Oh, how sad to realize this, isn't it?........

 

As for me, I only give to the CCF (a trustworthy Christian organization), that directly aids the Children in Africa.,as well as everyother place in the world where there is great need.

 

My adopted child, Ngagne, has been writing to us now  for over 4 years , letting me know, every single dollar I sent reaches him.......as this is how this organization is worked.,as well as what the family purchased and even sends polaroid photos of everything.

 

We 've purchased a new roof for the family, an outside latrine (built for them) as they had no toilet facility before Ralph & I came into their lives.

 

We also purchased a Stove (oven) for his mother and she bakes beautiful baked goods and sells them in Senagal at the beachside. They rally ARE yummy looking!

 

This is their main income, (from the baking she does)as the father is a driver, but hardly has work, as do the older brothers......

 

Beyond Ngagne, there is a sister Hagar , (age 13) his older brother Ngalla (age 18, Sagittarius Sun), another older brother, 15 named Ismael...

 

Ngagne is a Virgo Sun, very intelligent young man, and quite an artist.  He sends us artwork all the time, and we just love him to death. Watching him grow and his art change, into more sophisticated stuff is a  joy.

 

When the sadness of our own family (the twins were born) and we couldn't  have access to them in 2003, we then adopted Ngagne....and it's been a godsend for us as well as for him.

 

We rec'd photographs all the time the building of the Latrine, went on from the first digging..(back in 2004) .....and then the updated photos, as well as

Photographs of the new roof (the old one caved in), during the rainy season, and we bought him a nice Bed & bedstand..as he was sleeping on the floor on mats.

 

We rec'd many photos over the years of his mom baking and selling the baked goods.

 

I love CCF, as they aid people directly, and make sure every dime we send is directly given to the schools, which they oversee....

 

The "other stuff" we buy for him ourselves......(like clothes, when we want to, for school in late summer, or his birthday in September .

And of course Christmas I love to send him extra.

 

This isn't required of course, just to join CCF, means a lot to all the children who are cared for by this foundation.

 

We've now have had an active role in his life, in a meaningful way since he was 9 and he's now 13......so we've watched him grow into a fine young man.

 

The poverty however, is still quite crucial throughout the villages there.

 

It's important the CCF feels, to not "go overboard", and have one family or child, be the cause of jealousy over his peers.

This makes sense., but it's still nice to realize that the clothes he outgrows, his younger siblings then can wear.

 

I can't imagine people in America, who can watch this type of need on TV, yet not find it in their  hearts to send the $24.00 per month to help the children....YET, only until we ourselves had such a monumental loss in our own lives, did we too, find we needed to do this, (for us).......more then for them.

 

This is life, sadly we don't know what we have until we don't have it.

 

I'll be checking out the links shortly.

 

Thanks,Paul,

 

Deb......

 

 

 

 

 

 

I watched the first one.........I think this is where a young Christian boy named Julius, we once tried to support lived..

 

It began to be too much on us financially when Ralph stopped working, and we didn't want to short Ngagne, having had him much longer and a history with him.,so we needed to stop supporting Julius, which made me very sad.....

His uncle, was very kind,and understood, but still it's hard not to be able to support as there are so many in need.

 

I did receive from his uncle, a few photos, of Julius, and the things we purchased for him....

He wanted an umbrella for instance as it rains and is very very hot there,(the sun), so they bought him a nice red umbrella, which he posed with, with his new clothes, and the food stuff they were able to get with our money.

 

I hated not being able to keep him on too........it really hurt me to try & incorporate two, but it just became too  much when we retired......

 

Ngagne now is our focus and his future...

 

We can only save one child at a time and Ngagne in Senegal (acutally lives in a small village outside of this big city)......

is thriving under our care and concern for him.

 

He loves the baseball & football cards we send him each month, and now has a large collection of them too.....so I know it makes him proud to show these off.

 

I just wish I had soccer cards,(but couldn't find them).....the closest I could find was football, which we had plenty of.

