Wherein Katie Plans Her Uganda Trip (and sends me a surprise!)

I have this friend Katie. Katie sent me a present in the mail a few weeks ago. I guess she thought I would like it or something.

It just so happens that Katie is planning a second trip to Uganda. When I went to the fabulous PD weekend, she told me all about what she was trying to accomplish. And far from being the normal, ‘but it’s for the children! The CHILDREN!!‘, she had a very well planned out idea of how things were going to work. Being that this is her second trip, I have no fear that she knows what she’s getting into. Also, the fact that she had to figure out how to send herself shows how committed she is. But, I really felt like she could use some help getting all the components together to make her idea come to life.

I sent an email out to some friends to see what reaction they might have. So far, it’s been resoundingly positive. Heather donated $100, an anonymous donor matched that $100, KristyK sent some really great supplies that she had her kids help decorate (so great!):

And the other day, Tracey called and told me she had lined up a point-n-shoot camera with direct portable printer to be donated to Katie from HP. Such great news!

Here is an excerpt from an email from Katie earlier today:

I had a meeting with the people I’ll be going to Uganda with on Sunday and a group of four of us are in the planning stages for how this will look when we’re there. So now it looks like this will be my main focus while in the country and there are SO many good ideas being tossed around. I can’t wait to see how this will all unfold: 1) being able to tell the story of what’s going over there when we get back, and 2) giving people the chance to express themselves and see a picture (no pun intended) of hope as they realize dreams for the future.

I was talking to one of the counselors who is working there and she said the great thing about this idea is that people don’t often do that where we’ll be going. With what they’ve lived through, seeing so much death, and living in such extreme poverty, they only see what’s right in front of them, not really giving thought to what the future could hold, or even what tomorrow could hold for that matter. So giving them the chance to dream and see the possibility of a better tomorrow and simply express themselves in a way they wouldn’t otherwise is extremely exciting for me.

Katie still needs more donations if you have $$ or Polaroid cameras etc. to donate. Let me know if you want more information. We have about 4 weeks left to get it all to her.