buying,returning,giving
I am unable to get on my blog today. So I will cut and paste from my outlook express when things get fixed.
Packages arrived yesterday. I know what they are. They are the gifts we have purchased online for the girls. I hate shopping at the stores. Yes HATE. Its a strong word. Shopping to me is tourture. Trying to find the best price...who has it? They are out!....raincheck.... Forget it!!
So I pushed the buttons on the computer and WHALA! I have instant gifts. All of which were given to us on a list from our girls. Did I purchase everything that was on their list? Well, I could have. What made me think they needed all that? Even though we pared down one very long list. I tried to make up a longer list for the other child who wanted so simply. What the heck am I doing? This weekend we will go through the box and decide what goes back. Santa gift and mom and dad gift is enough. Not to mention the stockings that could add up to a hefty price.
Simple....simple. trying to keep it simple. Getting into debt isn't a celebration. Sending the extra cash we saved would go to better use in these areas. Who knew this is where Sarah's head is today. I didn't until I saw it on the Sarah Masen website per Annie.
www.worldonfire.ca ( just cut and paste, I haven't figured out the link thing yet, sorry) Maybe you can help?
CHARITY
FOR
AMOUNT
TOTAL DONATION
Carolina for Kibera • 12 room clinic and land deeds
• Medicine for 5000 people for 6 months in Nairobi Kenya • $22,500
• $7,500 $30,000
Comic Relief • Running street children’s hospital in India for a year
… Feeding 10 street children in Calcutta 3 meals daily for 1 year
• Schooling for 100 street children in Tanzania
• Education for 200 students in Ethiopia • $11,050
• $3,000
• $2,500
• $400 $16,950
CARE USA • Building of 6 wells in S.E Asia, Latin America & Africa
• Helping 100 widows to develop income generating activities in Afghanistan
• Sending 145 girls to school for one year in Afghanistan
• Equipping 10 classrooms in Afghanistan
• Training 10 teachers in Afghanistan • $10,200
• $5,400
• $5,000
• $480
• $400 $21,480
DORCAS • Total running costs of orphanage in South Africa
• Improving the lives of 10 elderly people in Eastern Europe • $16,500
• $3,500 $20,000
Engineers Without Borders - Canada • To purchase and implement a Multi-Function Platform in Ghana
• Christy Yaa: scholarships
• Nana Yaa: scholarships • $15,000
• $1,000
• $1,000 $17,000
Help the Aged • Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) vehicle providing medical treatments • $15,000 $15,000
Film Aid • Entertainment & escapism for refugees • $9,500 $9,500
War Child • 70 former child soldiers to receive schooling & psychosocial support
• 7 young people in Sierra Leone to receive job training
• Education, shelter & food for orphans in Ethiopia
• $3,500
• $1,500
• $500
$5,500
Heifer International • 1 heifer, 2 goats, 1 buffalo
• 2 sheep, 4 goats, 2 llamas and 1 heifer
• A pig
• Chicks
• Ducks • $1,000
• $1,500
• $120
• $20
• $20
• $20 $2680
ITDG • Scheme which would allow 300 families to remove smoke from their homes
• 10 smoke hoods
• 5 bicycle ambulances
• Nuts & bolts to secure houses of monsoon victims
• Sudanese irrigation • $1,925
• $250
• $1,300
• $500
• $1025 $5000
Action Aid • To aid and implement programs in Khlaipathar village, Orissa, India to encourage families to be able to stay together
• 5000lbs potato seeds for planting vegetable gardens • $5000
• $160 $5160
TOTAL
$148,270
~For what are your possessions but things
you keep and guard
for fear you may need them tomorrow?
~And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full,
the thirst that is unquenchable?
There are those who give little
of the much which they have-
and they give it
for recognition and their hidden desire
makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life,
and their coffer is never empty.
~Kahlil Gibran
Packages arrived yesterday. I know what they are. They are the gifts we have purchased online for the girls. I hate shopping at the stores. Yes HATE. Its a strong word. Shopping to me is tourture. Trying to find the best price...who has it? They are out!....raincheck.... Forget it!!
So I pushed the buttons on the computer and WHALA! I have instant gifts. All of which were given to us on a list from our girls. Did I purchase everything that was on their list? Well, I could have. What made me think they needed all that? Even though we pared down one very long list. I tried to make up a longer list for the other child who wanted so simply. What the heck am I doing? This weekend we will go through the box and decide what goes back. Santa gift and mom and dad gift is enough. Not to mention the stockings that could add up to a hefty price.
