School Supplies and an update

Hello friends,

I've heard from Mboya here and there over the last few months. He still searches for a job. I feel terrible for him because he's a good person and a hard worker with 16 years work experience with one company. Though it may be hard to come by jobs in the US, I truly believe a man such as him with his determination and desperation for employment would not have languished jobless for so long (over a year now).

I want to help his family out in more ways than just sending him money (I send him extra money to pay his bills with school payments because I know cash is a struggle to come by). This is a delicate issue though. Much like people who are unemployed here, a lot of people don't want a handout or they feel like there is always someone who is worse off than they are, so they should be helped first. While I know this is the case with Mboya and his family, these are the people I know personally, and I want to do more for them. My dream would be to find a job for Mboya, naturally, but I'm not sure this is realistic, plus I wouldn't even know where to begin. I asked another friend, Maraka, who had the good sense to leave SFS before being let go, if he was in a position to offer Mboya a job, but unfortunately, he is not. Of course the phone I sent Mboya doesn't work either. If my cell phone contract ends soon, I am going to send him my razr phone. If not, I'm going to look for a quadraband on eBay, because those should absolutely work with safaricom in Kenya.

For now though, I'm continuing to pay Mumbua's school fees, and send things her once in a while. Recently I sent a 7.4 lb box of school supplies, complete with binders, pencils, pens, pencil sharpener, notebooks, pencil case, colored pencils, a makeup bag with nail polish (the Kenyan girls at the secondary school near SFS were always coveting my nail polish) and soap and a washcloth, because a girl needs a little luxury once in a while, no matter how small. Hopefully she liked them, and that the school supplies will be useful, though I have the feeling that she definitely will use the 100 pencils my sister gave her, LOL.

As for the next round of school fees, I thought they were due this month, but now I am thinking that the month of April is an off month for schools, and that fees are due at the restart of the semester in May, which is great for me because my Mboya fund has time to earn interest. The generosity of my bookclub paid for an entire semester - but the great thing was is that I didn't collect the money until after I sent January's school fee, so I have over $200 in the bank, just for Mboya and Mumbua, which is absolutely delightful. While so many people have been so generous in donating, such as bookclub, Rachel, and my sister, as well as many other friends and family, I hate asking people for money. While it's going to what I believe is a great cause, it's not going in a non-profit organization's bank account, and people donate based on trust alone. While (obviously) I put every penny where I say it's going, I can't help but wonder if people ever think I'm running some shady scheme.....I'm not! Nevertheless, I am relieved that I won't have to solicit donations this time around, and maybe never again, now that my car is paid off!!!

Well that's the update from me. As always, thanks for your interest and your reading!
Love
Allison