Alternative Christmas Gift Ideas From Our Family to Yours!

Here are Five Alternative Gift Ideas  for Christmas that will make a REAL difference in the lives of Real People that we know here in western Kenya!

1. 1.  Purchase a Maji Safi water filter for a family or a children’s home. These cost about $15 apiece and are good for 5 litres  of filtered  water per hour.  Many families do not use clean water and others  boil their water but they have to use wood or charcoal, both of which create green house gases, cost money and are bad for their pulmonary health.

2.  2.  For $200 you can sponsor a primary school child to go school for one year at Bidii Primary the school where we are helping to raise money to build a new school. This includes uniform and books. *

3.  3.   Purchase a solar light for a family without electricity so that the kids can study after dark, etc. Solar lights are for sale in Eldoret for $25 and there is abundant sun!

4.  4.   Make a donation towards the borehole which needs to be dug for Bidii Elementary. It has been assessed that the grounds for the school will accommodate the water for the school but a borehole (a well, basically) needs to be dug in order for the children and the school to have water. The total cost for the borehole will be $2500.00.

5.  5. Sponsor a child to go to school in a children’s home in Eldoret or Kitale to go to school or just make a donation towards the schooling of a child. The annual cost for primary is around $200.00. There are 2.5 million orphans in Kenya and many many children’s homes  struggling to take care of them. Most of them have funding issues and they all must pay “fees” for sending each child to school and for uniforms, and textbooks.Often only the kids who are "sponsored" get to go to school.

If you have any desire to give a gift of this sort, please send a check in my name with whichever one you’d like to support on the memo line c/o Kathleen Leason 660 Terrace Lake Dr. Columbus, Indiana 47201. We are happy to send you photos of kids, children's homes, etc. so that you have a photographic verification of your generous gift! At this point, we do not have a 501 (c) 3 set up nor do the AMPATH related Children's homes. There is a fund through IU Foundation for the abandoned babies center where I am working. If you write a check to IU Foundation for this purpose write: " IU Foundation/Sally Test Center" and hopefully those funds will make it to the center.

THANKS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

*There are photos of the school, grounds, and children on my blog site, www.grevensineldoret.blogspot.com The post is called “A Warm Karibu for Us”