As many of you already know, my seventeen year old daughter
and I will be traveling to the Philippines from November 29th through December
10th to help with an humanitarian project there. There will be 10 other
people traveling with us. We will be providing Christmas Carnivals for
large groups of some of the poorest children on earth. A the parties we
will be giving the children toys such as Beanie Babies and Matchbox Cars. We
will be bringing donated toys with us from the USA. To the parents of
these children we will also be giving out toiletries such as shampoo, soap, and
toothpaste ...and of course lots of love. We have been collecting these
items from people that live in our area for months now. It's exciting to
see our fellow Americans get involved with providing these items.
Here's a short video I found on YouTube that describes one
of the areas where we will be serving...
The people we
will be serving are very poor. We will be setting up and doing the
Christmas Carnivals in three places:
Smoky Mountain Dump (see
the heart-wrenching video above) - these people live in the third
largest slum in the world. The slum is located on the site of what
was the world's largest dump. Most are here through no fault of their
own. They were displaced from their homes by the government when the
government "needed" the land for other purposes. These people make 2-3 dollars
a day by scavenging plastic and metal scraps, old clothes, and other junk from
the dump. It costs about a dollar a day in transportation for each of
their kids to get to school, so as a result, the children don't attend school.
The people are so desperate for metal scraps that they will burn discarded
tires so they can get the steel belt out of the tires and turn in the metal
for money. The stench of the burning tires mixes with the other smells
of garbage, stagnate water, and other waste products.
Olongapo - We
will be providing the Christmas Carnivals and toiletries to children from
seven poor areas around Olongapo City. Olongapo City used to be in and
near the US Subic Bay Naval Base until 1992.
Kanawan Tribe
- Reaching the village of Kanawan requires a three-hour drive and a half hour
trek on foot through a potentially Malaria-infested jungle. While visiting here
we will be sleeping under mosquito nets and taking Malaria medication.
We also have to raise our own support for this trip - a
little over $4,000 for the two of us. The money will be used for airline
tickets, inoculations, supplies that can't be taken over with us, food, etc.
We have worked hard to lower the cost as much as possible.
We've been trying to raise support locally for a
couple months now. We are still about $3000 short and we leave in less
than three weeks. That's why I'm now humbly turning to my National Park
Lover friends for support.
I've been putting this off, hoping that the support
would come in from others I already know, but now the time is short. I'm
hoping that you can help. Any donation whether $5, $10, $20, $100, $1000,
or any other amount would greatly help. You may be hurting financially as
well, but even if you just give a few bucks you will know you are making a real
difference. It will make you feel really good! Just click on the
donation button at the bottom of this Blog. Even if you can't help
financially, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
I am excited to show the people in this part of the
world that there are Americans who care. I feel privileged to be able to
make a difference! Join me with your support. It'll make you feel
great!
