Connor’s Africa Service Trip

This saturday at the MWB Boutique (where they raised $36,000!), I purchased a DVD copy of a documentary filmed by a couple team members two years ago. It is titled “Mwana Wako Ni Mwana Wanga”, which means “Your Child is My Child”.

The documentary (50 min. in length) can be watched on google video or on the MWB website.

Jody and I watched it yesterday while working on quilt #25. It was awesome to see the kids (who looked a couple years younger!), the volunteers, and the beautiful sights of Africa. This is a must watch!

What would it be like to have never seen yourself? How would life be different without a reflection? Would we see ourselves differently? How would we dress? Would we spend our time and money on cosmetics and such superficiality?

It’s stunning to realize that some people have never seen themselves before. How would you, having lived in a remote African village without any mirror or shiny surface with which to see your own face?

A mirror changes things. Like the (anonymous) quote goes, “When man found the mirror, he began to lose his soul.”

Perhaps that’s why Africans have such valiant, vibrant souls.

AIDS is tearing apart families in sub-Saharan Africa. As AVERT reports:

An estimated 24.5 million adults and children were living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2005.

During that year, an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. The epidemic has left behind some 12 million orphaned African children. (via)

The number of OVC (orphaned and vulnerable children) has only risen since then. Every 14 seconds, a new child is orphaned from AIDS.

Read more

Well, I’m almost packed for my trip, and now am working on mentally preparing for what is soon to come. I leave in two days (Wednesday, the 27th), and will return on July 18th. Let’s hope I come back with a little bit of a tan!

I just got a call from my mother telling me that the laundry lady who has worked with Mothers Without Borders for a long time just died from AIDS, leaving behind three orphans.

I realized that I might be confronted with death while on this trip, and that’s something new to me. All I’ve experienced so far is a relative or two dying of old age. That’s expected and natural. Watching a mother or an infant die is another thing entirely.

I’m not sure how I’ll handle it.

Read more

Thanks to all of you who have so generously donated to my fundraiser. I will be heading over to Zambia in just seven weeks!

The following is a list of supplies that we are in need of for the various projects and activities that we’ll be doing with all of the kids. If you have any of these items lying around, or feel inclined to go out and buy some of them, I’d love to take them off of your hands! Please let me know if you’re able to help!

Items needed to support our projects and activities:

• Crayons
• Construction paper (both light and dark colored)
• *Glue Sticks
• Stapler and Staples
• Woven Fabric
• *Tapestry (dull) needles
• Yarn
• *Plastic Canvas
• *Balloon Sticks
• *Curling Ribbon
• Paper Plates
• Jump ropes
• Soccer Balls or other recreational balls (one per team member would be awesome)
• Ball pumps
• Stickers to hand out at the medical clinic
• Ibuprofen
• Anti-fungal cream
• Anti-biotic cream
• Lice shampoo
• Drama props (old hats or scarves)
• Ace bandages
• Large gauze bandages
• Stickers to hand out at the medical screenings
• Cough suppressant
• Gauze
• Anti- diarrhea medicine
• calamine lotion
• iodine
• medical scissors
• alcohol swabs
• alcohol prep pads
• cough drops
• ointment
• cotton balls
• anti bacterial hand sanitizer
• deep heat,
• syringes
• deep heat topical ointments syringes
• latex gloves
• Bacitracin zinc ointment
• Neomycin polymyxin cream

My brother Brennan will be in Zambia for three months this summer. He arrived yesterday and will be there through mid July, and will return with me after my three weeks has concluded. Here’s the email he just sent:

I safely arrived in Lusaka… sadly to say, without my luggage. Let’s hope it got on the next flight and will be here by Tuesday… We shall see. I already love it here and dont think I can come back. Sorry! All is very good, and I’m meeting everyone and getting tours around the city.

We had to go get wheelbarrows from the store today and Fred drove Mike, Antony, and I. Me and Antony rode in the back of the truck. It was awesome! We were driving all around and he was pointing everything out and telling me all about Lusaka. My own personal tour guide! Too bad he’s leaving back to charter school and the other dude that was staying here, Darlington, is taking off too. So, no friends but plenty of work to do! Woo!

Just to let you know, I feel 100% mentally physically and spirtually. I truly believe that this is where I’m supposed to be right now. So, thanks!

Brennan is very service-minded and charitable, and will take to Zambia like it was his natural habitat. I look forward to hearing about the lives he will touch, experiences he will have, and construction projects he’ll be working his tail off on.

As you might have noticed, Africa is quickly becoming a family affair. my mother did a service trip in Zambia last year, Brennan will be there for three months (working primarily on construction for the children’s village that Mothers Without Borders is creating), I’ll be doing a three week service trip, and an Aunt of mine will be on my same service trip.

Do you feel the Africa bug biting you? Are you interested in serving these wonderful people as well? If so, let me know!

Yesterday I had to get my shots for the trip to Zambia. Luckily I didn’t have to get that many because several of the ones I needed for my LDS mission in Honduras were still good. An added bonus was that one of the shots, normally $95, only cost me $5 because it was going to expire in a week and so it was “on sale”. Not bad!

But man, my shoulders are sore. That dang tetanus shot was a doozie!

Oh, and the nurse gave me a lollipop. Sweet!

Yesterday was an all-day training with Mothers Without Borders up in Draper. Members from all three of the groups (April, June, and July) were in attendance. Each group has a max of 20 people, and some were missing, so we had about 50 people there getting trained.

Talk about information overload! There was a lot of material to cover, and I’m still processing all of it. It was great to meet with other people—both those who have been to Zambia before and those who are first-timers like myself—to see what type of people I’ll be serving and spending time with while over there.

The highlight of the day for me was learning a Zambian song about how great God is, and how you can search the world over (even as far as America, as the song says) and you won’t find somebody as good as Jesus:

Read more

I’m excited to announce that Seven Peaks has sponsored my fundraising efforts by donating 100 day passes for the 2007 season ($20 value per pass).

For every donation of $40 you will receive one day pass, valid during the entire 2007 park season. Donate $80 and you get two, $120 gets you three, etc.

Folks, now you have no reason not to donate! Help Mothers Without Borders build its children’s village in Zambia for AIDS orphans while you soak in the sun this summer at Seven Peaks!

Click here to donate and then send me an email letting me know, so I can mail you your Seven Peaks passes!

• Over 70% percent of Zambians live in poverty.
• Per capita annual incomes are currently at about $395.
• Life expectancy at birth is about thirty-seven years.
• Maternal mortality is 729 per 100,000 pregnancies.
• HIV/AIDS is the nation’s greatest problem, with 17% prevalence among the adult population.
• Nearly one million Zambians are HIV positive or have AIDS. An estimated 100,000 died of the epidemic in 2004.
• Over a half-million Zambian children have been orphaned.

Source: Wikipedia