Off to Africa

It is Wednesday morning and we are leaving for the airport to Boston where we will catch our flights to Atlanta and Johannesburg with connections to Kigali. We have 135 pair of Crocs with us. Thanks so much to everyone who has helped and contributed. We will try to keep you posted on how things go. No internet access from Idjwi though! :)

The Crocs are Off to Congo!

Well, it is April 1 and we are on our way to Congo. Keep watching the Blog for photos of the children with their new Crocs. Thanks to everyone who has made this project a success!

Redistribution Ariel's Way!

Ariel and Perrie with the croc shoes.

Ariel's Dad Roy

Ariel is a dear friend and roomate of my Sister Melissa's when she lived in England for college. She has also become a great friend to our entire family and is such a warm loving person. She heard about our project from Melissa and quickly sprang into action. Here is a little about her and how she has managed to help out even being a grad student doesn't stop her.

" A bit about me..grad student at Univ of Miami--spanish language journalism track ("periodismo"). GO CANES! Hmm...some things I love...God, my family, dogs, the arts, writing letters, cooking, kicking back with a good book (note: book, not TEXTbook), playing listening and singing--anything music related (just ask melissa--i can be pretty goofy about it. at newbold I was constantly begging and working to borrow a guitar--even used to walk with a pik in my wallet), volunteering where I'm needed... and traveling when I can afford it! <> :-)

I think the crocs project is easy for people to strive towards because everyone knows someone with kids who will outgrow or have outgrown their crocs. Or you know someone who knows someone... For our personal donation, our family decided to scale back on Christmas and take on a couple missions projects instead. (If we gave presents, they were homemade). So some of the extra cash went towards some pairs of crocs for the kids.

As for a student budget..well yes, grad students typically don't have a lot of spending cash, but I personally found ways to scale back too. Small & simple things can offer a lot for donations. For example, instead of occasionally buying Papa Johns, I'd go buy a generic supermarket pizza, and the 10 bucks you save, you can go buy two pairs of imitation crocs from Target or Walmart. The food actually tastes better when you know you're making a contribution to something important. I don't go to Blockbuster or movies, just wait for the library to get the DVD... the 7 or 10 bucks there can go for a donation also.

So I haven't made revolutionary changes to my lifestyle--just a little "redistribution". Also any spare change I collect I've been keeping in a jar and when it fills up I'll count it out and donate it also(I call that one "Change for crocs" ;) still in progress....might be more exciting if I had a smaller jar that filled up faster!) I hope that some of the other students I've asked will also find creative ways to contribute as well.

This pic is me with my poodlemix Perrie (formerly a scrawny stray, yet remarkably photogenic) and some of the crocs we collected. (Perrie has a habit of crawling into a lap if its within reach--so this picture without her was not an option) The other pic is my daddy, Roy, with the last set of crocs on the day we went to post them. I have a picture of the lady at UPS too, who boxed them (for free!! Last time the manager said she charged extra for that. :P) and asked all kinds of questions. She thinks its super and wants to know if there's a need for clothing as well."

Ariel is truly an inspiring giver. You do not have to be rich to enjoy helping others and although Ariel is modest and feels that her changes to her lifestyle aren't "revolutionary" but are instead "redistribution" I think that she is REVOLUTIONARY!!!! and just think if we all did a little "redistribution" in our own lifestyles we are truly going to change the world and ourselves in the process.

Sydnee Helps Collect Crocs for Congo

Sydnee, her gramma Ginny and her great-gramma Marnie and the Crocs that they have collected

Sydnee is 5 year old girl from Plaster Rock, New Brunswick who, along with her grandmother Ginny and her great-grandmother Marnie, has collected 10 pair of crocs for Africa. Sydnee's favourite Crocs are the purple ones and she is excited to think that they are going to Africa. Thank-you Sydnee for your help in getting Crocs for the children of Congo. Your help is much appreciated.

Planes, Boats and Automobiles!

Congolese Lady on the Island of Idjwi

The journey from New Brunswick to the Democratic Republic of Congo is a long one. Here is our travel itinerary:

The Snow in Arthurette, New Brunswick

On Tuesday morning, April 1 we will load up all the Crocs that have been collected in Canada will be loaded into our car and we will drive 7 hours to Clinton, Massachusetts where all the Crocs collected in the USA have been collecting. These too will be loaded up and on Wednesday morning, April 2, we will drive the hour to Logan International Airport in Boston where we will get on a plane to Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta we will have a 2 hour transit after which we will board a plane for a 19 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa--we board the plane at 15h45 on Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta and we arrive in Johannesburg at 16h45 on Thursday! We will spend the night in Johannesburg and then on Friday afternoon we leave for a 5 hour flight to Kigali, Rwanda. We will spend a day in Kigali before driving 4 hours across the mountains of Rwanda to the city of Gisenyi on the north end of Lake Kivu.

On the way we will cross the Nile--Congo continental divide at an elevation of 2800 m (9240 feet).

Mount Karisimbi on the Nile-Congo Continental Divide

In Gisenyi we arrive at the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The cities of Gisenyi, Rwanda and Goma, DR Congo are dominated by Mt. Nyiragongo one of the world's most active volcanoes.

Mt Nyiragongo

After crossing the border into Congo we will take a boat for four hours across Lake Kivu to the Patmos Children's Village on the island of Idjwi.

Patmos Children's Village on the Shores of Lake Kivu

We will arrive at the Children's Village 5 days after we left home and after 43 hours of travel!! We will have left the snow of New Brunswick for the tropical quietude of the Island of Idjwi in beautiful Lake Kivu. Yes it is a long ways from New Brunswick to Congo!!!

Gardens Around the Patmos Children's Village

Patmos Children's Village
on the Island of Idjwi in
Beautiful Lake Kivu

Cindy's Wednesday Night Prayer Group

Cindy Conner is the school secretary at Chinook Elementary School here in Vancouver, Washington. She and her Wednesday night prayer group collected 29 pairs of croc shoes. I walked over to the school with DeLuca in a stroller and I had a few bags to carry the shoes home in. I got there and the bin at the school was so full I wasn't sure how I would carry them all
home. I had three heaping bags full of crocs and I stashed some in the carrier basket under the stroller. It was a juggling act to get home but all for such a great cause. Wow, I cannot thank everyone who has taken this cause to their hearts and been so generous. These orphans will be greatly blessed when they get these croc shoes in a few weeks. I will post pictures of the crocs arriving in the Congo as soon as I get them.

How Many Collected?

Well as of today March 25, 2008 there are 113 pairs that have been collected for these orphans. They will all be taken over to the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 2.

Thanks you everyone who has helped. You have been very generous.