41/2 months!

I've been home from the Dominican for almost a month, but still think about it daily. I miss everything about it and I wonder how everyone is doing. Is William is still shoe shinning? Is Isabella still hungry? I feel I already know the awnsers. The trip opened my eyes on a lot of issues and even changed some opinions I previously had, on 'foreign aid.' Well next up is Uganda! 4 months and a bit..mostly I will be working with CU and visiting Apac to make some progress there, and hopefully visiting another project.. but my lips are sealed until I get more details!! I am so excited to meet all the kids at CU, especially the ones I sponsor! One of the big projects i'll be looking into is a vocatinol center, right now it's just an idea, but I think it would do wonders. I really think that the saying "giving a hand up not a hand out" is right on point.

CU school currently has no children's books! They have workbooks and they learn to read, but nothing in the sense of children's story books. Can you imagine? We're going to open a small library in July, and hopefully we can fill it with books. I think this will get the kids alot more motivated to read. There are a few bookstores in Uganda but they don't carry many good books, especially for children. Hellen was thrilled to find out all the different topics we have in books available in the west. Here is a list of books geared at elementary school children on topics such as hiv/aids, peace, and abuse. These would be amazing to donate!! If you have a copy of one you can do without or would like to buy any of them(second hand ones on Amazon start at$ 2!) this would really be great. I think these books are the #1 thing on the list of items needed...(I personally read 'The Heaven Shop' and it's an amazing story about a girl in Malawi, Africa. I think some of the older girls would connect so much with this book.)

The Heaven Shop-Deborah Ellis
Aids&HIV the facts for kids-Rae Simons
Africa for Kids- Harvey Croze
Beatrice’s Goat- Page McBrier
Watch out, he’s got AIDS- Mikey Handis
Alex, the kids with AIDS-Linda Walvoord Girard
My Body Is Private-Linda Walvoord Girard
I Can make my world a safer place- Paul Kivel

Other things needed: Children's bathing suits(sizes 2-16), baby blankets, school supplies, hygiene supplies, basic medications(tylenol, cough medicine, band-aids, etc)

We still have many children in need of a sponsor! Here's a picture of the newest group, none of them have a sponsor. It's $35/Year and can be found on http://www.christianupliftmentschool.com/ The other large project i'm working on is building a primary school in Apac. I would like to completely buy off the land plus build 1-3 classrooms before I actually go. This would be ideal. The website is going to get a new design soon, but for now it can be found at http://www.apacschool.com/