a few updates

Some updates and thoughts from the last few weeks:

• We've received two emails from the U.S. embassy in Addis so far, and we're hoping to get THE email within a week. 
• I think about Trayvon Martin and Florida law enforcement every day.
• This month's 10% Challenge went to Ethiopia Reads, in honor of Liz.
• There are some other big changes coming up in our lives. I'll be blogging about them once the answers to basic questions are something other than "I don't know."
  

10% Challenge again

I skipped the 10% Challenge the last two months. I didn't mean to, but in January we were on our way back to Ethiopia, and in February we were in the middle of will-our-children-ever-leave-the-orphanage, and I just forgot to make the donations. But it's March, and the challenge is back on. I decided it's easier to just look at my credit card bill and round up for tutoring costs (which is the only thing we pay cash for) and use 10% of that, instead of keeping receipts all month.
This month's donation is to Doctors Without Borders.

Donations update and three months

People have been very generous with donations and we now have more than we can take with us on our first trip. Meaning we have over 100 pounds of donations, and I only bought a small fraction of that. Yes, people are that amazing.

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.

Obviously the Burji part of the plan is pretty shaky. It relies on things being where the internet says they are, which they may not be. Worse case scenario, we give the donations to someone else. Not a terrible thing.

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.

Two months, and planning a trip

Two months today doing the 10% challenge. This month's amount was less than last month's because both Buki and the car have been on their best behavior. This time the contribution went to Unicef, because I'm tired of the bad rap they get for saying that inter-country adoption should be a last resort for children in need of families.
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Some exciting news - we've connected with two families who are appearing in court the same day as us, who also have accepted referrals from Burji (from the same orphanage?), and who also live on the East coast. If all our referred children end up coming to the U.S., it will be such a comfort to them to see familiar faces in their new, unfamiliar environment. I hope we can maintain and strengthen this connection as we go forward.
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We are working on getting our tickets to Ethiopia. We had hoped to have a stop in Greece on the way because we haven't been there in over five years. But with news like this coming out of Greece, we can't afford to take the chance that the airport would be shut down, so we are not going.
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We've planned a tentative trip to southern Ethiopia to see the area where the boys are from. We're trying to decide if we should rent a car or if we should hire a driver. On the one hand, a driver would make things easier and could also be an interpreter and a source of information. On the other hand, it feels like a driver would put some unwanted distance between us and the people around us. Any advice on the matter?

One month

Today I've been doing the 10% Challenge for one month. I just added up all our expenses and sent 10% of the total to Doctors Without Borders. The amount felt challenging but not impossible, in other words, just right.

The 10% Challenge

Will you participate in the 10% Challenge?

Here's how it works:

Step 1
Every time you buy something, mentally add 10% to its price. Then base your purchasing decision on this new price.
For example:

Item	Price	Price+10%	Do I buy it?
Take-out dinner	$23.20	$25.52	Yes
Phone	$37.00	$40.70	Yes
New tires	$459.00	$504.90	No, I don’t want to spend over $500. I continue looking until I find tires for $400. Price+10% is $440, which is acceptable. I buy these tires instead.
Prescription medication	$30.00	$33.00	Yes. I don’t really have a choice.
Gas	$25.00	$27.50	Yes

etc

 
Step 2
At the end of each day, stick the 10% in an envelope. You can put in cash, the receipt, or just a sticky note. Keep track of every single purchase with no exceptions.

Step 3
At the end of the month, take all the money you have accumulated and send it to Doctors Without Borders, the IRC, UNICEF, Oxfam, or one of the other organizations working for famine relief in East Africa.

I like this method of giving for several reasons:

• It helps answer the question of what is the "right" amount to give. Ten percent of everything I spend feels right to me.
• It helps me keep track of my spending.
• It puts a silver lining on unexpected expenses like emergency vet bills. At least someone is benefiting from them.
• It allows me to think of my donation as a tax on my purchases, which makes donating become a habit that I don't have to think about, just like sales tax.

 Please join me in the 10% Challenge. You can help save the lives of thousands of people. You can invite others to participate by clicking the Facebook button below.

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." - Edward Hale