 

But Soccer & the World Soccer is very imporant as a sport over there.....as they have their own teams to root for.\

 

I think IF you look at Africa as a whole, it's impossible !!!

 

BUT, IF you look and take just one child to help, everything is possible.

 

 

oh - Julius was in Zambia, NOT in Kenya.....

 

and here is Ngagne:

 

 

 

 

THEN.....................

 

AND AFTERWARDS:

 

 

 

 Ralph said you couldn't get the smile off his face even if you tried!!

 

Here they are selling their baked goods at the beach:

 

 

thats brilliant stuff debs!

 

i agree it is hard to want to contribute and help being so far away.after watching it i felt more like i wanted to go over there and help out in some way?? although i doubt there are many opportunities for people like myself to go and help without actually having to pay,i often have my suspicions about where my money goes.and i like to see concrete results of where my help[ is going,(maybe thats to do with my chart ruler mercury in the 2nd?) it kind of gets to me when i cant see where my money is going and how its being used. i donated £50 to comic relief and i dont really have a clue how that money has been spendt or whether it has actually been corrupted? i did it cos after watching something like that i found it difficult to not act.

 

there is a part in those videos where they talk of how bob geldolf someone who has been at the forefront of alot of uk charity work really isnt doing the right thing by just getting us to hand out money when in reality we should be aiming our efforts in some way at fighting to dissolve the curruption that is at the heart of these problems.i get a sense sometimes so many of us in the western world donate money blindly without realising that it could in actual fact be making the problem worse.

 

its good that the organisation you use show you where your money is going and how its being used ,i expect,like me being a leo moon it makes you feel so much better to know you are contributing positivly to someones welfare and making live happier.

It really does add to one's overall feelings that we can contribute to another soul (beyond our own egos) in a meaningful way Paul.

 

Sometimes, I feel like "oh my god".......the other day I saw & told Ralph, we've already donated probably close to $5,000. as the years rolls by.  But then I think of the Baked Lay's Potato chips, I just "have to have" these days, since I love chips, but am not supposed to eat any fried foods anymore, (Cayce says, for psoraisis )

So, I only indulge in the Baked ones.

 

They are easily $3.00 per bag (on sale) here in the foodstores.

And I figured I easily buy 2 per month, and that's 6 -7.00 per month or $70.00 per year very easily just on me, and just on Lay's Potato chips!

 

This doesn't count the countless wasteful other things I indulge in just by living each day.

 

Now Ralph ONLY will drink Budweiser Beer,(he hates all other beers, and is a real creature of habit..for sure, refusing to try another)

Here in America, Budweiser has gone up recently, a huge hike to about $20.00 (on sale) for a 30 pack of beer, and his ONLY indulgence (believe me, he NEVER treats himself to anything EVER)

would be Budweiser beer for the weekends, when we play Scrabble, play our records (now Cds,) listen to music & unwind from the week's worries.

 

Now, count that up!.........One month a 30 pack?......IF he drinks (and I limit him to 6 cans of beer per Friday night, or a Saturday night)....so, let's say that's a total of 15.00 for a weekend being drunk?

X 2 weekends, (or one month) is easily a case.

 

Okay, $22.00 (with Taxes), for a case Times 12 months in a year

= $300.00 per year for Beer.....making my Lay's Baked Potato Chip expenditure look "well - cheesey", lol, by comparison!!

 

It's amazing how much we ALl in this country waste each year, without even batting an eye.....or thinking twice about it.

 

But I also realize no matter how I deprive myself, of "Baked Lay's",

that Ngagne's future isn't going to be better because of it.

 

The enviorment, (a Muslem home), his curtailed freedoms (from both family & politics in the region), and one's station in life,

definately is the stamp of which we are all rubber stamped in life.

 

and unless something truly dramatic happens to a person, (and we can count those people on our one hand).......like an Oprah Windrey, or a Lotto Winner, MOST of us will end our lives, about the same station or place in life (economically speaking), as when we came into it.

Dreams, hopes & wishes, nonwithstanding.