i've got an amazing idea

money trouble? did those taxes kill you this year and you're looking for a way to ease the pain for 2009? well i'm here to answer your prayer!!!! help give the gift of water to Lwang'a village! I have partnered with an NGO called Living Water Internation based in Texas. They have agreed to pay for half of the well digging and building process: $10,000!! now its just up to me to raise the other half. every little bit counts and is surely appreciated. the number one disease and cause of death in my area is water borne diseases due to no clean source of water. you can donate directly to Living Water International and its all tax deductable... so what i'm saying is everyone wins but especially those kids who are literally dieing from diarreah (i know we've probably all felt that this was happening to us at one point... so imagine if it were to really happen....) here's how it works

send your checks or money orders to:
Living Water International
PO Box 35496
Houston, Texas 77235-5496.

the memo section please clearly note :
"Hannah's Hope" for Lwang'a village.

and please also notify me that you have donated either by email: kheller@ucla.edu or snail mail:
kim heller pcv
slp 469
makambako, iringa
tanzania
so we can make sure the money goes to Lwang'a village.
and thats it. within a few weeks you will recieve a reciept in the mail for tax purposes. easy as pie or "ugali" (as they say here)

questions, comments or fundraising ideas are always welcome. thanks for all your support. much love.

still truckin...

baskets made, and ones in progress. this is my income generating project with a mama's group in my village.
the mama's group who make the baskets and eventually the batik too
you can have your own! email me or send me a message and we'll work in out. all the proceeds go to supporting the families of these women who are caring for orphans or vulnerable children or are single themselves
more baskets! all sized, designs, and colors.
me and bibi and walter. walter loves bibi. she's kind of like my grandma here. she made a lot of the baskets too. (sidenote: this is what i look like in the morning...i know i look good. you don't have to say it)
this is as far as the well project has gotten so far. they've come and surveyed and this is the spot. next we just have to start drilling, pouring cement and attaching a pump... no big.


as for me. i'm ok. a few road bumps but that is expected, especially on an african road. i keep a print of barack obama's pic and copy of his acceptance speach to remind me that "yes, i can."

I'm not sure... but i think this is what progress looks like.

walter and his best friend huruma. they're like peas and carrrots and for
some cuties in my village
seventh graders celebrating the news of new text books!
this is a fifth grade classroom. i couldn't fit them all in the picture but there are bout 70+ in each classroom
the toilets are still coming along. lookin better everyday!
i'm not that excited about having to cross the Euphrates River every time i need to get out of my village.
me and gladness. (thats her name: gladness)

Wow! I can’t believe the response that my one little blog post asking for your help received. I’ve received donation from all over the country all with notes attached thanking me or encouraging me in the work I’m doing…. I’m doing? YOU’RE doing. I’m just the messenger. And anything I accomplish here in the little village of Lwang’a in Tanzania is a direct result of the huge outpouring of support I’ve received from everyone at home. My dad recently sent me a package with a few of the essentials: mac and cheese, york peppermint patties, new contact lenses and a copy of the LA Times. It was great. I loved it. I always love getting a few things from home. But talk about depressing. The LA Times was a black hole of gloom and despair. Almost every article had something to do with the depressed economy and some horrible after effects that it was responsible for. Starbucks closed 600 stores in Jan.? Boeing is downsizing? Economists predict millions more jobs will be lost before the economy improves? Then there were other more horrifying articles about violence at home, in the states and abroad. Needless to say it gave me a dismal outlook on the world. But what my dad also included in the package were the notes and letters from those who have donated to help my little village telling I’m in their prayers or just that they care. It was hard at first to reckon the that envelope full of hope and kindness with the newspaper full of pain and despair. But after a moment it wasn’t hard at all. We as people are all essentially good. In fact you all are essentially AMAZING. With the economy as bad as it is more that 35 people found just a little extra that they could send my way to help some kids and families that need it. It’s just that sometimes we all need a little reminding that people care and we’re all in this together (yes I stole that line from High School Musical…but come one, it’s a good one). Now, excuse my sappiness in this post but I had to say thanks and remind you all that world isn’t just what the LA Times reports. At least that’s what you all have shown me.

