Getting ready to travel again!

Wow! How amazing is it to be planning another trip to Uganda already?

Karine and I are excited about the two teams we are taking next year: one is inter-generational and the other is inter-disciplinary. I will be staying with both teams so I'll be gone from July 16th to August 18th or even longer if I can manage to have some time on my own to visit while I am there. My days are so full with the teams that I need extra days to get to do anything extra there.

This year will bring new opportunities as well. Karine and I will travel to the North to check out where we can establish another resource centre with the next crate of books that will hopefully travel in the spring of 2010. There is such a need for resources in this war-torn area that we hope to get books into the hands of the teachers and students there are quickly as we can. I am also hoping to make a trip into Rwanda with Denis who is our safari organizer. While the second team goes to Paraa, I will travel with him to see this beautiful country. He is very excited about sharing this experience with me.

I also want to get to know Sally more this time. She runs a home for street girls and has an "adopt-a-daughter" program that connects western supporters with one of her girls. The idea is that the westerner helps support the girl to get her through school. A year's worth of full support including school, lodging and food is about $2500. She relies solely on donations. A westerner can also just sponsor schooling for a daughter which is about $1200 per year. Maybe we could adopt a daughter at school next year. There is one girl named Rose who is only 8 years old and who has already experienced more than anyone ever should. Anyone interested in helping her complete her studies?

So there it is! Another exciting year in store. Corey won't make it to Uganda in 2010 because he can't get a chunk of time off again but maybe in 2011.

If you'd like to join me in Uganda this summer or if you'd like to know more or if you'd like to support Niteo, please let me know! I can talk your ear off about it!

Erika

A lesson in humility

Karine sent us an amazing link from You Tube entitled I Need Africa More Than Africa Needs Me. Watch it. It's so true.

I was taught yet again how my western filters don't hold true in Africa when I met Bob.

Bob uses crutches to get around. He has very limited use of his legs. I first met him at Eva Ruf when he was in the computer lab talking to the man who runs the lab. I introduced myself, shook Bob's hand and thought nothing more than he is someone who comes and hangs out at the lab for something to do.

The first day that I offered my pro-d session on Reading Power, Bob came in late and sat down in one of the empty chairs. I thought that he had nothing else to do so he came and sat down to listen to what we were doing. At the end of the workshop, I gave out my email to the teachers so that they could contact me if they had any questions about the program. I couldn't figure out a way to give it out without giving it to Bob. We have to watch who we give our email to as there are lots of requests for help and money that come flooding into our inbox when we give out our email address to whomever asks for it. But I had to give it to the teachers so I thought I would just suck up the fact that Bob had it too. I would deal with that later.

Kath handed out the materials for Reading Power to the teachers at the workshop and I saw her talking to Bob as she got to his row and then giving him the resource package. I thought that if he could use it or knew someone who could use it then so much the better for him. It was only one set out of 60 so that was okay.

Did I ever think wrong.

As Kath and I sat outside having our lunch, Bob came and sat with us to thank us for the workshop. He then shared his story with us.

Bob developed polio when he was 2. He has never known any other way of getting around except with his crutches. Bob is a music and dance teacher in an orphans' school. He said that we could probably imagine that teaching dance would be difficult for him sometimes but he hires a professional dance teacher when the steps are more complex than he can manage. At the end of term, he travels around to put together year end performances in village schools to perform for their families. His school has over 400 students and 8 teachers.

Bob has a 2 year old daughter. His wife left him when their daughter, Linda, was 6 months old. He realized that he would not be able to raise her on his own so he searched for someone to help him care for her. He found a lady who is over 60 who agreed to care for her in her home as long as he paid for her care. So Linda now lives with this lady and he visits her every day on his way to work and on his way home.

Bob noticed that there were other children around who had no parents. He decided to take care of them as well. He now has 10 children living with this woman with his daughter. On his wage (the national yearly average wage is $232USD but I can guarantee that he doesn't get that), he cares for 11 children under the age of 6 and an elderly lady. He provides food, shelter, clothing and medical care for these kids. He hopes to be able to pay for their schooling because he knows how important it is for them to go to school.

