So long, Farewell....

Today I am leaving for Cape Town. I've packed everything I need for 17 days in a bag smaller than my carry-on. More importantly I have two large bags filled with donations!

Even though I'll be in Cape Town for four days, I can't wait till Tuesday when we get to go to the orphanage. I'm excited to meet the kids and find out what else we can do to help. It will also be nice to see how Namibians really live - not just the countries' ecological wonders.

My flight leaves at 4, and I'll be back on November 9th, when I'll post pictures of my trip to the orphanage (and highlights of the trip.)

By the by, I realized I never shared the name of the orphanage! It's Orlinidi Place of Safety.
See you all soon!

The Houdini of Packing

Now you see it, now you don't.

I'm not really sure how she does it - it's a gift. But my Mother is an expert packer and can fit almost anything in to a suitcase. So, when I stood in my living room looking at 8 bags of donated clothes, 2 bags of new children's clothing, bedding, 12 containers of powdered baby formula and cricket gear, I called her.

Some how, she managed to fit it ALL into two suitcases: one carry-on sized suitcase, and one huge one. The only thing I have to give someone else to carry was a small plastic bag of the lightweight cricket gear. (I had maxed out on check-in luggage and items I could carry on). Hopefully the airlines won't charge me for the excess weight (pretty please!) , but even if they do, it would still be cheaper than shipping this many items.

I'm still going to use all the money I raised to ship items over, , but I'm going to do it once I get back and have a clear idea of exactly what they still need.

I already know I'm going to get stopped/searched at security. My carry on contains the following: 12 containers of powdered formula, 20 cricket balls, rubber cricket bindings, cricket gloves, plastic cricket paddles and a stuffed animal, and in a 9"x14"x 22" suitcase. Heck, I would stop me!

New Babies

So for the last week I've been organizing purchases of things to take over. I was fortunate enough that Pine Cone Hill - the company donating the bedding - offered to pay to ship their items over. With those items shipped, I can bring everything I've collected over myself this trip, and after I return (when I've seen exactly what the orphanage needs) I can use the money I've raised to ship additional items over.

While everyone was very generous with what they donated, I didn't really collect a whole lot of kids clothes - mostly things for teens. So this weekend, I used some of the money that I've saved on shipping to purchase clothes for toddlers. I went to TJ Maxx to really get the most bang for my buck - $40 dollars bought about 16 tops, shorts and underwear for the kids.

Then this morning I received an email from Janet, a family friend that we will be staying with in Windhoek who has been our contact with the orphanage, that said the received 3 babies this week: two with HIV and one that had been beaten.

I know that there is suffering everywhere - there are children in NY that are abused or have HIV. That said, I just don't think we can really comprehend the degree to which the Aids epidemic has ravaged Africa. Namibia is one of the more stable and prosperous countries in Africa. Still, there are orphanages filled with children orphaned by Aids. 20% of adults in Namibia have HIV, and the average life span is less than 65 years . Without proper medical treatment, infected mothers often orphan their children. Worse still, is that they can unknowingly pass the disease on to the child.

After receiving the email, I immediately went back to to TJ Maxx, and for $25 got another 15 baby items for children under 6 months. Then came the trip to Costco to buy baby formula. Who knew it was so expensive??? 3 months worth of formula for 1 child (1 month for 3) came out to $120!! After I come back from Namibia, I plan to ship over some more formula and bedding with any left over money that I may have.

Now its time to pack everything up, and hope that the airline doesn't charge me for the extra weight. I can't believe that I'll be in Africa in 5 days, and at the orphanage in less than 10!!

Bag Lady

Over the last several weeks I've tried to carry home a few bags of donations from work each day. New York's subway system isn't the friendliest place for a person schlepping things to and fro, especially the N train at rush hour. So, I've tried to space it out with one or two small bags.

Fortunately though, over the weekend everyone remembered my deadline for bringing in things so I can ship everything out in time (today!) and brought in bags and bags of clothes and sheets. I'm thrilled because some of the new donations included baby and kids clothes, which I had been painfully low on.

Only problem? Now I have to bring home 2 bags of clothing and sheets, a box of bedding, and pick up all the cricket gear! I have no idea how I'm going to carry all this home, but suddenly I'm very glad that I brought my grocery cart to work. I initially brought it in for the cricket gear, (shout-out to Adam and his cricket team for the donation!) but now I think it will be stuffed to the gills with clothing too!


Edit: In the end the box of bedding didn't arrive yesterday - which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I really could not have carried one more thing with me... Check out the picture - that was everything I carried home!

Target Reached!

Only two days in, and I've already reached and exceeded my $500 goal that I needed to raise for shipping! Hooray! Now that I know I can definitely move forward, this weekend I plan to purchase a suitcase to bring all the clothing over in (that I will then donate ) and powdered baby formula.

Although this wasn't something I had initially planned to bring over (it's heavy and moderately expensive), a woman I work with who adopted a child from Africa explained to me that this is something orphanages urgently need. It's very expensive to buy over there, and is fortified with vitamins and that the babies need for their development. When I inquired what they would give a child if formula were unavailable, I was told that they feed the babies a strained porridge 'mush' or even cows milk - neither of which is healthy for a babies digestive system.

On a more upbeat note, clothing donations are actually still coming in, with a coworker bringing in baby clothes tomorrow. Also, I anticipate picking up the cricket gear on Saturday, which I think will be one of the most exciting aspects of this donation. While I'm sure the orphanage / kids will appreciate the more practical items, cricket is pretty popular over there and I doubt many of these kids would have a chance to play otherwise.

Either way, it's been a very exciting day!

Putting the Fun in Fundable!

So, I've found a solution to my shipping dilemma. Although I have been very hesitant to ask anyone for money for this endeavor, several people have offered to donate to my cost of shipping in lieu of donating items. So, I have set up a fundraising page at fundable.com in the hopes of raising the cost of shipping many of the heavier items. With only 2 weeks until I leave, and 1 week left until everything has to be shipped, I am determined to make this happen! After sending out emails, I am already 75% of the way towards my $500 goal (in only a few hours, too!) and am extremely grateful for everyone's kindness. I can't wait to post pictures for everyone of the trip!

For anyone who is interested in donating, here is a link to the site:

http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-10-07.5465771756

Gaining Weight

When I began this endeavor, I really never expected the level of generosity that I have experienced. It's been wonderful! The only catch? I have realized that unless I morph into the incredible hulk for my plane trip, there is no way I can carry all of this over. Forget the flight's weight limits on my luggage - I don't think I can physically carry all of this. However, I refuse to leave anything behind. That said, the only option left is shipping everything over, and it is an incredibly expensive option. On average, its costs about $25 for every 4 pounds to send everything over. If you calculate the weight of a couple of boxes, between formula, cricket gear and bedding (I can still carry over the clothes myself) you are looking at about a 100 pounds....

The math does not really work in my budget's favor, because that adds up to at least $600 dollars. I'm not giving up, but I'll keep everyone posted on what I decide to do!