Seed's Academy Library Fundraiser

Library Fundraiser for Seeds Academy

As a part of my work here in Kenya, I have been given the task of getting the library at Seeds Academy arranged. This was no small undertaking let me assure you. After sorting through piles of books, textbooks, teaching resources, paper, and all of the other items found in the library at Seeds Academy, I was a little bit overwhelmed.  Through some very generous donors, we have been provided with some excellent teaching materials and books. We also keep our class textbooks, PE equipment, exercise books, manipulatives, and science equipment in the library.  However, the library is lacking in the necessary materials to keep our supplies safe. Humidity is high here in Kenya and for a good bit of the year so it the dust and dirt that flies in through every crack and crevice, and these two natural occurrences make it hard to keep materials such as construction paper, sentence strips, and other things useable for more than just a short period of time. 

The problem was easy to identify: dust, dirt and humidity are destroying books and other materials in the library. The solution was not so quick to come. I have however come up with what will be a good start to protecting our current materials and supplies, and will be working with others in the future to continue to come up with ways to prevent these problems. 

So I bet you are wondering, "What is the solution you have?" and "What can I/we do to help you get to that solution?" First of all, the solution. I have been searching high and low to find what will be best to store materials, and here is the list of what I have come up with and how each item will be used.

• Trash cans: We need two of these. One is for collecting trash and the other is going to be used to store the sticks the children use when they are performing dances for the teams and other visitors during opening and closing ceremonies.
• 4 drawer plastic storage unit: We need four of these. These units will be used to store materials such as construction paper, markers, crayons and other supplies.
• 2 drawer plastic storage unit: We need two of these. These units will also be used for the storage of materials and supplies.
• Plastic baskets: We are requesting twenty of these to be used to store small materials and other things to be put out for student use in the library.
• 30 liter plastic storage containers: We are requesting five of these to be used to store PE equipment as well as larger teaching materials.
• Under the bed stock boxes: We are requesting five of these as well. These too will be used to store larger materials such as big books and teaching supplies.

As a part of the library fund raiser, I am also including some funds to be used to bring in an electrician to add some outlets and to repair the light fixture in the library. It gets rather dark when the rain clouds roll in each day and it makes it hard to see in the library to get much of anything accomplished. 

Now for the cost of the project. In total the project should cost about $1000. Here is how that breaks down:

• Trash cans: 475 shillings each: 2 @ 475 sh= 975 sh
• 4 drawer storage: 5,365 shillings each: 4 @ 5,365 = 21,460 sh
• 2 drawer storage: 2,785 shillings each: 2 @ 2,785= 5,570 sh
• Plastic baskets: 275 shillings each: 20 @ 275= 5,500 sh
• 30 L storage: 1,995 shillings each: 5 @ 1,995= 9,975 sh
• Stock box: 1,695 shillings each: 5 @ 1,695= 8,475 sh
• Electrician: 12,000 shillings for the project
• Cleaning materials (mop, broom, mop bucket, dust pan, trash bags, etc.) : 4,000 shillings
• Extra supplies for the library (math kits, chalk, erasers, pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, etc.) 5,000 shillings

Now to clear this up for you just a little bit with the conversions. We usually are able to get about 82 shillings per US dollar. Therefore we need 82,000 shillings to cover the project. If we come up with extra funds after all of the project has been completed, we plan to put the money towards other ongoing projects at the school. 

If you would like to help fund this project there are a couple of ways you can donate. You may go to the Chicks for Children Foundation, Inc. website located at www.chicksforchildren.org. Through the website, you may click on the Donate link at the top of the page and follow the steps there. Please make sure you designate that you want the money to be used for the library project. You may also mail a check to Chicks for Children Foundation, Inc. PO Box 10753 Conway, AR 72033. Again please designate in the memo line that the money is to be used for the library project.  

I can't even begin to tell you how much these simple materials are going to make an impact on the library and how it functions. Pictures will be coming as the project progresses. Please share this with your friends and family.

