November 2019 has been an extremely tough month for Genius and his family.  But we aim to make future months a bit better.

Most of Genius' family lives in Mutare, Zimbabwe.  Being away from your family during the holiday season is tough enough but when tragedy strikes it 's even harder.  Genius' sister, Nancy Chidzikwe Garah, has passed away at the young age of 43.  She is survived by her husband Gilbert Garah and two sons Panashe and Takunda.  She died from a terrible spinal infection.  She suffered for months and medications couldn't overcome a nasty bug.  Ultimately, she passed away peacefully during the night.  Her son, Panashe is in Chicago playing college tennis...... a 1st year student.  Unfortunately, he cannot afford to fly home.  Genius had been paying medical bills for his sister so he is tight on funds as well.  Those are my words not his..... inferred from our conversation.  I think Genius is sending a fair bit of cash back to Zimb from time to time.  Thanksgiving time has been very difficult for G and his family.  They saw a video of the funeral service including his Mom breaking down.  As you can understand, she is taking it very very hard. 

On top of this, Genius' mother in law,  Angeline Ruwende, is in poor health as well.  In Genius' words:  
"She is feeling a little better after she had a blood transfusion last week. She is preparing to have surgery to remove the tumor in the next two weeks and after that the indications are that she will start chemotherapy. Her vital organs as per the doctors report came up fine but they will fully determined how bad after they remove the tumor. Just to elaborate, they tested a small sample of the tumor and did not find cancer but the doctor says with the type of tumor she has and all her symptoms leading up to her being hospitalized she more than likely has stage 1 cancer but it’s not conclusive yet. She became anemic and lost a lot of weight ,experienced exhaustion/faintness just walking  so he says all that with the tumor is a big sign of cancer but still not conclusive yet.
We are dealing with a country with a sub-standard hospital system so we have had her go to Harare, ( the capital city) to get help from some of the doctors who have better equipment and more readily available necessities like blood, medication etc but obviously at a higher cost."

And when it rains it pours.....  Genius' hurt his foot on set point (for him) during a national ranking paddle tournament.  The preliminary diagnosis is a tear of his plantar fascia and/or a bone spur.  He sees a foot specialist soon.  Tough injury for someone who earns a living on his feet! 

Genius does not know his plans right now.  He and Fortunate are working things out.  He is thinking about traveling either in April or in August to bring his kids and see their family in Zimbabwe.  I think he is planning on saving up for that since flights are around $1,600 - $1,800 each.   

So here is our challenge.... let's try to raise the money to help.  If we buy 5 tickets for Genius' family (including his nephew) for $1,800 that's $9,000.  Add other misc travel expenses for 5 people we are at $10,000 easy.  On top of that there are bills to pay - for the funeral, medical costs etc.  

My ask is that you do whatever's comfortable for you.  

It's Thanksgiving time.  We are all blessed in many many ways.   So let's get this done!