Another Trip to Guinea

I’m going to Guinea again! As many of you know, I have traveled to Guinea, West Africa a few times in the past two years to study dance. Many tremendous people, places and experiences have filled my heart and soul during those visits. Guinea is filled with beauty and wonder; it is also overflowing with poverty and need.
On my last trip, in July of 2008, I brought supplies and money to a local orphanage in Conakry. Thanks to the donations of many of you, we were successful in getting the children into a proper new home (with rent paid through fall of 2009!). We also purchased bunk beds, mosquito nets, food, medical supplies, and paid for a few months of teachers’ salaries.

I will be returning to Guinea for two weeks in March, dancing, spending time with my Guinean family as well as delivering goods to the neighborhood orphanage once again. If any of you would like to make contributions, I would be grateful for your assistance. Here are some of the current needs:
Children’s clothes — any sizes from toddler to boy size 14 (Used clothes that still have life in them are perfect!)

Sandals/flip flops or sneakers for children of varied ages

Markers, crayons, pens and pencils

Notebooks

Small flashlights or headlamps (especially those that have LED lights – the batteries last extra long)
Spare AA or AA batteries for flashlights or headlamps

First aid items — Band-Aids, children’s Tylenol or Ibuprofen, Neosporin, children’s cough syrup, etc

Money – which can be used to pay teachers, buy rice and other food
Here are some photos from last summer! And here’s a link in case you would like to see more. http://flickr.com/photos/29079390@N08/sets/72157606408204525/

Thank you or as the children would say, Inuwali. (that’s thank you in Susu.)

Liz

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

by Rachel Gogan and the American Cancer Society

This year, 250,230 women and 1,990 men will hear the words “You have breast cancer,” and there’s a good chance that some of them will be people we know and love.

I have chosen to fight back against this disease and help make a difference by participating in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in October.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a noncompetitive walk that takes place in 120 communities across the country, including 20 in New England. From California to Massachusetts and Florida to Maine, Making Strides walkers unite to honor breast cancer survivors and to educate women about early detection and prevention. And, of course, by raising money to support the American Cancer Society fight against breast cancer, we help fund groundbreaking research, public awareness campaigns, efforts to ensure that all women have access to mammograms, and programs and services that improve the quality of life for patients and their families.

I hope you will join me by making a donation in support of my effort.

I can accept donations online here (It’s safe and simple. All you have to do is click the link below and follow the few easy steps) or I can take donations online or in the form of cash or check.  I would be glad to come to your office to pick up a donation if you care to make one.

Event Details:

Date: Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008
Location: Wentworth Douglas Hospital
Time: Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008
Registration: Begins at 9:30 a.m.
Walk start: 11 a.m.
Walk length: 4 miles or 1.8 miles — your choice!

I hope you will support my efforts by making a donation on my personal fundraising page.

Last year, 500,000 Making Strides participants across the U.S. raised $50 million ($7.5 million of that in New England), and they did it one donation at a time. So, whether you’re able to give $5, $50 or $500, every bit truly does help fight a disease that 1 in 8 women will face in her lifetime.

Thanks, in part, to funds raised by Making Strides, American Cancer Society-funded researchers have been involved with many breast cancer research breakthroughs, including the discovery of genes for inherited breast cancer, lumpectomy as an alternative to radical mastectomy, use of tamoxifen to reduce risk of second or first breast cancer, development of monoclonal antibodies to treat breast cancer (Herceptin), and the links between obesity and breast cancer, alcohol and breast cancer, and the benefits of exercise in reducing breast cancer risk.

Hope starts one dollar at a time. Hope starts with me. And hope can start with you.

Great Expectations: Reading Marathon in Portsmouth

Independent bookstores across the country to participate in the event!

Portsmouth, NH-  The second Great Expectations: A Reading Marathon (GERM), founded by RiverRun Bookstore and SecondRun Bookstore in early 2008, will take place again this fall at SecondRun Bookstore from 6pm on Friday, October 10th to 6pm, Saturday October 11th.

The 24-hour Read-A-Thon is meant to bring attention to reading and independent bookstores, while raising money for a local nonprofit. The proceeds of RiverRun & SecondRun’s second Read-A-Thon will go toward The Birchtree Center, a local non-profit organization that provides specialized educational services for children and youth with autism.

GERM has gained national attention, and this year, during the month of October, independent bookstores around the country will be hosting their own.
Participants are invited to spend 24 hours in a bookstore; reading, playing literary games, listening to local authors read from their work-all while raising money for an organization in the community.

Participants are encouraged to sign up soon.  Registration is required by September 30th. A minimum of $25 dollars in sponsorship money is required to participate.

To RSVP, e-mail riverrunevents@gmail.com.  For more information on the event, visit www.riverrunbookstore.com or call (603) 431-2100.  SecondRun Bookstore is located at 7 Commercial Alley.  in downtown Portsmouth.  RiverRun Bookstore is located at 20 Congress Street in downtown Portsmouth.

For even more info check out their googlepages – http://riverrunevents.googlepages.com/

Another Trip to Guinea

by Liz Fowler

Many of you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I will be making my third trip to Guinea this summer. In early July, I will be returning to Conakry. The purpose of this trip is two fold – I will be visiting with dear friends that I made in January and February and I will also be delivering supplies and money to a local orphanage.

I am making a coordinated delivery on behalf of some of the American women that I met and danced with in January of this year. Several of those women visited a local orphanage during our time in Guinea. Everyone was touched by the efforts of the orphanage director and pledged to help after their return to the United States. Since many of you have asked how you are able to help, I wanted to share with you that I now have a way.

My friend Destiny, a college student in Utah who I met during the dance trip, has sent me boxes of school supplies and clothing that she would like me to deliver to the orphanage. Because of that, I now have more than I can easily transport to Guinea. (Believe it or not, boxes that get mailed to Guinea via USPS rarely make it to their destinations and shipping with DHL is prohibitively expensive.)

Here’s a little background to show you the need:

· There are 35 children living at the orphanage. Michael, the director of the orphanage, and one other teacher do their best to care for them, providing meals, lessons in French and English, as well as a safe place to live.

· Michael indicated that it costs about $5000 to run the orphanage for a year.

• A 50 pound bag of rice costs $60 American in Guinea at this time.
  
  
• Gas is currently just over $6.00 a gallon — in a country where many people don’t even make $1.00 a day. (Recent conflicts between the government and military caused a surge in gas prices – for just over a week gas cost $6.80 per liter in Guinea! That’s over $25 per gallon!!)

If you are able to help with small gifts of money anything would be truly appreciated, both by me and by all the people in Guinea.

I will use the money to:

1) Help cover the cost of the excess baggage I will be bringing to Guinea

2) Buy rice to deliver to the orphanage (one of my friends in Conakry who has a car has already agreed to drive me around to buy the rice and to deliver it)

3) Give to the director to use at his discretion. In addition to buying food and other basic supplies, Michael has said he hopes to hire a staff doctor and another teacher, as well as to buy more beds and bedding.

Again, as you know, no gift is too small!

Many thanks! Merci beaucoup! Inuwali*!

Liz

*That’s thank you in Susu. J