Garnet's Life Adventures

Got Brick?

A year ago as the stock market was starting to go all wacky, I was at the IRIS hotel in Kigali, Rwanda working with Itafari. In a way we were lucky to have very limited access to telly in English, only about 15 minutes from the BBC was more than I needed to be honest since it wasn't exactly happy news.

Here it is a year later and I'm looking forward to returning to Rwanda in January. Even though some of what was predicted did actually transpire, life has moved on, maybe not as we'd planned, but we've learned to adapt.

Itafari just celebrated its 4^th birthday! And their work has just begun, thanks to the generosity of people like you! In spite of all the challenges, they're continuing.

Their challenge now is to finish raising the money needed to build the Kigali Parents Secondary School, a commitment of $250,000. It will be an amazing school that will support the Kigali Parents Primary School (KPPS) which is going strong. KPPS has consistently had the high scores on national tests and is open to all children, regardless of race or ethnicity. A school the Itafari Foundation is proud to partner with. And so what better way to build this school than brick (itafari) by brick (itafari).

The government recently required that all buildings be complete before they can be occupied. (idea was to build the school in phases). Their goal is to open the school for the January 2010 term. The building has begun! You can see the pictures on the website under VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER or on the presentation that’s also on that same page on the website.

MY REQUEST:

BUY A BRICK FOR $75 – your name will be placed on it and in the school. It’s the perfect symbol of the Itafari Foundation and will change the life of a child forever. Forever. $75

LEARN ABOUT how the Itafari Foundation is helping to build hope in a country

MAKE A DONATION OF ANY AMOUNT - $75 may be more than you can afford. If so, please give what you can. You may also want to give a larger amount. Naming opportunities are available for gifts over $10,000 and other specific amounts can also be designated and acknowledged in the school. Let’s talk about your dreams and the legacy you’d like to leave.

Share this blog with others...friends, loved ones, co-workers. A unique and personal gift. An incredible remembrance of a loved one. A statement that you believe in the power of education. A reminder to yourself that anything we do, large or small, changes the world.



You can donate online at the website, call Vicky, or send your check to:

Itafari Foundation
27 El Greco
Lake Oswego, OR 97035
503.636.3692

Your gift is 100% tax deductible. They will give you a beautiful personalized gift certificate. And you know that this brick, this itafari, is a sign for you and the children of Rwanda that we must never ever ever ever ever give up.

I will be back in Rwanda in January to see what how things are going, and will update you all then!

Labels: donations, fundraiser, itafari

posted by Sara @ 11:47 am 0 comments

Where where you on April 5 1994?

Can anyone remember what happened on April 5, 1994?

Some of you might remember this as the date in which Poland's application for accession to the European Union was written, but probably not cause that didn't make headlines news for very long.

Others might remember it from what I recall as "breaking news" as the day in which the lead singer of Nirvana killed himself. I remember the day rather well actually because my best mate Kristen was in tears when she told me that Kurt Cobain had died. I remember thinking she was over reacting at the time, but none the less tried to comfort her in the only way we at our age of 16 knew how. Seeing as I had just gotten my driving license 2 months earlier and since I'd borrowed my mom & dad's Lumina APV van that day, Kristen & I drove around town with no real destination, just thinking we looked cool cause we were driving (BIG deal when you've just turned 16!) and blasting Nirvana music!

And to my amazement, I don't recall hearing on the news or in the classroom anything about what was going on in Africa. Now some of you may recall more details about this day than I do, but I think my generation was a bit side tracked with one of our favourite musicians have just killed himself. I just wonder how I completely missed the fact that in Rwanda a genocide had been going on for FIVE days & yet I never had heard a thing about it. I was in a good school and obviously history was taking place all around me, yet our teachers never mentioned it, on Sunday when I went to church we didn't pray for victims of the genocide - how did I miss this? Within 100 days nearly 1 million people died & for me the worst thing was that I wasn't sure how Nirvana was going to cope - that seems a bit petty compared to what was REALLY going on in the world!


As today is my "Thanksgiving" dinner, I felt it necessary to watch, Sometimes in April which sort helped to make me even more thankful! That might sound a bit sadistic, but I still feel that even though we're all thankful on Thanksgiving, we are normally thinking about "issues" we're having in the US - like thankful we could get a new car this year, thankful we're able to go to Hawaii on holiday, and we breeze over the things like being thankful to have a roof over our heads, clean drinking water, etc.

Today I am thankful:

• I have never had to experience first hand the acts of a genocide
• none of my family was raped, mutilated, or killed in a genocide
• I did not have to live in a swamp for nearly 100 days waiting to be saved without food & drinking only the dirty contaminated water which had rotting dead bodies floating in it
• that America has elected a new president who I hope would never sit back like our government did in 94 and let some like the genocide in Rwanda go on!

Okay enough of that - I have to get back to cooking for the 13 people who will be showing up today to eat & learn about American Thanksgiving.

In case any of you are feeling generous today, please drop by Itafari's website & consider purchasing a goat for a child headed household in Rwanda, a brick to build a secondary (high) school in Kigali, or give any monetary amount you can spare today AND remember to be thankful that you have the freedom to choose to give or not to . . . not all have that choice in the world!!

