Something to think about

I found this image on Facebook and it really made me think. There is always two sides to every story, and what we think is normal may not be normal at all! The way of thinking this image describes is actually so much more "normal" than our western standards and really makes sense to me. How are really the screwed-up ones?

Vacation!

This is where I'm going to spent the next week.... Capetown in South Africa. I will have a great time! So, there will be NO BLOGPOSTS from me in a while!

School news

Finally, we are able to buy the last room in the school area. We actually bought two others last week, but now we are able to get a school with all rooms in one block. It makes it easier to build one house for almost all of the school. This will also make it easier to fence in. The problem is that we need to raise a lot of money to rebuild the new block with proper rooms. We might be able to reuse some of the corrugated iron sheets, but we still have to cast concrete floors. almost everywhere. Some of our Swedish friends are taking care of the staff room, fixing it up so I can put the nice desks I got from the Swedish society there, but we still need to start planning for the major construction. It's going to take about a million kes, and I don't have nearly that amount. Even with the upcoming Christmas drive, I doubt that we'll be able to raise that kind of cash. I guess the solution to the problem is to build in phases, but that is quite inefficient when it's going to be cheaper to build the whole thing at one time. I guess I'll have to check with the Swedish girls how much they made so far... and maybe make an extra plea to my current donors. We will also need a few more toilets, so that will be an extra expense.

Global grant

My mother found a Swedish organisation called Global grant. Just by register your project, you get the possibility to get bou 150 000 Kes. She applied for membership and now we can search this site for companies that possibly could donate money to Excellent Care center and school. By becoming a member, the project also will be displayed in their registry, for interested companies to see.
I haven't had the time to go in and search it thoroughly, but will do that very soon.
It is fascinating that if you just search the net a bit, you'll find lots of great opportunities and new ways of forming alliances. I just wish I had the time right now to do a more thorough search and find more good opportunities - I'm inspired right now!

Goals To Go 2012

Me and two other friends participated in the ISK organised friendly tournament Goals To Go. The money would all go to Shangalia school (I think that was the name)

As part of the guidelines for the tournament, a group of three were to be combined with another group of the same size. I paired up with Eben and Mathew from 11th and 10th grade respectively, and we were combined with a very young group from the Shangalia school. These children were between 5 to 17 so there was a huge mix. However each of the had more technical talent than I could ever imagine and so it became very fun to play. I did my best to ensure that everyone I played with or against felt welcomed and confident of playing. It did become hard on occasions, especially when I was fouled several times but it is all part of the game. Despite captaining the loosing side, and myself missing a penalty which eliminated us from the tournament, my group felt happy of being able to play with such a big group with huge potential. Ms Houriez later told me that I should win the Fairest Player Award (if there was one) but I believe that my type of conduct today was something all athletes should strive for, as a game can not be enjoyable without sportsmanship or respect for your opponents.

I wish the tournament was better organised but I can understand the problems they encountered because not all people who signed up actually came to the event. However, we shared laughs with so many new people and I particularly enjoyed playing football again since I have not had the time to play the game.

Planning with Ebba

My sister, Ebba who is in 7:th grade wants to help out with Excellent. I had a plan to make a photo collage for the school because the kids love to see themselves on photos and this is a project that would be great for her. Christmas will be coming up soon, so she can design the new Christmas cards and help me sell them. She can also take over my responsibilities with the Swedish Society (I know they always need help, and she's been helping out before).
My mom thought it would be a great idea if she applied for money from them next year. I was planning to do that, even if my CAS work will be done by them, but I guess it's only fair to let her do it if she's doing all the work I did last year.
I was also thinking that she could help mom and her friend with informing about the menstrual things, but I don't know if she is too young for that.... I will think about it and decide later.
I think this is enough work for her for now, even though she wanted more.

Ebba in the school

Goals 2 Go

I've signed up for the charity "Goals 2 Go". The fee is 1000 Kes per team of three players and we'll be paired with another team of three, to play a football tournament. The whole tournament take place in october and all the fees are going to charity. I'm looking forward to a fun day, and it's going to be interesting to see how we can do with totally unknown team players.