And the Grand total is...

We now have the final tally from the 5K Shuffle on the Square. And the grand total is $5,373 plus the $5,000 match that was earned making an amazing, wonderful, go-incredibly-far-in-Africa total of .....(drum roll).... $10,373. Thanks so much to the many many people who made this possible. This was definitely a team effort!  Sherri won first place in her age division (only entrant!) and granddaughter Kali won first place in girls under 12.  The REAL winners, however, are the eager little bouncy children in Africa who will reap the rewards of this success.

The Day of the Walk!!

The weather cooperated!!  It started out a little damp but soon cleared up and we ended up with a beautiful, crisp, morning for the 5K.  We had some serious runners that led the charge, a bunch of folks out for fun in the middle, and 4 babies pushed in strollers.  The operative word of the day was FUN!!  It was a success on all fronts.  We will have the final financial tally tomorrow but the great news is we made our $5,000 goal which means we qualify for the $5,000 matching grant.  Yeaaaah!

Weather

Tomorrow is the BIG day for the 5K Shuffle on the Square!  The weather is still a big unknown...they've called for rain, fog, drizzle, and sunshine.  We'll see which wins!  We're all rooting for the sunshine.

Lively household!

We are truly an international home this week!  Catherine from Zambia arrived Friday, Nanda from Nepal arrived Saturday, and Jennifer from the Philippines arrived today.  Fortunately everyone speaks English so our table conversation is lively and very interesting.  They are all here to attend a conference and will be staying with us about 10 days.  It is especially helpful to have Catherine here right now as we near the deadline for submission of our next grant proposal for the schools in Zambia.

Fantastic News!!

Awesome news!!  We just received a pledge of $10,000 toward the classrooms so desperately needed in Chipulukusu, Zambia!!  The teachers, children, and community will be dancing in the streets when they hear the good news.  Added to the $1,000 previously received, we're now well on our way toward obtaining the $30,000 needed for the two classrooms.  What a great day for Chipulukusu!!  Hip, hip, hooray!!!

Lake Doniphan Retreat

It may have rained outside all day but inside the tabernacle at Lake Doniphan in Excelsior Springs, MO, the day could not have been brighter!  Jac and I were the guest speakers at the Central Mission Center Adult Retreat.  We had been invited to share stories of World Missions, which we did.  In return the incredibly generous folks there sent us away with wonderful donations for HealthEd Connect.  The world is full of great people!!

Door County Event

Wouldn't Eddison be proud!  Our budding little artist from Chipulukusu Zambia drew a picture of his dream bicycle several months ago.  Michelle had cards printed with the picture Eddison drew and packaged them in attractive little packets.  This week she set up a table at the Door County Century fair with the cards and home-made cookies made by Dan's mother.  Isabella was the super-saleslady that sold lots of cards and every cookie!  What a team!  Great synergy all the way from Zambia to Wisconsin!

My presentation

The BIG day!  HealthEd Connect was represented on the world stage today and received a very warm welcome!  Since the largest number of attendees are First Nation and Indigenous island people we weren't sure how interested they would be in the issues in Africa.  But we had a great turn out with lots of interest shown.  It would be fun to see all of the "new homes" where my business cards end up.  One of the most fascinating people we got acquainted with who attended our session was the Minister of Culture from Cook Islands.  Very articulate and far sighted man.

New day

Each day is filled with traditions and cultural understandings shared by the various groups represented here.  What an amazing world we live in!!

Little Ones!

Even the little ones carry on the tradition....

New Cultural Understandings

Hawaii is absolutely the perfect host for this conference on Healing Our Spirits Worldwide.  Their beautiful understanding of the inter-relatedness of past, present, future, their reverence for ancestors who made today possible, their deep relationship with mother earth, and their rich traditions have all made the theme come alive.

Rich traditions

The ceremonies and traditions from generations past are still preserved and honored.

Aloha

We attended the opening ceremonies today for "Healing Our Spirit Worldwide" in Oahu.  The dignitaries arrived by canoe and were announced via conch shell horns.  Indigenous people from New Zealand, the Turtle Islands, Canada, Australia, the U.S are in attendance and performed all afternoon with traditional dances, singing, speeches, etc.  The schedule of presentations for the rest of the week looks equally as interesting,  My presentation on the success of combining Traditional and Western medicine in Congo is Tuesday.

Oh, my aching back!

We boxed and shipped 209 pounds of books today to the Ethiopian Development Community Council.  They are hoping to start a nursing school in Ethiopia soon and asked my help to locate text books for them.  Graceland came through in good measure!  After triaging the books carefully, 7 boxes were finally packed and taken to the post office.  They will be filling a container with other supplies next week and sending them on their way.  My back is aching just from watching Jac lift the boxes!

And they Came!

From the archives...children treated for leg ulcers in DR Congo.

We're off to the Healing Our Spirits Worldwide Conference at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu this week.  HealthEd Connect will be making an oral presentation on the long-term success of the Uferi (children's leg ulcer) program in the DR Congo.  An epidemic of Uferi emerged in 1990 in little villages along the Luapula River.  Within 6 months, over 600 children had been successfully treated by the community health worker volunteers using guava leaf antiseptic and bedsheet bandages.  Many of the ulcers treated had been chronic for years.  Using both traditional and Western medicine, the epidemic was conquered and Uferi are now only a memory.  Once the program was announced and supplies made available, the health workers set up shop....and they came!