Dear {{contact.first_name}},
Hello from NC! I’m looking out of my sunroom at the bright green new leaves of spring, fighting off cats who are so happy to see me, and feeling enormously grateful to be home!
Our travels went well and Susan and I both slept “normal” hours, so we are hopeful that we won’t be jet lag casualties for more than a day or two. (You can’t recover from 28+ hours of travel overnight, no matter how much sleep you get!)
I got the above photo from Ronald while I was in the Brussels airport and I *love* it. There are a lot of things to love: the traditional gomesi that the Tailoring class made for me as a surprise, the uber successful 4th graduation of our biggest Skills for Life group yet, the fashion show where I was showing off the dress and my (questionable) Ugandan dance moves, Peace dancing in the background.
But what I love the most is that it captures why Touch the Slum has been so successful.
Genuine respect and partnership. Friendship. Fun and laughter. Hard work. Collaboration. Gratitude. Celebration. Cross-culture.
The whole team did a phenomenal job putting together the graduation. (You can see some videos at Instagram, icon below.) The speakers — the local Council Chairman, a pastor friend, a bishop, parents, students, and teachers — all spoke of the profound innovation and real changes they have seen. There were a lot of happy tears.
There’s a lot more to come. We have new challenges all the time, an unlimited stream of teen moms and teen girls who need help, the usual constraints and obstacles any nonprofit faces.
But we have YOU. We have the support of the local community. We have all the things that photo above sums up.
We can’t wait to see what’s next!
Blessings,
Jennings
PS We’re going to be posting our new Large DonorSee project this week — a deep well for the Rwakobo/Wells of Hope Primary School community, which will serve 3,000 people with clean, fresh water every day. We’ll need to get to 10% quickly so it is visible to the wider DonorSee audience. We’d appreciate you thinking about what you might be able to give over the next couple of days so we can hit the ground running. If we can fund the well quickly, the students and residents of Rwakobo Village will have a deep well by dry season!
This photo is one of the “seasonal wells” (aka large puddle) where they currently must get water to survive – yeah, it’s as bad as it looks!
