Tanzanian Children's Fund
YAAAAAY!!
Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my daughter, Christina (age 9):
Isn't she beautiful?
Okay, she's clearly not my real daughter as I've not been in a committed relationship deemed holy in the eyes of God for the last ten years. You caught me.
Christina is one of the kids living under the care of the Tanzanian Children's Fund. Bill and I have been collecting books and musical instruments to send to the Fund regularly since we reunited in May 2007. We sometimes spend mornings just sitting on my bed or floor, each on our respective laptops, calling out names of feminist fairy tales, music & poetry/language books, and African (mostly Tanzanian) field guides with pictures to one another as we cruise Amazon and eBay independently for good finds. Every time we stop into a thrift store, we hit up the book section as well. We steer clear of Biblical tales and books filled with courageous men saving helpless women. We're sure they get enough of that trash. The last box we sent included (but was not limited to):
Sharks and Rays of the World
Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky: Poems
The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors
Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People
The Bone People
Nine True Dolphin Stories
Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls
The Serpent Slayer: and Other Stories of Strong Women
Northern Tanzania: The Bradt Safari Guide with Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar
Peter Pan
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Four Gallant Sisters
I refer to Christina as our daughter because Bill and I do kind of think of these kids as our own. We set aside a good amount of time in collecting these books (and when we can, the instruments--PS if you hear about some Tanzanian accordion prodigy, you know who planted that seed) and kind of feel connected to these kids and invested in their wellbeing. We don't have much, so we can't send as often as we'd like, but we really do like giving to these kids. Every time we get a card or a letter or a small note or something, I get all giddy (Bill gets all smiley). Here's the inside of the card (you have to start reading from the middle, or you'll get all confused like Bill and I did.
And here are a couple more:
One where they spelled my name incorrectly!
I love the sideways kid in the upper left corner.
And remember the SOS Children's Villages I went on and on about after my Semester at Sea trip? On top of our donations to the TCF, Bill has a portion of every paycheck automatically sent to that organization. I was privileged to experience a couple of SOS villages during my visits in Africa and probably wouldn't shut up about them around him. He did some research and set it up online. I'm clearly dating the most wonderful human being on earth (Tom Waits, Jon Stewart, Howard Zinn, Desmond Tutu, all other Nobel Peace laureates and that dude who invented the machine that turns any liquid into drinkable water excluded).
If you're interested in donating to well-run, effective orphanages but are held back by suspicions of your money going towards "Administrative costs" and Bible purchases instead of transportation costs and food purchases, I bring to your attention The Tanzanian Children's Fund and, once again, SOS Children's Villages. You can send books for their school library, musical instruments, aspirin, hygiene, or anything from this wish list to the TCF. Through SOS, you can rest assured that your money isn't lining anyone's pockets. Their annual report is available right on the website. If you want to sponsor a child, you may. If you want to sponsor an entire village, you may. If you want to support a special project, you may. If you're a racist fuck and don't want to give to Africa, SOS has Children's Villages all over the globe.
Aww.. mentioning racist fucks made me not want to write anymore.
Well I guess that's enough.
Oh! One more thing. If you'd like to give [stuff] to the TCF but don't feel like paying for postage, you can give said stuff to Bill or myself (if you're local) and we'll just send it with your name when we send our next shipment.
I think I'm going to cross-post this to myspace. I haven't posted jack there in a while.