Bob's village is 35 miles from the Eva Ruf Center. He walks 2 miles from the village to the main road. He then waits for a taxi bus to take him into town. The taxi bus doesn't move unless it is full so sometimes it can take over an hour to actually start moving toward Kampala. He then gets out of the taxi and walks up to the center. On average, the trip takes 3 hours each way.

Betty, the director of the center, had invited him to come to the workshops. He attended my Reading Power workshop and then attended Corey's computer class for the rest of the week. He left that workshop with a laptop as all the participants were given the laptop that they worked on so that they could continue the web design work that they had started.

On the last day that we were in Kampala, Bob arrived with gifts for Corey and me. He bought me a beautiful horn necklace that I am wearing in the photo. He bought Corey a traditional guitar/harp instrument. He was so grateful that we had come and given up so much to be there to instruct teachers in new programs.

I am now in email contact with Bob. His daughter has just fought a battle against malaria and now has infected eyes because of the dust. He is making sure that she has medical care so that she recovers fully. He asks for nothing. In his next email, he will tell me the story of his childhood which is what has motivated him to care for these children in his village. I will update this blog with those details. I think his story needs to be heard.

Bob taught me so much more than he can imagine. I need Africa more than Africa needs me.

Thursday morning

This was written last night but as I said at the end of the post, I wasn't sure if it would work. Obviously it didn't so it's hopefully being posted now!

There was no post last night because Corey and I had the pleasure of going to Denis and Alice's home for dinner. Robert drove us along the main road for about 15 minutes and then we turned onto a residential road where the potholes were bigger than the actual road: HUGE ruts that we bumped through in the van! It was quite the experience.

Denis and his wife are lovely people. Denis, our safari man, has a big belly laugh and a huge smile. Alice is very gentle and soft spoken but she works in a women's organization that lobbies the government for policy changes in regards to women's rights and marriage laws. I'm sure she is not always as gentle as she presented herself to us!

I have to say that I am really enjoying seeing the real side of Kampala. I can't say Uganda because I know that the villages are really different but it's nice to interact with local children and youth and to talk to them about school and their dreams for the future. Driving to Denis', we saw houses off the main road (and literally on the beaten track!) and I talked with a group of children who live next to Denis who don't normally interact with a "mzungu". This evening we went to a coffee shop downtown where I had an amazing coffee milkshake but to get there, we had to drive through the night market. This night market had more people and traffic than I ever saw in one place at one time in China. It was truly unbelievable but wonderful to experience. Being stuck in traffic is actually great because we see so much of the local flavour when there is nowhere we can go!

Today I was taught how to play matatu which is a Ugandan card game. It is similar to Crazy 8s but with lots more rules. Mark and Ibrah played with me for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun and very relaxed. These boys are in S4 (grade 10) and are 18 years old. One wants to do video editing and the other wants to become a pilot. I had a terrific time playing with them. Betty said that she could not believe how hard Kath and I work because we spend our mornings teaching teachers and in the afternoon we spend our time teaching children. To me the afternoon is just playing. If that could be work, then I would gladly do it every day!

So that's it for tonight. The computer keeps telling me that this page is failing to autosave so this may not get posted. If you are actually reading this, it means that I must have been very lucky!

Good night.

Teaching Together

Another amazing day.

Today we started our "work" here in Uganda doing the things we actually signed up to do!

Six team members went to Sanyu and spent the day organizing, sorting and cleaning the orphanage from top to bottom so that they would know what was there. Apparently the caregivers were thrilled as they have no time to do that type of thing. The six were very excited and enthusiastic about how productive their day had been. Now they are all working around the center getting things ready for their work tomorrow. It is fantastic to see how excited they are!

Kath, Corey and I stayed at the center and worked with teachers who came from surrounding schools. Corey worked with one teacher, Muhamad, and taught information technology, while Kath and I taught Reading Power to 8 teachers. It may not be many but Karine did say yesterday that we would probably have 8 today and 88 by Thursday as the word spread. As it is, Muhamad spoke with his colleagues and Corey can expect to have a full class of 8 tomorrow. The teachers who worked with Kath and I also said that they would tell their colleagues and that we should expect more. I liked only having 8 because we were able to sit together and discuss about reading and the challenges we all face when teaching reading. It was a great morning but the highlight of it all was when I showed them a little trick that I learned last year for getting students to summarize what they have read. All the teachers were as excited about that as we had been when we learned the trick back in our workshop last September. That was a great moment when we all went "ooooooooh!". I think the teachers are quite surprised to learn that we are facing the same problems as they are when it comes to decoding and comprehension while reading.

