Ooooops. I need to retract the Ugandan post office address and replace it with the Albany address (35194 Cortez Place SE, Albany, OR 97322) for presents of books/clothes etc… , (correspondence for your sponsored child is still fine.) This way you will get your receipt mailed back to you as well. :>)

I forgot some details. Import taxes. It is going to be better/cheaper if the stuff is carried in with the team. The post office is not near the Children’s home and as no one has a car that lives or works there, they would have a hard time carrying all of the loot back to the home on the "bus." Now when I say "bus", don’t think tri-met. Think mini-van with 16 people in it. and prices for this little trip have escalated to cover the rising gasoline prices, so they are few and far between. Guess how much. C’mon guess. Got your guess? OK, scroll down.

Close to $18/Gallon!

Yikes! But you can help!! There is now a 292929 button on the www.showmercy.org website and all of the donations made to that designation will go directly to Hope Children’s Home. Your donation can help get these donated supplies shipped together to Hope With the June 08 team. (There will probably be additional charges for excess baggage.)

I would love to have "action packers" donated to carry all of the supplies over and then leave the crates at Hope. "But why leave them, Lia?" Oh, I am glad you asked! I can answer in one word. Rats. Not like the expletive replacement, but the animal. There is nothing more frustrating than finally getting these kids in decent clothes, (an entire outfit, top and bottom, with all of the seams, buttons and zippers reinforced or put back together) and then notice the large hole chewed through them. What is more frustrating is that there is no furniture, no dressers, etc. So there is no way rats can turn down the huge pile of clothes in the corner of each room (on the one shelf they have). If each kid, or even set of bunk bed mates, had a foot locker to put their things… It would at least be a deterrent for the rats, but a great encouragement to the residents!

Anything Plastic costs a fortune over there, if you can even find it. I wanted some tupperware to sort the medicine cabinet and keep the "silver-dollar and larger size" cockroaches out of the bandages. I gave up and started handing them to the ladies who work at Hope to put food in for protection at their homes, beloved cootie-keeper-outers. The cockroaches will dine on the bandaid glue a little longer.

And guess what else? Target has Rubbermaid Action Packers in 24 gallon capacity that meets airline regulation sizes for less than $29.00. Isn’t that interesting? Will anyone volunteer to get Target to donate 100 of them? Make it your pet project? Email me.

I also need someone to explain how to set up a Library once we get the books there in a simple school setting? My dad worked in the Library for tuition in college, but I think he has done everything to forget his, "marian the librarian" torture years. Can I get a volunteer?

Hopefully,

Lia

Day 23

I lean towards minimalism in most areas. My primary job as "the Lady’s Housewife" is to streamline people and their things. No nonsense. If you don’t like to dust, get rid of the dustables. Don’t keep stuff out of guilt. Don’t keep stuff that reminds you of a bad relationship, even if it is a quality item. If it has been broken/mending, pay to fix it or toss it. Now. etc… From your calendar to your car… justify to me why it is taking so much or your time, money and energy or sell/share/pitch it. No nonsense.

I live in less than 300 square feet with ALL of my worldly possessions. In most areas, I practice what I preach. Shoes is not one of those areas. I have not always been known for my totally girlyness. I have embraced more of the "feminine glories" in recent years. Mascara, chapstick, and pink outfits. Very big steps. But my shoes… I have a seven pair stiletto collection that could cause any set of feet to fear immediate and permanent injury, but I don’t listen to my feet. Heels signify "pretty for the sake of pretty" and my hearts adoration of "beauty just because" cancels out my unusally practical/mechanical mind.

I love girly shoes. I wait for hand me downs or gifts for the practical sneaker or work boot. But anything that I could only reasonably wear "for an evening out", (and I don’t go out much), I have paid good money for. (I almost packed a pair for Africa. Just to look at them from time to time.)

Then I got to Africa. Shoes are a blessing, whether they fit or not, are comfortable or not, or are stylish or not. They don’t even have to be a matched pair to be a blessing. The kids at Hope usually have shoes, but the shoes that they have are cheap and fall apart, so untill more can be purchased they spend a day or two without. Lots of other kids don’t have shoes anytime, though. And the "new arrivals" to Hope are so used to going without shoes that it takes awhile for them to be trained to wear them all the time even if they feel foreign.

Do you know what "chiggers" are? As near as I can tell, they are these wormy, buggy things that burrow into your feet and are very painful. Of course the insueing infection is also a danger. But these kids are tough. they just find a razor blade or needle and cut or dig them out, and then walk around with bleeding feet and pick up more. If there is any spare Karosene they will dunk their feet in it long enough to suffocate the little buggers and get them to come closer to the surface for removal.

Would anyone like to help me up the quality and consistancy of the shoe availability at Hope and the surrounding village?

For anyone that needs a little help "thinning the herd" of dustables and collections at their own home, and begins a new child sponsorship of one of the Hope Home or School kids, I will come to your house and give you a free one hour consultation to get you started. Then if you choose to continue my services, I will only charge you what my prices were in 2004, (The previous Leap Year and the year Show Mercy started with Hope Children’s Home.)

Walking with appreciation,

Lia