Hello Everyone,
Today is Tuesday Aug. 15th.

Teaching is going so incredibly well. I have begun working with a translator, a young boy named Alex.(see picture#1) I have been using many hand-drawn pictures and sentences in both Kswahili and English to get the girls to understand. So far we already have 100 coffee bags ordered, so everyone at WAMATA is thrilled. I will ask Silvano (the tailor) about placing orders from Canada and get back to you if you are interested... I'm not sure he will be able to do it in time, but it sure would be nice:)

I experienced my first home visit today. I went with 2 young men for a 2.5 hour hike through the mountains to 2 very poor homes where the mothers are both dying of AIDS. The families are so poor that they are unable to get into town, so volunteers from WAMATA go out to visit them (see picture#2.) At the first house the woman had been taken to the hospital, so I only spoke with her father. You can see him in the picture. I thought he was very old, but found out through translation that he was only 42 years old. They both asked me how they could help to prolong the lives of those living with HIV/AIDS... that was a difficult question considering it was very obvious they didn't have much time left. We did have a discussion about health, nutrition and sanitary habits. I also encouraged them to keep a scrapbook for their children so that they could be remembered and leave behind advice they want their children to follow. (see picture #3 ~ my second home visit)

I want all of you to know that I talked to both families about how many people back in Canada are sending their love, and I told them that although you couldn't be here in body, you were definitely with them in spirit. I captured their smiles in the pictures included.

Thank you so much for your support... it is going a very long way.
Until next time,
Annie... ~Living Simply~