Two teachers came from Nateete which just thrilled me because they are a very poor school and it is far away. The two asked if they could take enough for each class and I said that they certainly could. Now they will go and teach Reading Power to their colleagues. That's what this is all about: sharing these programs with the teachers and then having them share the new information with each other.

Kath and I spent the afternoon teaching four boys to play Yatzee. Michael, Samuel, Walter and Edward played two games of Yatzee with us and seemed to quite enjoy it. We'll see if they come for a rematch tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be repeating the same program as today and then Wednesday and Thursday we will do Math and Science. That will be more hands-on demonstrations. I hope it proves to be useful for those teachers who come. Most of what I know is more elementary oriented but they can take what they can and leave the rest. It's just great to have the chance to interact together.

I am going to the hospital tomorrow to visit Muhamad's mother. That could be an interesting experience. She is over 70 years old and is suffering from some type of brain disorder. They are very concerned because she s not eating. Life expectancy in this country is 52.

So, touch wood, the Internet is been very generous with us this evening and we are all madly emailing and blogging to get our thoughts down to share with our families and friends. Corey is taking some awesome pictures so please take a look at the Niteo website: www.niteoafrica.org to see what we are doing and the beautiful people we are interacting with.

Time for a shower and a sleep.

Beautiful Alan from Welcome Home Orphanage in Jinja

It has taken me two three days, four six tries and over one two hour(s) to finally get this photo on the net!!

Comments anyone?

It would be nice to hear from you! Internet is slow but I would still love to hear from you!

Grilled by the African Sun While Eating Grilled Goat by the Nile

Another amazing day yet again today. Would I expect anything less? I don't think so.

We travelled to Jinja, the source of the Nile River. We actually took a little wooden boat (when we asked Robert, our driver, what type of boat it was, he said "motorboat"! :))and went over the bubbles where the Nile rises from within the earth to mix with Lake Victoria and then start its 4000 mile journey up to the Mediterranean Sea. Very cool. Did you know that the ashes of Gandhi are scattered in the Nile? They are! Do you know why? If you do, please let me know. I would have thought he would have been sprinkled in the river Ganges in India.

We visited some falls that were impressive apart from all the mzungu who were white water rafting over them. Made it all too touristy for me. I turned away and watched children fishing down from the falls and white water. Much better for the soul.

After eating a buffet at the Nile Resort (matooke, ground nut sauce, tilapia, grilled beef, chicken and goat, lentils, aubergine masala, rice, salads, soups, tea, coffee, dessert all for 25,000 shillings ($12.50)) and having my shoulders grilled by the sun as we watched the Nile flow by, we went to Welcome Home Orphanage.

I am very proud of myself for not being a blithering mess at the orphanages anymore. I told Karine that my heart must be turning to stone as I was able to play with he children for hours and not cry. There are 70 children at Welcome Home and they all want to be cuddled, played with and read to. Yes, this orphanage actually has books. It was terrific to see the kids all asking to be read to.

So that was my day. We saw beautiful scenery, ate amazing food, met interesting people, and played with cute kids. Not a bad 10 hours eh?! And did I mention that we saw monkeys? Yes, when we were on the Nile, there were monkeys eating by the edge of the water. This country continues to amaze me. It is awe-inspiring.

I LOVE it here!

Have I mentioned how much I love being here? That I could spend the rest of my life here? It is unbelievable.

Today was SO TOTALLY AWESOME (as Bree, the 18 year old team member, would say)! We went to Kawanda and I saw all my wonderful friends there. They welcomed me with handshakes and hugs and if Mr. Hussein had offered me a job, I would have said yes without a second thought. It feels so warm and welcoming there.

