It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a Baby Doll!

Grand total raised to date-$1630! Funds remaining to be raised-$2370!

A huge thank you goes out to everyone that has helped me achieving my fund raising goals so far. I just sent out my first program payment, and your checks should be cashed soon!

In order to continue raising funds for the teacher exchange, I am getting a little creative….
One of Emily’s friends (Thanks Jennifer Ruhe!) was looking at my photos from Uganda and absolutely fell in love with the photos of the children from St. Jude children’s orphanage in Gulu. She was so enamored by their bright faces that she decided to make the beautiful dolls pictured below as a gift for them. When I travel to Uganda, I will be hand delivering these dolls to the children at the orphanage. There is just one catch... The dolls aren’t free…

In order to offset the material costs and “delivery fees” (read: program expenses), I will be “selling” the dolls for a suggested donation of $30.00 (of course, feel free to give more...). You don’t actually get to keep the dolls, but for your donation, you will know that you are bringing joy to the beautiful children pictured below (Yup, that cute girl is actually one of the kids who will receive these precious dolls) by allowing me to deliver one of the dolls pictured to the right. Payment can be made in any of the ways mentioned in previous posts (Check to IC, Check to me made out to IC, Check to me made out to me, Credit using link below, Credit by calling IC). If you send a check to IC (or make a CC payment over the phone), let me know by shooting me a quick e-mail. That way, I can make sure to bring a doll in your name.


Also, I would love to collect any gently used infant and children clothing and shoes that you would be willing to donate. Most of the children at the orphanage have only one or two sets of clothes, and almost none of the children wear shoes. Unfortunately, I can’t accept adult clothing as it takes up much more space (which is very limited) and could send my luggage weight dangerously close to the 50 lb. limit. I will be bringing a few soccer balls for the orphanage, and will also accept gently used sporting equipment to keep those boys out of trouble. Feel free to mail clothes to me (c/o John Hersey High School, 1900 E. Thomas St., Arlington Heights, IL 60004), or give me a call if you live close and I can pick them up.

Now, what will you get for your donations (other than that deep down warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from knowing you are awesome for making a little kids day special)? I promise that I will do my best to take photographs of the children enjoying your dolls (or clothes, or soccer balls...), personally scrawl a note on the back of the photos thanking you for your generosity, and maybe even throw in something extra...(I should have plenty of room in my bag on the return trip)!

I had better stop asking for donated items now; otherwise, I might not be able to bring any of my own clothes. I don’t think that the headmaster at my partner school would care too much for a naked munu teacher in his classrooms (though I might be able to do a pay Matt to put back on his clothes fund raiser…).

Best,
Matt

No news is...

There is little in the way of news coming out of Uganda currently, but there are a few stories of note. President Kabila of DRC and President Musevini of Uganda met last week to discuss the ongoing operations in the Congo. Uganda, who was supposed to pull its troops from the DRC by the end of February, struck a deal with the DRC to allow Ugandan troops to remain in the Congo through March. There have been a few reports of capture or surrender of top LRA officers, but many are skeptical, and the Ugandan government has yet to provide any concrete evidence for its claims.

Also in the region, the International Criminal Court, the same authority that has issued arrest warrants for Kony and other LRA officers, issued an arrest warrant for Omar Bashir, President of Sudan, last week. Unfortunately, Bashir has responded by kicking out all of the foreign aid workers in the country. During my time in Uganda, many in the North expressed fears that this might happen. Some even went so far as to suggest the possibility of Kony and Bashir forming an alliance and attacking Northern Uganda and southern Sudan. With both men wanted by the ICC, they would have nothing to lose, and thus far, the ICC has had little more than a big bark and a short leash.

Matt