Our friends in Africa

Twenty years ago I went to Africa and loved the landscape and animals, but it was the people I truly fell in love with.  I wanted my son to experience it and took him 11 years ago, where we stayed & volunteered in a small, family-run orphanage.  My heart often longs to be back in Africa.  My niece Brittany did a month-long nursing internship in Kenya 2.5 years ago.  She too fell in love with the people and country.  Brittany and I have decided to go back together.  The two of us will be going to Tanzania in February, and we are BEYOND EXCITED! We have someone we know that has graciously offered to house & transport us.  We will be able to volunteer with his orphanage and special programs.It's inadvisable for us to bring a lot of supplies (like we have in our previous trips) because of the excessive taxes upon entry.  Instead, we're hoping to raise money for Elly, my friend in Tanzania (he has a church & school outreach ministry).  He and his wife Lucky, are raising money to buy:  a couple of sewing machines ($210/each), fabric/materials ($200), training ($135) and employ a couple of  woman to make reusable sanitary pads for young women (also, giving young women jobs will keep them from a life of prostitution).  Ideally this will be a project that continues to make pads for as long as there is a need. Each young woman will receive a package of a few pads that can be reused for up to two years.It's been shocking and heartbreaking for me to learn just what a huge problem the lack of availability of feminine hygiene products (sanitary pads) is in a lot of African countries.  Elly and his wife want to help alleviate this unnecessary struggle.  Such a natural, basic need - but so many young women are without access to sanitary pads and miss school and/or drop out of school, or end up using unsanitary, unsafe, improvised materials.  I even read of one young girl committing suicide after the humiliation of bleeding at school on her uniform. Your donations here will only be given to Elly and Lucky's project making & distributing reusable sanitary pads and will NOT be used for our personal travel expenses.  Thank you in advance for your kind generosity.