Teams

Around the country there is a buzz....from the volunteers going on the Aid Expedition! Some of us are busy trying to pack the never ending list of things we need (such as plastic zip lock bags & deet) to the enormous amounts of donations we've received. Since the airlines are much stricter now with weight limits we're all being very organized. Some of us are continuing to fundraise (yeah!)

On this trip we have three teams - with three goals in each of the three provinces:

1. Medical - to see about 500 people per day - 2000 people total - giving them basic primary care. There will be 7 nurses, 3 doctors, 1 dentist, 1 pharmacist and a whole bunch of "crowd control" people. We hope to ask questions and treat immediate pain teach oral/basic hygiene and establish a "starting point" for a safe water program.

2. Home Building - some the girls in our scholarship program live in the garbage dump with just some plastic and four poles, others live in shanties that are propped up by neighbors trees, while others live in homes that are so run down, the street may be a better option. Our goal is to build 6 new houses in 4 days in 3 different villages. We
have some experts on the team, and the rest of us is just going to have to be shown the ropes. Our biggest challenge is not having access to more "modern" tools and of course not enough time.

3. Food & Bike Distribution - the 25 some children on our team will be organizing and distributing bags of food to 500 families during the week. We have bought enough rice, salt, sugar, beans, to sort in each province and then have an "organized" distribution of it for the families of the children in our program - it's enough food to feed them for 2 months! We're also raising enough money to distribute 250 new bikes to the students in the program as well as those that have applied for our scholarships but are not in program. These children live far from school and are usually the main caregivers in their family at the average age of 10. New bikes will be of immense help! Our young ambassadors will also be visiting local schools to exchange drawings and gift school supplies.

We're all getting excited - even if there's talk about fried mice, bed bugs and dengue fever!