Sunday, May 9, 2010

THANK YOU

Sorry for the absence of blogs lately but killer storms (52 dead) had cut power and phone lines over here for the past 3 days making it impossible for us to blog...

Today we leave “Strong Farm” and it will be sad to leave this place and the people here who made it so special for us. 10 months ago we arrived with the intention of spending 1 month to “check” the place out and we found a Brad & Miriam size gap that fortunately, being Brad & Miriam, we were able to fill! We are very thankful for our generous hosts, the Shipways, who made our stay here very comfortable and were the “go to” people that we needed to often “go to”.

We also want to thank those who supported our work here by helping out financially – it’s been amazing over the past few days as we’ve been compiling a list of items paid for by our church, friends, family and ourselves to see how much of a difference your donations have made in the lives of the children. Since arriving, over $20,000 has been raised and gone into projects that directly affect the children’s lives for the better. Some of the money has gone into “fun” items that excite the kids and brighten their day but our special desire is in providing infrastructure items that will have a more lasting impact on their lives. Some of the projects such as the new school are longer term projects that will see fruition in 1-2 years but mostly we’ve focused on things that could be done immediately.

Below is a list of things we have compiled that wouldn’t have happened without your help, and in addition to these items, $5000 was donated towards general administration, $500 towards new textbooks for the school and a further $3850 towards the new school building project.
Farm items
Harrow
4 x tyres + overhaul for farm vehicle
Trolley Jack
Repair of generator
High pressure water sprayer (cleaning/stripping paint)
Axe
Kitchen items
Refrigerator + voltage stabilizer
Food processor
100 x Steel plates
100 x Steel cups
Pressure cooker
Large cooking pot
Water purification unit for kitchen
School items
18 x dictionaries, maths sets, stationary items for class 10’s
12 x school bags
20 x Sports day prizes
4 x Computer UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supplies)
18 x Computer stools
2 x Metal library cupboards
3 x Rugs for nursery school
4 x Ceiling Fans
Bathroom renovation for the older boys hostel
Miscellaneous
100 x kites (yes 100!)
DVD Player for older girls
3000 x Shampoo packets (single use)
Filing cabinet
Laundry iron
Sporting equipment
Cricket, Soccer, and volleyballs
Cricket gloves
2 badminton sets
Table tennis table & equipment
Tug-Of-War rope
10 x Almiras (Metal Cupboards)
12 x Winter Jackets
3 x Chicken meals (for Christmas, Thanksgiving and Farewell)
250 x serves of ice-cream
1 x Child-safe paper cutter
30 x child-safe scissors
9 months supply of fruit
2 x Inverter systems (Guest-house, Nursery)
Hot Water System for older boys
4 x Backup lighting units
In Progress (funds fully provided)
Kullah (grain drying, basketball)
Playground for boys
Courtyard refurbishment for the girls
Painting of nursery

Once again, thanks to those who supported this fantastic place during our stay, it is very much appreciated. We're off on a short (1 month) trip around the hilly parts of India (cooler also) before heading to SE Asia where we will be looking for some organisations to drop in on. We plan on being back in the land of Oz late October. Depending on Internet availability, blogs might be a bit intermittent for the next few weeks but be patient, we haven't forgotten y'all.

2 comments:

  1. Happy Travels Brad & Miriam. I bet leaving the Good Shepherd was tough. Good to hear you won't be spending time in the Delhi markets - travel warning there still current. Did the internet dongle turn up by any chance?

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