Seeing Muhamad again was perfect. I have maintained a regular email conversation with him about school and our lives and it was so incredible connecting with him once more. He wants to come to Canada in the winter "but I cannot breathe below 15 degrees" he explains. I think that seeing snow may be rather difficult!!!

This afternoon we attended the awarding ceremony for the Leaders of Distinction program that Niteo supports. We heard about projects that high school students have put together to work as leaders with primary school students to improve the community. These students that spoke were so inspiring. I could write for days about it but I will end with a quote:

"Everything else is effect;
Leadership is the cause."

How perfect is that?!

Day 2 only?!

All is well and warm in the beautiful pearl of Africa. Yesterday we arrived at 7:30 and spent a busy day unpacking, going to the bank, getting lunch items, and eating Chinese food at Fang Fang's. We were all in bed by 9 and pretty exhausted.

We went to Nateete today to read with the students. They also treated us to a performance with singing, dancing and poems. They were just as beautiful as last year and some I recognized and called by name which made them very happy. I didn't see Juliette though who was the one who danced for me last year. Maybe she has moved on.

We then went to Sanyu and I was able to hold babies and not cry! Maybe it was because we were all outside in the sun and they were running around and smearing pineapple juice all over us. Hard to be sad when they are so happy.

Our last visit for the day was to King's Daughters home where we sat and listened to Sally's story about how she became the head of a household of abused girls off the street. What an inspiration. She said "It is better to try and fail than fail to try" which just sums it all up about what we are doing here.

Karine and I spoke about how Niteo can better serve Nateete with all the need that is there. Something to think about in the future. The headmaster Paul told us that with the books we had given the children last year, the teachers had taught the students how to read. Now THAT is what Niteo is all about.

Hard to believe that we have only been here two days. I am looking forward to going to Kawanda tomorrow. I am excited about seeing my friends there.

Still 13 days left on this beautiful red soil. Corey is loving it all as well! We both can't believe how much it reminds us of living in Xiangfan and Tai Ping Dian.

The Ugandan people live with little material goods but so much happiness and joy in their lives. You can see it in the eyes of the children when they are singing and dancing. The resource center is amazing and full of kids all day long. They have to shoo them away at the end of the day. Yesterday there were over 75 kids here reading, dancing, playing games, doing puzzles, studying, and using the center to its full potential. It is amazing to see.

It's all wonderful!

No pics yet, the internet is too slow and the connection is often dropped. Check out the Niteo blog to see pictures. Corey is working hard to get those up as often as he can!

Five more sleeps!

Our bags are packed, our tickets are ready, and suddenly we're a team member down. One of our teachers fell on Friday and cracked her ribs and now she has a collapsed lung. Obviously she is not coming with us. How unfortunate. I wish her a speedy recovery and hopefully she will travel with us next year. She hopes so too but for now she needs to spend the next 14 to 16 weeks being very careful with herself if she wants to make a full recovery.

For the rest of us, we have 900lbs of donations split between our 18 suitcases and then we also have one personal suitcase each to carry. Thank goodness for trolleys to throw our luggage onto.

Our donations this year include:
- cloth diapers
- baby clothes and shoes (Thank you Elizabeth!)
- blankets
- bottles and sippy cups
- medical supplies
- hygiene kits (Thanks to Dare to Be)
- Science equipment (Thanks to Scope Science)
- laptops (Thanks Jon)
- school supplies (Thanks to Raymer Elementary)
- 10 class sets of picture books (Thanks to the students of SD 23)
- craft supplies
- sewing kits (Thanks Elaine)
- kids' shoes
and so much more! People have been very generous as always. Thank you everyone!



Rest and relaxation is what we need now before we start our 29 hour journey. We leave at 3pm on Monday, Kelowna time, and we arrive there at 9pm Tuesday, Kelowna time (7am Wednesday, Uganda time). It will be another exciting journey! There are computers there with Internet so hopefully I will able to be update this blog daily!

Thanks for all your support!

Thank You Adrienne Gear

One of the activities that the Teaching Team is doing is having subject specific mornings for teachers to come and do some pro-d and learn new ideas that teachers here in Canada are applying in their teaching practice.