Here is a breakdown of what we’ve done so far:

• Paid for half of the building of 8 desperately needed toilets for a primary school.
• Sponsored 17 secondary school kids who otherwise would not been able to afford school
• Bought 46 new English text books for the primary school so that each child has his or her own book to learn out of
• Bought a soccer ball for the primary school so that they don’t have to play with a tied up ball of bags anymore
• Started a youth health club that encourages people to make life choices decrease their risk of getting HIV.
• Started an income generating project for single mothers who don’t have enough money to support their families. We will be making and selling batik (I’ll put up pictures later of what that is) and hand woven baskets. (I’ll also put up some pictures of this next time. And if you want to buy either let me know! They are beautiful and amazing and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed)

I have plans for more text books for every subject. My goal is that every student in the primary school will have one book for each subject.

Each act of loving kindness helps repair the world. Thanks for being incredible.

i know we've all got ou r own issues...but here's something to you should care about

Brittany Wiitala.
she's a friend of a friend who i've met over the phone and we've corresponded through the Internet and snail mail. here is a truly inspirational person. She is currently working and Stevenson Elementary School in Fridely, MN as a Special Education Paraprofessional and as an evening supervisor for ACR Home, this is a residential community that provides support for people with physical or developmental disabilities. As you can see she has a big heart. She has this big heart of hers set on a mission trip to the Ukraine. She will be working n the Red Window region of Ukraine where she will work with the small existing Churches thee to encourage and strategize with her multicultural team to begin planning and building churches where there are none is a region that is economically depressed and desperately needs support that churches provide for the families and children of this region. talking to Brittany it is easy to see how passionate and dedicated she is to this cause.

before she is allowed to step foot onto the plane to Ukraine in August when her trip is planned to begin she must have 100% of her monthly and outgoing expenses promised. She is asking for your prayers and any financial help if you can give it so that she can go out and help people that desperatly need it. This trip is sponsored by SEND international. Brittany would love to hear from you if you have any questions or words of encouragement. you can contanct her at
Brittany Wiitala
S467 West Mann RD
Marshfield, WI 54449
bmwiitala@gmail.com

or

SEND US Office
PO BOX 513
Farmington, MI 48332
800-SEND-808
INFO@SEND.org
www.send.org


thanks for reading this far and for any help you can give her. she's the kind of person that you want to help. she's passionate and enthusiastic. the kind of person that will make a difference.
much love,
Kim

My sweet transportation situation

i don't want to complain. i really don't. but the rainy season is just not that awesome. this is our "road" out of villages and to the paved road that eventually takes us to town with electricity, water, banks, post office, and internet. its a big pain in the butt. i reach this about 30km out of my village and the road is still 10km out. ugh. only a few more months of rain.

potty pics

above: me and walter. painfully close and not at all related to toilets but i had to anyways
above: walter loves his christmas presents!!!
above: the reason we're doing this. these are the current toilets. full, crumbling, totally unsanitary. you really are making a difference!
above: our new bathrooms! this will be the boys side. as you can see the building is up, part of the roof is on.
above: there will be 8 stalls in all. this is the girls side. we still need doors, locks, bars and curtains for the windows, to finish the roof, cement over the brick. but we're getting there!
above: people come everday to work on it! that part amazes me everytime i come to visit.

POTTIES!!!

the toilets i asked for help to build are almost done! this is seriously lightening speed for africa. one of the beliefs here is that there is always more time. which is true. and lends to a slower pace of life but can often be frustrating for a volunteer whose time in the village is in fact limited. anywho. its coming along. i've included some pictures of the new ones in progress and of the old ones that are full (yikes!) and are falling apart. i wanted to take more. and some with me actually in the pics but my batteries died. so this will have to do for now. but i'm really happy and proud of what we've accomplished so far. there are 8 stalls and its already a huge improvement on what they had. the next thing i'd like to help the school with is getting enough text books for each child. as of now there are about 5 kids per book. as you can imagine, its not really conducive to learning.

other news in my work here is that i've started a monthly health class for the mama's in my village. they gather every month to weigh their babies so me and my tanzanian counterpart, an amazing woman named Olipa Mpiruka, have put together a curriculum relevant to them. So far we've had one class and it went really well. i'm excited because simple projects like this seem to have more staying power. i think its looking promising.

besides that walter is still walter. getting in trouble and making me laugh all the time. my nearest peace corps neighbor, mary, just got two brand new puppies. i realized how big walter's gotten and now walter has two little pups that look up to him. so now we've dubbed him Uncle Walter. he takes this new responsibility very seriously, hearding them up when they run too far from the house. so despite everything else i still consider him a good dog :)

* ok i have 15 minutes left at the internet cafe and the outrageously slow internet here has yet to post 4 pictures that i started to upload 30mins ago....this isn't looking good. so i apologize if i'm not successful. i'll get it next time