Music!!

Finances

So as things are slowly coming together, so is the financial picture.  And it is not pretty.  I suppose as the nature of this venture is non-profit, open, and charitable, there are no secrets!!  So here is my current financial report, for Friday the 13th, August 2010!!

In July and August thus far I have spent $95 on car insurance, $40 on gas (yeah I don't leave the house - I can't afford it!!), $27 on my phone, $50 on food (in addition to food stamps), and $50 cash which has some gas in there and a $16 book for my mom.  Not like I'm living it up.  But car insurance and gas kill you (I hate cars by the way;), and I still have to cover those costs for two more months.  Unfortunately when I was planning my trip I was planning on leaving about now.  Thus I do not have the next couple months budgeted in - this will hurt.  Someone needs to hire people to just go around and help people!!  What a great job that would be, from old ladies crossing the street to charity walks in Africa!!  I'll take an application pleeeaaaaase!!

As for my budget for the trip itself, I am not far off on this.  I had been figuring $4000 total, $2000 to get there, $1000 while there, and $1000 to get ready.  My logic was that I would do it all on a shoe string as this is the way I live life anyway and don't have the means to do otherwise anyway!!  Where I seem to have come to a problem is the things that have been added, or the budgeted amount doesn't get you quality materials for this type of journey.

My New Friends...

So as my computer issues are growing, networking has become more difficult.  I have been able to establish though what looks like will be a great working and friendly relationship with two people.  If you remember my Child Help post from a while back, I've gotten a great response from two people.  One person works for this organization - his name is Kaprie Thoronka (Kaps) - and he has been exceptionally helpful already.  He has even offered to pick me up when I get into the country and even that a member of his organization would show me their projects and make sure that I get to see the things that I need to see while in the country.  That is incredible compassion and hospitality, not to mention foresight. A most welcomed help.

Kaps and Stefan on top of mount Kabala...

The second person that I have been communicating with is Stefan Ernst.  He works for a similar child help organization in Germany.  He has been great in helping me get a bit better understanding of what I will be facing.  He went to Sierra Leone for a month last year and Child Help also showed him some of their work throughout the country as well.

Stefan with some of the teachers and students...

They are going to be of great help to both me and this project...  Good people are good people, and they exist all over the world!!  ;)

They look more excited about school than I did!!!

 

Vibrams!!

So I got a quick call today from Vibram Five Fingers!!  And if you haven't noticed... ;) I plan to do the whole trip wearing them...  I have called them several times regarding a possible sponsorship and a rep called me back today inquiring as to my project.  She listened attentively as I (long winded as I am) tried to throw the whole project into a couple sentences.  After maybe two minutes of this I got in a, oh and I'm a former division I athlete and plan on getting after it over there!!  Right from there she decided to take my email address.  So maybe D-I makes more sense, but whatever gibberish I mumbled throughout wasn't 'wrong', because she wanted to send me a prospective sponsorship form to fill out and send back.

So small phone call, that means nothing finitely, but big deal to me.  What would only cost them maybe $60's from their merchandise pockets, would be hundreds for me to buy retail.  Money of which I don't have and couldn't spend.  This would mean using one pair for the whole trip, rain, mud, or shine - with no socks!!  I definitely need two or three to alternate with.  So we'll see.  With any luck (which of course I don't believe in) they will be able to give me a few pairs of shoes and a couple T-shirts to flaunt over there.  I can picture the photo already, me "chillin" with a school room full of kids having fun, giggling, staring at my shoes, and snapping poses off for the camera!!  Nice!!  ;)

Who likes Timmy's shoes!?!

 

Donations!!

So I just got it up a couple days ago, but it was hidden at the very bottom of the page and not sure anyone got that far!!  As things are, the budget for this little jaunt just keeps growing.  :-/  As anyone that knows me knows, I'm as frugal (cheap) as they come.  But there are limits even to my capabilities!!  Trying to get things that are both light and functional is tough.  Unfortunately living out of a backpack for three months is tricky, so anyone interesting in donating, I've put a 'Donations' button on the right side of the main page (it can also be accessed below).

I have also started a supply registry with myregistry.com.  It is a bit tricky adding things as you have to have an exact item you want.  I tend to work more in generalities.  But I will try to be more concrete and find the exact things needed.  But it is a start at this point...  

Anyway, feel free to take a look, make suggestions, advice, whatever... all of those things are always needed!!  And if there is something specific you would like to give that isn't on the list, by all means let me know...

Issues....

Might as well be...

So despite my persistence of efforts, lack of means is taking a bit of a toll.  My five plus year old beast of a computer will no longer start up.  Three days now.  It is putting a tremendous burden on my work for this project.  You realize just how much our lives are centered around computers and the internet these days.  Networking, communicating, researching, whatever...  I have one that I can use, but only limitedly and the internet doesn't always work on it.  Luckily I have been mostly preparing for this and have been putting most of my data and saving things onto a flash disk/memory stick/pen drive (so many names for the same thing...), or writing things directly into online materials such as this blog service.  But it leads to one very definite new priority, computing...  I have been going back and forth with the idea of what to take to try to be connected throughout my travels.  An i phone and a keyboard were my last best estimates, but I have gotten very little response to lead me to believe that I could guarantee this would work there.  I know that Blackberry is functional, though again, have heard they don't travel well.