When we were in our schools last summer, we all noticed that the picture book was not used as a resource. Not surprising when there are so few books in a classroom but when we arrived and read to the students, the teaches were shocked that we would take time from our day to read out loud.

With the resource center full of wonderful picture books, we are going to share some teaching strategies that we use to help our kids read and learn. One new program that is in our schools is Reading Power by Adrienne Gear, a teacher from Vancouver. It is a simple program that is very effective in getting kids to think while they read. This seems evident to those of us who are readers but there are students who just read the words but get no meaning from what they have read. We anticipate having two workshops with 30 teachers at each one.

I contacted Ms. Gear to see if she would be willing to offer us a reduced price on her publication as we are taking 60 copies with us. Even a few donated copies would have been great so that teachers from the same school would be able to share the guide. I received a response this week and Ms Gear and her publisher have agreed to send us 60 copies to take with us.

WOW! How generous! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Amazing People

I am so truly fortunate to work with such a team of amazing people at my school.

Students and staff at Glenmore are actively working toward meeting the goal of raising $20,000 to buy the van for the Niteo Kids Mobile Resource Center.

At Christmas, the intermediate students sold tickets to the dress rehearsal of their Charlie Brown Christmas play to other students in the district and they raised $1600. This past Tuesday, they once again performed but this time they sang and shared their individual talents with the community. Around 600 people attended the benefit concert and $1300 was raised in donations at the door and in a raffle with prizes generously donated by members of the community.

Leading up to the concert, students were given a pledge sheet. The idea was that they could give something up in order to put that money towards bringing books to schools in Uganda. "Giving up something we want in order to provide something others need" as Rhonda, our amazing music teacher, put it. Students raised $9,000.00 with these pledges. Madison, a grade 5 student, wrote a song and is still collecting money for Niteo. Here is a link through the local radio station that actually played the song and promoted our event: Madi's song

So the children at Glenmore have raised about $12,000.00! What an amazing bunch of kids with a huge amount of talent and big hearts.

Thank you students at Glenmore. You are truly amazing.

Thank you Rhonda for having such a passion for this project and for pushing forward to make this a reality. You are awesome.

Time for fundraising again!

Oli otya (hello in Luganda)!

Do you remember the commercial from the 80s for Remington Steel where the man said: “I liked it so much, I bought the company!”? His experience with Remington Steel razors was so amazing that he wanted to be a part of it. While Niteo has nothing to do with razors, I could say: “I liked it so much, I joined the charity!”. My experience in Uganda with Niteo last year was so incredible and amazing and awe-inspiring and beautiful that I just had to become more involved. When Karine, the founder of Niteo, asked me if I would be interested in joining the board of directors, I jumped at the opportunity to be part of this amazing organization. Africa, education, books, children, teachers, helping – all things that I love rolled into one wonderful package. How could I say no?

And with my enthusiasm bubbling over, Corey has decided that he needs to see this for himself. So I get to share this experience that I love with the person that I love. I am truly a fortunate woman. This summer, Corey and I will be travelling with Niteo to Uganda for 3 weeks in August. I will be leading the teaching team at the Eva Ruf Resource Center where we will offer professional development for teachers and day camps for students who are off during exam time. There will be another team led by Karine who will work at the Sanyu Babies’ Home training the caregivers in infant care and disease control. Barbara at the orphanage is thrilled that nurses and caregivers are coming as she has always wanted to offer training to her staff but it is too costly for her to be able to pay someone to come. Niteo is coming for free so that these babies can have the healthiest start to their life.

“One has to water a plant before it can be coaxed to grow; children need to survive and be healthy before they can fully benefit from education.” – Syed Abbas, village elder in Pakistan

Corey will have a two part job. He will be our photographic journalist who will record our work and then his photos will be used for calendars and prints that will be sold to raise funds for Niteo in 2009 - 2010. He will also run web design classes for teachers so that they can develop websites for their school and then they can teach students how to do it as well. The resource center has 15 computers with internet that Corey will be able to set up for this program.

