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Hello friends, family, and strangers.
I am SO happy to be creating this fundraiser, as is the final hurrah before Daines and Thobias graduate in September.
Before I begin, a quick TL;DR.
This is likely our last fundraiser for Daines and Thobias!! I am asking for your help paying for their semester, their graduation uniforms, and if possible, a little graduation present for the kids!
Aquick note: as I live in Canada, the fundraiser is in CAD, so if you are donating from the US and wish to donate an amount like $100 for example, the amount in CAD will be approximately $80, just so you know the conversion :)
Now for the full story!
It has been 11 years since I met these two beautiful children in Tanzania!
Let me tell you a bit about this 11 year journey.
When I was little, I had a laminated world map on the wall of my room, and I used to look at it with a vague certainty of my own insignificance. I would examine the African continent, and I remember thinking that going to to a place like that would be an incredible feat, but I knew with some certainty that I never would. It felt like law.
While going from a child to an adult is overall a net loss, there is an awesome exchange for our childish joys and freedoms called Free Will. That certainty that my life wouldn't amount to much came into question when, after working at Papa Murphy's Pizza for a few years as a teen and attending American River College, I amassed a nice sum of hard-earned cash. I realized for the first time what is self-evident to many: I could do what I wanted.
Just like that! I had the money, I had the time, and I was an adult.
While I had always dreamed of a romantic European adventure, there was that memory of being a little girl and standing in front of that map. "You'll never go there" resounded in my mind, and I knew for the first time in my life that this did not have to be true. So, hardy believing it myself, I hopped online and went in search of the most unhinged adventure of my life which would definitely prove to myself that I did not have to live by the beliefs I had passively established in my youth.
Additionally, I wanted to experience something completely foreign to me and perhaps do something good and kind in the process. Through gut feeling rather than thorough research, I settled on Tanzania. Next thing I knew I was enrolling in a volunteer program which would place me to assist in a classroom. What can I say? I like to fly by the seat of my pants.
I was nineteen, and one year after that first google search, in June of 2013, I was boarding a plane and on my way to my first two-month stint in Arusha, Tanzania.
I was scared out of my mind as you can imagine. I had never traveled on my own, been outside the united states, let alone spent two months away from my mom who is my best friend and, in my biased opinion, the best mom in the whole world.
My first month in Tanzania was all terror. I cried myself to sleep the first several nights and sustained a mean sunburn from the doxycycline that was meant to prevent malaria (I was trying out tanning thinking it might look good...it didnt).
I forgot my fears in the mornings went to my volunteer placement. It was several hours a day of play, laughter, and education. However, after one month, I was still terrified, but one day smack dab in the middle of my trip, a seismic change occurred. In the morning before classes began, as the children lined up in a row to sing their morning songs, I joined the line, and as always little hands grabbed my own from each side. I looked down to see who had linked with me, and I was stuck by the most precious, pure smile I had ever seen.
This little one had a shaved head and was wearing a lavender fleece jacket with hearts over it. This child smiled back at me, and it was the beginning of my life's biggest miracle. To this day I cant explain it in any other way than God intervening in my life. I knew this child would be extremely important to me. It was just some certainty. I came to learn that this child's name was Thobias and his sister's name was Daines.
Many of you already know the rest of the story, and while I am always morw than eager to share what fate unfolded for us through the rest of that trip, I will instead fast forward 12 years to take you to today and the purpose of this post.
(You will see that there will be a wonderful opportunity to hear about the rest of that month and the many adventures of that trip and the next the following year next weekend on Saturday at 7pm when I will be hosting an online and in-person celebration and reflection event. More info below!)
It is now August of 2025 and Daines and Thobias are graduating high school in September.
Over the years, I have put on many fundraisers where I asked for your help funding Daines and Thobias's education in private school, where they would be guaranteed to receive the kind of quality education which every child deserves, to open doors to them which poverty keeps locked.
The world right now is extremely dark as we see a level of suffering through our phones that makes normal life surreal. We see footage from Palestine of the starving, maimed, and deceased which makes opening our own refrigerators or ordering grocery delivery feel like a betrayal of humanity.
We see footage out of California, my homeland, of children ripped out of their parents arms, five-year-olds begging the public for the return of the parents they love and who love them more than anything in the world.
Every day, opening our phones feels akin to being a fish, slapped down on a cold table and gutted alive, our insides scooped out. Our collective belief in our ability to prevent atrocities has been shattered, and in its place a helplessness turned hopeless.
Sponsoring Daines and Thobias is something that, no matter my disgust with the world, I know is a thing of goodness and beauty. Despite my own financial struggle, I have been fortunate enough to rely on the love of my friends, family, strangers, and the God who I personally believe in, to continue this act of goodness.
For what will likely be the last time, I am asking for your contribution to Daines and Thobias's education. The expenses are for the kids' final semester, graduation uniforms, and payment of a previous semester to a friend who helped me when I could not pay.
Additionally, if there is anything leftover, it would be a pleasure to be able to create a little fund as a graduation present. I am not so familiar with the application process for postsecondary education, but the kids might need help with applications or even paying for their means with their family now that they will not be in boarding school. Additionally, everyone deserves a lil' present for their Graduation, hehe ☺️
Finally, I have a fun invitation for you!
Next Saturday, I will host an event, a retrospective where I will share a bit more of my adventure. We will play games, share stories, and celebrate amongst ourselves this miracle which we all accomplished together!
Friends in Montreal can join me in my home for a two-hour potluck-style soirée, while my friends, family, and anyone else who wishes to join can hop on Zoom for the event. I will be accepting donations at this event as well, but if you are unable to give at this time, your presence will be appreciated just the same. You can always help in other ways like sharing this fundraiser to your friends or posting it on your story!
Additionally, I will be collecting short video messages from those of you who would like to congratulate Daines and Thobias on their hard work and successes. I will compile these videos and send to them, wishing them well in their path ahead! (YES me and Thobias do communicate and video call during breaks from school!!!)
It is with so much love that I thank you and look forward to seeing you next Saturday at 6:30 pm in-person or online for this event if you can make it.
RSVP here!
Thank you so much for your time, money, and love. I keep you all with me always, in the little pocket of my heart where I cherish you.
❤️ Madeline
