Great Effort By Family, Friends, and Other Generous Blog Readers

Grant has asked that we post an informal thank you to the many thoughtful family, friends and blog readers that have responded to his request for donations. As his parents, Terri and I have truly enjoyed your many cards and notes of encouragement and praise that have been sent along with your generous donations. Those cards and notes have been sent on to Grant.

As he has mentioned, you all gave much more then he ever expected or anticipated (4 times what he thought). Your donations have been wired to an account in Togo and building materials are being purchased. He has already lined up the necessary masons from Kamina, his village. Materials such as sand will be obtained near his village.

Please accept this published post as a small but greatly appreciated and wholehearted "shout out" to all of you. Donations have come all the way from Richmond, Virginia to Sacramento, California; from Hoboken, New Jersey to Peoria, Arizona and from Sequim, Washington, Missoula, Montana, Portland, Oregon and Omaha, Nebraska and many places in between.

So here we go, first from around Oregon: thanks to Bonnie in Grants Pass, Steve and Donna, The Dalles; Denise in Salem; Alexis and Bill, Milwaukie, Jim and Shelia, Eugene; Pete and Jean, Lake Oswego; Jerry and Jane, Oregon City; Patrick, Mollala; Edd and Sharon, Wilsonville; John and Mary, Eugene; Charlie and Cathy, Tualatin; Skip and Linda, West Linn.

And from Portland, Tim and Mary, Jim and Morley, Max, Jim and Christine, Ray and Denissia, Dana, Molly (formerly, Missoula), Cathy L, Dave and Peggy, Alex, Peter, Randy and Jan, Silka and Harris, Stephanie, John and Kathy, Dick and Teresa, Allison and Bill, and Ron and Terri.

From Washington, Rose and Frank, and Sally, Seattle; Peggy and Shirley, Sequim and Ken and Pam, Tacoma.

From Missoula, Kim, Forrest, Bill and Betsy, Amy, Heidi and the really awesome young people at Taco del Sol.

And finally to you from afar; Lauren and Devon, Ft. Collins, Co; Danna and Justin, Hoboken, NJ; Mariam and Paul, Honeybrook, Pa.; Conor and Katherine, Richmond, Va.; Laurie and Gerhard, Sacramento, Ca.; Judy and Mel, Peoria, Az.; Susie(formerly, Missoula)now Meridian, Ida.; Tom in Omaha, Nebraska; and Gordy and Meg, Maui, Hawaii .

Keep you eyes on his blog as he will update progress as best he can. Terri and I will be visiting him in his village in June and will also take lots of pictures.

We can not thank you enough for your caring and support of Grant.

Ron and Terri
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Life update

Thank you to everyone who donated to my school project. I believe my father might list all of you by first name on this blog so you may be recognized and I am planning on the students and teachers to write some kind of thank you letters as well. The support from my community so far has been outstanding. The plans are in place and budgets calculated to lay floors, add walls, improve foundations and structure, and add chalkboards, and a porch connecting the classrooms. If there is enough, we may also try to paint.



I received more money than I ever anticipated which goes to show how caring my friends and family are. I also plan on using a portion of the money, along with some of my salary, to plan field trips for certain students to Atakpame. This is a popular project for education volunteers in Togo. Many young women have never even left their village. In conjunction with my friend and closest neighbor James, we are planning a "Take Your Daughters to Work" field trip, so that the young girls in our village can see professional women in the workplace and be aware of opportunities they may not know are even available to them. Many young women in small villages like Kamina lack the opportunities for education, many drop out as teenagers or even younger, and it is shown that the strongest way to strengthen this population is to educate the women. Statistics clearly establish that with the education of women; family health improves, children become more nourished, birth rates drop, as does infant mortality. James and I are excited for the possibility to show some of the brighest girls in my village how far their education can take them.



I intend to plant trees around the school, trees that the village do not yet know about. I hope to incorporate this into a chance to educate them on the benefits of sustainable reforestation.



I am also currently applying for a small grant from the embassy to build cisternes in my village, which will be accompanied by presentations on the importance of clean water and hygiene.



I would also like to give a shout out to my friend Laura's blog, L'Afrique en Miniature, which you will find on the list of blogs on the right side of my site. She is planning an even more ambitious project, the construction of a brand new school from the ground up. I encourage you to check it out, if only because she writes much more eloquently on the importance of education than I do.



In other news:



It's hot season, I'm sleeping on the floor in front of a battery operated fan trying to keep the heat rash at bay (so far unsuccessfully). I sweat when I eat. I sweat when I read, I even sweat when I shower.



I completed my year as an editor for our Peace Corps news magazine. Now four others will take over the job. It was an awesome experience going down to the capital every few months(Although incredibly stressful, as I seemingly demonstrated when we finally finished all our work, went to a Togolese night club, and refused to share a bottle of Grant's whiskey because "it's totally got my name on it.")



Just played in a soccer tournament. Peace Corps Volunteers versus Togoles villages. We got whipped. But did score, prompting me to rip my shirt off and do the airplane all around the field.



Peace Corps recently increased their budget worldwide, thus increasing the number of volunteers. Because of this, several Peace Corps countries are encouraging "closing" volunteers to extend their service for a third year. Several volunteers I know are entertaining that option; I assure you, I am not. This has been quite an experience, something I would never trade, and I will cherish forever but lately I have felt like I am missing out on a lot of my life in the United States. I imagine that at the end of this service, I will be eager to get home to America. I miss you guys, but I'm not done with Togo quite yet. And I have a feeling my last seven months could be the most memorable and fulfilling.