We are thrilled that Niteo has been accepted now as a charity for our School District so schools can fundraise for us. Our newest branch of Niteo, called Niteo Kids, is raising funds to buy a van to create a bookmobile to take books to teachers and students that can’t make it to the resource center themselves. Three schools are having talent shows to raise money to put towards the $20,000 goal. We are hoping to reach that goal before heading to Kampala this summer.

Now we are actively starting to fundraise for our trips. Corey and I are both hoping to raise about 50% of our travel costs which equals close to $5000.00. I am showing movies after school to raise money and Corey’s staff at Starbucks is sharing the weekly tips with him. If you would like to contribute towards our expenses, we would be very grateful. Donations in Canada over $20.00 are eligible for a tax receipt. In order to receive a tax receipt, you must write a cheque out to Hope for the Nations with Niteo on the memo line. Do not put our names on the memo line as we are not the charity. Then send the cheque to us and I will deposit it into our travel accounts at Hope for the Nations. You can also donate personally to us to cover vaccinations and other travel expenses. Any excess over the 50% that we want to raise will be donated directly toward Niteo projects. During these tough economic times, we realize that donations are harder to give. However, every little bit helps and we thank everyone who is able to donate. I've put a "donate" button at the top of this blog so that you can donate through PayPal if you prefer.

Niteo is in the process of becoming a charity on its own. Hope for that Nations is the umbrella organization that is acting as our agency while we go through the lengthy charitable organization application. We hope to have our own charitable number by the end of 2009 so that donations can be sent directly to Niteo and we will be able to issue tax receipts ourselves. Hope for the Nations is a faith based organization but not a faith spreading organization that will act as the agency for any organization that has the betterment of children around the world as its mandate. Niteo’s mandate is to dignify the heart and mind of the African child and provide support and programming to this end.

Thank you to everyone who contributed last year and thank you also for the kind words and encouragement I received from you. This is an incredible experience. Maybe you will join me one day in this amazing country? I intend on returning as often as I can!

Webale nyo, thank you.

Kiva

Have you heard about Kiva? It's an awesome organization. This is taken directly from the website:

What Is Kiva?
We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

Check it out at www.kiva.org or click on the link on the left of this page in my "important links" section. Happy lending!

Exciting Times Begin Again!

The team is selected and now we start to get ready for another amazing journey to the Pearl of Africa.

Corey, Karine and I have the pleasure of travelling with 7 new team members to work at the Eva Ruf Resource Center and at the Sanyu Babies' Home. We'll be in Kampala longer this year than last year: a full 2 weeks on the ground with extra days on the front and back for travel.

We hope to get to Jinja, the source of the Nile, to see another orphanage that Karine loves dearly. We will also have the opportunity to visit local markets, visit with Ugandans, eat amazing Chinese food (!) at Fang Fangs, and experience a wonderful wildlife safari with Denis at Dynamik Safaris.

Corey is going to be our photo journalist to take photos and record our adventure in the hopes of creating a calendar, prints and cards to raise money for Niteo upon our return. He also wants to teach teachers how to create websites to promote their schools and hopes this will be possible at the resource center.

So fundraising begins afresh too and again I can offer you a tax receipt for any donation over $20.00. Please make your cheques out to Hope for the Nations and put Niteo on the memo line before you send the cheque to me. Your tax receipt will be mailed to you in January 2010.

You can also donate directly to Corey and I if you want to contribute toward our vaccinations or if you want us to buy something specific for the kids we will be working with. Here are some things that we want to take:

1. LEGO! LEGO! LEGO! We want to take as much as we can; suitcases full if possible!
2. new cloth diapers
3. new clothes for newborns to 3 yr olds
4. toothbrushes and toothpaste (ask your dentist for a donation)
5. chalk brushes for the schools
6. current world maps
7. Science equipment (non-breakable things like magnets, springs, pulleys ...)
8. new games
9. craft supplies like paper, construction paper, pipe cleaners, glue sticks ...
10. books for kids and teachers (however, these may not travel until next year as we are filling another container for shipment in 2010)

Thanks again to those who donated last year. I really appreciate your generosity.

Keep checking back here for my (more frequent than last year!) updates and check out the Niteo website: www.niteoafrica.org to see the great updates that Corey is doing now.