Labels: donations, itafari, rwanda, thankful, thanksgiving

posted by Sara @ 11:26 am 4 comments

Itafari Foundation

So as you all know I went to Rwanda with Vicky the president of the Itafari Foundation, for more details click on the link on the right hand side, I'm mentioned under travel archives (Itafari Board President, Victoria and Sara, an American scientist living in London, traveled to Rwanda to visit the people we serve, our partnering organizations, as well as review and audit all Itafari programs. Visit the Itafari Blog to learn about their adventures.)

You can also buy goats for a mere $25 to help child headed households (CHH) - Last year I gave everyone in my family one - Vicky even sends you a certificate which you can present as a great Christmas present! If you'd like more info about these CHH or how the program works feel free to contact Vicky or me.

Please also remember that even in these times of "financial crisis" there are still others who are suffering much more than we are!

Labels: donations, goats, itafari, rwanda

posted by Sara @ 10:13 pm 5 comments

1000th post from the land of a thousand hills

This will be my final blog from within Rwanda as I fly to Nairobi, Kenya later today & then after an 8 hour layover I fly back to London. Now for those of you who've been through Nairobi's airport you will know that there is basically bugger all to do, though I did find out from an American living in Kigali that they just put in a coffee house at the end of the airport so I reckon I'll go set up camp there for the day with my books.

Just paid my bill, finished packing, checked my email, swallowed my malaria tablet, so I'm basically just sittin around waitin. I do have to exchange some of my money with the lovely VHT Bank - they have great rates and work at a pace I can deal with unlike yesterday's experience which took me 45 minutes to get money out of my account, even though there was nobody else in the queue or in the bank for that matter!

If you haven't done so already please visit Itafari's website, just click here. Feel free to buy a goat or email the lovely VHT if you would like to sponsor a child whilst your on the page.

Labels: donations, itafari, rwanda, travel

posted by Sara @ 8:52 am 1 comments

from Kigali, Rwanda

hello everyone!

keyboard is French & very confusing to me, so please bear zith me if the spelling is off - i do not have time to spell check. Vicky & I are having a great time here and getting lots of meetings acccomplished. I think everyone should go to Itafari's website (on the right side bar) and buy a brick for the Kigali Parent's School (aka KPS) you can even have your name on the brick & trust me after I get back and post the photos of these children you will not be able to say no to donating to such a great cause - they are fabulous, intelligent potential leaders of the future & do not deserve to stop schooling because a few Americans could not be bothered to spare 75 dollars.

I know these are hard financial times, but remember you still have a solid roof over your head, a family around you, shoes on your feet (probably multiples pairs to be exact) and even if the market totally crashes tomorrow you could spare 75 dollars!!!!

okay off my soap box - write again soon

Labels: donations, itafari, rwanda

posted by Sara @ 4:44 pm 1 comments

Praying for Tricia, her family & donor families around the world

So I just read on Nate's blog that they've gotten a call about a possible set of lungs for her transplant - I cannot begin to think how she & Nate are feeling right now - here I am thousands of miles away & my entire bus ride home tonight all I could think about was how exciting this could be if this set of lungs are the right ones & how disappointing it could be if they're not the right match. I also thought about the poor person who had to pass away in order for these lungs to be available.

I honestly cannot think of any monetary donation which could compare to the selflessness of people who donate organs, which is why once again I'm going to ask all of my readers to consider becoming an organ donor. If you don't feel you can become an organ donor, then please donate some cash to help Nate's Personal CF Great Strides Fundraising Goal. He figured if every person who visits his blog every day were to donate just $1, he would more than double his goal of $10,000 - which is just awesome. When he posted that he was at 20% of his goal & when I just checked it a few minutes ago I realised he's reached 40%, but that's still means that everyone who visits hasn't given JUST $1 . . . I think donating a dollar is something EVERY one of my readers can afford. Please give it a thought, you probably have $1 in your pocket in change, which you could spare.

And if you can't be an organ donor, can't give $1, then you at least can spend a few seconds praying for Tricia, her family & don't forget the donor's family!!

Thanks & have a good Wednesday!

Update 23.29 BST: Just read that the transplant is a go for Tricia - how exciting!!!

Labels: donations, nate's blog, organ donation

posted by Sara @ 10:51 pm 3 comments

re-posting since it's a good cause!

• 1 - 3 million people die of malaria each year



• 70% of them are children under 5



• The children that will die today from malaria would fill 7 jumbo jets



• Malaria is the world's single largest killer of children and pregnant mothers.



• The single most effective means of prevention is a mosquito net



• Each long lasting insecticidal net costs just $ 5



• For each US$100 raised, 20 nets will endup over heads and beds and save one child's life



• Malaria is entirely preventable and treatable - 1-3 million people need not die each year.

Labels: donations, fundraiser, infectious diseases, world swim against malaria

posted by Sara @ 6:20 pm 0 comments

World Swim Against Malaria

Labels: donations, fundraiser, infectious diseases, malaria, world swim against malaria

posted by Sara @ 11:44 am 4 comments