Fundraiser Wednesday August 25, 2010

Bridges of Hope is a foundation that supports mission work in Tanzania, Africa at Karim Orphanage. Please consider continuing to support our mission work by participating in the EAT AND EARN program generously offered by a local restaurant, Francesca’s Tavola in downtown Arlington Heights. 20% of your total bill (includes food and beverages) is donated to Bridges of Hope in care of Karim Orphanage. All you have to do is mention Bridges of Hope and they’ll take care of the donation!

Please invite your friends, family and neighbors to EAT and EARN

Wednesday August 25^th from 11:30 am-9:00 pm

Francesca’s Tavola

208 S. Arlington Heights Road

Do lunch, dinner, or carry out

My daughter and I have just returned from Karim Orphange, having spent two weeks working at the orphanage and making it home for its’ Mama and children. We will be at Francesca’s from 6:30 – 9:00 pm to share stories and pictures of the progress being made thanks to previous donations and fundraising events which many of you have been a part of.

Some of the things still needed at Karim that your participation in this EAT and EARN will help make possible:

· Flooring for bathrooms and dining area

· The materials for building a chicken coup to raise chickens for food and extra income for operating expenses

· A volunteer home (This is the final phase of the project)

Join us 6:30-9pm or at a time convenient for you (11:30- 9pm) and help continue our efforts to make a difference half way around the world. Thank you for helping us help them. Remember to mention Bridges of Hope!!!

Penda (Love)

Lynne and Jacqueline

Working hard or hardly working pics

Men hard at work! (cant you tell) Digging the trench for the security wall.

Little plants we plants in those BIG holes:)

Proof I was working hard too!

The pics only upload randomly- ha

Picture 1: Mama Lynne and the kids:)

Picture 2: Mama Lynne interior decorating: she reorganized the main room! Ha

Picutre 3: Trying to HELP make Chapati. It turned out pretty good:)

Picture 1: Fun times at Karim! We made visors with the kids for digging day(s)! :) They loved them!

Picture 2: The wonderful meal described before: Chicken, fried sweet potatoes, fried bananas and chapati!! Lets jsut say we didnt lose any weight!

Picture 1: The desk and new sewing machine we purchased for Rehema from you loving dollars.
Picture 2: The new tile is in!! Rehema has her Mazungi kicthen now! :) So much easier to clean!

Feel the Burn

So mom and I have literally felt the burn... in our backs, hands, and shoulders! We offically finished digging 45 1 1/2 feet deep holes around the orphanage. Please keep in mind that the ground was not the nice soil we think of at home. It was full of cement and rocks and took the two of us about 1/2 hour to dig one hole! We wer grunting and laughing at each other the whole time... well so were the workers watching us. They thought it was funnier just to watch us struggle rather than actualy help us. We then had to drag soil in a bucket to fill the hole and then plant the flower. I still do not think the holes needed to be that big and deep as the flowers were little!!! Ha But we did complete this task that we set out to do. The cement security wall is in the front of the orphanage with gates but the rest of the place is surrounded by barbed wire fence, which is where we planted these 45 vines that should climb the fence and have purple, red, and orange flowers. It should be beautiful. Hopefully in six months it should give them the privacy and security they need.
I also felt the burn as I got really sunburned... even though I was wearing a 70 spf! Who burns with a 70 spf?? The kids kept touching my shoulders saying "pink pink!" LOL - it was pretty funny as they were also asking what the white cream was I was applying before this all happened. This just solidified why beach vacations are not my thing!
After our hard day of work and our nice cold bucket shower :) Mama Rehema made us a feast! Mama Lynne had not tried a bunch of her specialities so she spent all day making sure Mama Lynne would enjoy her cooking and hopefully come back soon! Mama Lynne tried Chipati, Rehema's fried chicken, fried bananas, fried sweet potatoes, huge avacados (size of a small canatlope) and ugali! Lets just say that we were so full that night! Wonderful African evening.
Saying our goodbyes was hard, but we celebrated before we left! The day before we left we had worked it out with a local pizza place owner to go there for the day. The kids were so excited for pizza and pop! Also to their surprise though behind the pizza place was a huge playground:) The children played all day (so did Mama Lynne and I) on the slide, swings, climbing ropes, and sea saw! The kids were in heaven- always yelling "Mama Lynne watch me!!" "Jackelinn come here, look at me!" It was quite the fun, exhausting experience. We got some great pictures. The children were so cute. They all came out in there colorful Chicago t-shirts before we left- so everyone felt special that day I think.
We left the next morning with a short, tearful goodbye as I think it is hard for the children to realize what is really going on. We sang a few "I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening and underneath the moon!" Hopefully they do know that we do love them even though we are not always there with them.

No Pictures:(... YET

Tried to post pictures... ugh!! Sorry it is just letters. :( We will try again at another internet. Lots of Love to you all!