Simple....simple. trying to keep it simple. Getting into debt isn't a celebration. Sending the extra cash we saved would go to better use in these areas. Who knew this is where Sarah's head is today. I didn't until I saw it on the Sarah Masen website per Annie.
www.worldonfire.ca ( just cut and paste, I haven't figured out the link thing yet, sorry) Maybe you can help?
CHARITY
FOR
AMOUNT
TOTAL DONATION
Carolina for Kibera • 12 room clinic and land deeds
• Medicine for 5000 people for 6 months in Nairobi Kenya • $22,500
• $7,500 $30,000
Comic Relief • Running street children’s hospital in India for a year
… Feeding 10 street children in Calcutta 3 meals daily for 1 year
• Schooling for 100 street children in Tanzania
• Education for 200 students in Ethiopia • $11,050
• $3,000
• $2,500
• $400 $16,950
CARE USA • Building of 6 wells in S.E Asia, Latin America & Africa
• Helping 100 widows to develop income generating activities in Afghanistan
• Sending 145 girls to school for one year in Afghanistan
• Equipping 10 classrooms in Afghanistan
• Training 10 teachers in Afghanistan • $10,200
• $5,400
• $5,000
• $480
• $400 $21,480
DORCAS • Total running costs of orphanage in South Africa
• Improving the lives of 10 elderly people in Eastern Europe • $16,500
• $3,500 $20,000
Engineers Without Borders - Canada • To purchase and implement a Multi-Function Platform in Ghana
• Christy Yaa: scholarships
• Nana Yaa: scholarships • $15,000
• $1,000
• $1,000 $17,000
Help the Aged • Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) vehicle providing medical treatments • $15,000 $15,000
Film Aid • Entertainment & escapism for refugees • $9,500 $9,500
War Child • 70 former child soldiers to receive schooling & psychosocial support
• 7 young people in Sierra Leone to receive job training
• Education, shelter & food for orphans in Ethiopia
• $3,500
• $1,500
• $500
$5,500
Heifer International • 1 heifer, 2 goats, 1 buffalo
• 2 sheep, 4 goats, 2 llamas and 1 heifer
• A pig
• Chicks
• Ducks • $1,000
• $1,500
• $120
• $20
• $20
• $20 $2680
ITDG • Scheme which would allow 300 families to remove smoke from their homes
• 10 smoke hoods
• 5 bicycle ambulances
• Nuts & bolts to secure houses of monsoon victims
• Sudanese irrigation • $1,925
• $250
• $1,300
• $500
• $1025 $5000
Action Aid • To aid and implement programs in Khlaipathar village, Orissa, India to encourage families to be able to stay together
• 5000lbs potato seeds for planting vegetable gardens • $5000
• $160 $5160
TOTAL
$148,270
~For what are your possessions but things
you keep and guard
for fear you may need them tomorrow?
~And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full,
the thirst that is unquenchable?
There are those who give little
of the much which they have-
and they give it
for recognition and their hidden desire
makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life,
and their coffer is never empty.
~Kahlil Gibran
posted by Lynne at 12/01/2004 08:49:00 PM
2 Comments:
That video made me cry. A lot. Who'd have thought? Next week I go to Chicago to shop. I know what I want to do--little tiny meaningful gifts. Beautiful things from places like the museum gift stores, but small. Can I pull it off? (And now I'm thinking, thanks to you, Friend, should I challenge myself and make a budget? Should I try to be really creative and try to come in under budget? And whatever I have left over, should I give away? It is totally that time vs. money thing at Christmas.)
I wanted to say how I cried as well. then I started to think about all the members of my church who go over seas to help these people on yearly basis. I've always wondered what they think about the issues we have here in our own country. How can we reach out when so much needs to be done here? Is there no excuse for things like homelessness, starvation and uneducated people in america? Or is it because the need is so much greater outside our walls?
I love the idea that your life in is a place where you can purchase small meaninful gifts. You can do it because....you can. I know you have your charities you give to on a regular basis. Not to metion what you give of yourself to family, friends and the bigger picture of peace. We get pulled in so many directions, one of which is the evil materialism of christmas. What is the idea behind gift giving? Did we loose the meaning of that? The true gift of giving is to the one who is in need. what greater satisfaction is there? It is the beggar who ends up on the glorious side of afterlife. What's time to him?
love you,
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