then all together in one place for the brush distribution. However, there are been weekly life-skills training sessions undertaken by the Home Care Department. These meetings have given us a perfect opportunity to reach the kids and distribute the brushes. In addition, we also had enough brushes for the grandparents. Toothpaste was distributed to each family during weekly food pick-up, which occurs every Tuesday. Hopefully the paste will last for a few months. After that, we will be buying and distributing supplies for the making of homemade toothpaste.

The Polytechnic students during the oral hygiene/hand washing presentation

Also, in less than one week I was able to raise $1000 for the purchase of new basketball hoops to replace the current ones, which are worn down and broken. I am extremely thankful to all those at home who supported this project. Basketball is one of the children’s favorite sports and it is heartbreaking when the equipment is in such bad condition that they game cannot be played. Now because of the generous donations from friends and family, we have been able to purchase top-quality durable basketball hoops, as well as a supply of high quality basketballs. Hopefully our new equipment will be available for pick-up next week! I hope to get everything installed before I head home for the holidays on December 15^th. I will post some pictures of the new systems as soon as they are up!

The current basketball hoops (but as of now, the hoop has follow off, this photo was taken previous to this)

I have a lot to get done before my holiday begins, but I’m looking forward to going home and seeing all my friends and family! (and it won’t hurt to get some good food, sleep in my own bed, and have a real shower and toilet)

           

Enjoy!

Maggie