Blessings to you,
Melody and Jim

Married Life, Kenya, and Me

From the time I was a young girl, I dreamed about what married life would be like: husband goes to work at 8, you stay home, clean the house, cook amazing meals, and then promptly at 5:30 husband walk in, supper is served, dishes are washed, and you then relax together on the couch until time for bed. Oh dear, now that I read what I imagined, it sounds quite like an episode straight from Leave It To Beaver. I am no June Cleaver. I don't clean house in a dress, apron, and pearls. I don't greet my husband at the door when he comes home with a kiss (usually because I am coming home at the very same time). Married life in 2014 isn't quite the picture perfect Cleaver household I had imagined, but the reality of married life is far better. 

Is my house ALWAYS immaculate? Nope.
Is supper always ready at 5:30? Nope, but then again we aren't home some nights at 5:30 to have supper anyway.
Do I greet my husband wearing an apron and pearls? Nope. That hasn't even happened once, and those of you who know me best know that I love my aprons.

June Cleaver perfection is a standard that I will never achieve. It was an image Hollywood created to show the world what married life could be like if everything were perfect. Perfect husband, perfect kids, perfect jobs, perfect neighbors, and all the rest of it. The reality of the situation is this: marriage brings together two imperfect people striving to love each other as best as they can in spite of the imperfections. True love looks past the imperfections and seeks to build up the areas that need strengthening and encouraging the areas that are already strong to continue to grow and flourish. True love seeks to love God before your spouse and out of the overflow of your love from God flows your love for your spouse. 

I was blessed with a husband that understands the electricity in Kenya is NEVER reliable, supper will be ready when I call him to come eat, and the house may not be spotless but it is clean.

I was blessed with a husband that sees the beauty underneath a messy ponytail rather than perfectly styled and maintained hair. I was blessed with a husband that finds me more beautiful with flour on my face than all of the make up I possess. I was blessed with a husband that makes it a point to tell me daily that he finds me beautiful and that usually happens at those times when I feel the least beautiful.

I was blessed with a husband that remembers my love for fresh flowers. There are no words to describe how I feel seeing him walk in unexpectedly with a bunch of roses to put in the pitcher in the middle of the dining room table.

Married life with Jim isn't perfect. It can't be. That would be ridiculously naive of me to expect it. Two imperfect people joined together by a perfect God. There's the absolute reality of married life. We can't be perfect, but we can look past the imperfections and see the heart of our spouse and choose to build them up rather than focus on the areas lacking and tear them down. 

Married life in Kenya proves daily to be an interesting experience. It has been quite an adjustment... learning to be a wife, missionary, mom to many kids, and trying to figure out my exact place in the grand scheme of the ministry here. I love being married. I feel like I was created for this purpose... to be a wife, a mom, a mentor, a teacher, a confidante, and all of the other roles I have yet to discover. I only wish Jim and I had found each other sooner. God's timing is perfect and I know it all happened in His timing.

Speaking of God's timing, I can hardly believe that last year at this time I was just getting ready to come to Kenya for the first time. Things has completely turned themselves upside down and changed drastically. What I thought I knew about the direction of my life was proven quickly to be wrong and soon those ideas were replaced with a revealing of all that God had in store (well at least a small glimpse of that plan). It is mind blowing some days to think that in less than a year's time, I lost a job I thought I would keep for a significant time in the future, raised all of the funds needed to stay in Africa for three months, meet and fall madly in love with the man destined to be my husband, get engaged, come home and plan the wedding of my dreams, be welcomed into a new family with open loving arms, marry the man of my dreams, and move back to Kenya to begin my new life as a missionary and wife. It has been a whirlwind of activity and I would be lying if I said some of it wasn't a blur. It has been a crazy time, but time that I wouldn't trade for anything. 

I am looking forward to sharing more of our adventures and stories with you as the months progress for our time here in Kenya. I hope you will look forward to sharing them with us.

Until next time,
Melody and Jim