Here is the plan -
- All the formula, bottles, nipples, about half the wipes and half the diapers have been packed. They will go to Horizon House.
- Most of the toys and books and about half the clothes have been packed, also to go to Horizon House.
- All the medical supplies (antiseptic wipes, thermometers, creams, latex gloves, masks, pain killers etc) have been packed. We will take those with us to Burji to donate to a local clinic. We've identified a largish town in Burji using Google Maps, which may or may not be Soyama, the capital of Burji. If it doesn't have a clinic, we've found a town in the neighboring woreda of Amaro that does.
- We will use money specifically given to us for school supplies to buy materials in Addis and take them to Burji. According to not-necessarily-accurate sources, there is one high school in Burji, so again, the town that we think is Soyama is our best bet.
- The remainder of the wipes, diapers, toys and clothes will wait until our second trip.
Also, yesterday was month 3 of the 10% Challenge. The total was high this month, what with trip preparations and property taxes due. The recipient was Doctors without Borders.
Are you planning on just trying to hire a driver to take you to Burji? I'd be really interested in how you're doing this. We just booked our flights and have three extra days, so we're thinking of heading to Afar.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristin,
ReplyDeleteYeah, we tried to connect with a driver from here, but didn't have any luck. So we'll just find someone when we get over there. We've found potential hotels in Awassa, Yirga Cheffe and Arba Minch and will go on the assumption that they'll have space available (if not, I'm sure we'll figure something out). For Burji, we've looked at satellite images very closely and identified a tentative way all the way through. We've loaded tons of points in our gps - basically every turn and fork in the road. Will we still get lost? Probably. But it will all work out in the end - these things always do.
Will you drive to Afar? How far is it from Addis? What are you planning to see? I should look up Afar in my guidebook.