There are so many activities going on right now in my life, my mom likens it to my brain being like a gerbil cage with the treadmill frantically spinning. There is so much to do. One needs spaces between the lines.... so I'm trying to carve that out to keep on track.
I am on a committee organizing an annual grassroots fundraiser party to benefit Sereolipi, which are 2 elementary schools for Samburu kids in northern Kenya. Last year at the party we raised $70,000! I "sold" 52 camels (at $200 each, people donated milking camels. Camels give 8 times the amount of milk of a cow, and are drought resistant). This year they have enough money to get more camels, but can't actually get them because they're in short supply due to the drought in Kenya.
So this year's focus is school teachers and food. It costs $2,000 for a teacher's salary for a year, and they each teach up to 50 kids. The more startling statistic is that it costs $14 a YEAR to feed a child one meal a day !!!! So we're selling these beaded bracelets, which are lovely. The substrate is rubber from old tires, but not visible because they are coated in these lovely strung glass beads. The mothers of the schoolchildren make them to help get their kids through school. We wanted to feature them and have a "one-night special" at $20 each (they usually sell for $30), and come in riotous colors. We're going to combine the "sexy" bracelets with the "not-sexy" food focus, and we came up with the following concept:
ONE....... bracelet/child/meal/year...
Hard to imagine that that could be true. Then again, they're eating cattle corn and gruel.
I'm determined to get a lot of kids' meals paid for, and people will have lots of dazzling bracelets on their arms leaving the party!
