African Midwifery Adventures: Adventures in Fundraising

One of my own philosophies in life is ‘if you don’t ask… you don’t get’…. So sometimes I just ask.

I think I’m almost ready for my journey. Well the organised part of me should be as there are only five weeks left until I finish work. Needless to say the last few weeks have been fairly busy as well. I've been pleasantly surprised with the support that has come from various place and I've had donations of equipment that I haven’t really known how to deal with. The airline I’m flying with will only allow their standard luggage allowance.

And I really do think I need to take some clothes with me!

So then I remembered that the hospital I work at supports their sister hospital, which is also in Nairobi, by sending a container once a year with used equipment in it. So, I asked the question… is there any space in the container to send a few things? Sure there is… but I had to get it to them in 8 days’ time. They were packing the container and I didn't want to miss the deadline. So I packed up some of the things that I had already collected, and then put the call out for other things that I hadn't planned on taking at all because of the aforementioned lack of luggage space. Once again, my beautiful quilt group came to the fore and answered the call for old towels – which will be very useful. I’d also sourced some knitted items (mostly jumpers and beanies), some baby clothes, some toys, some books, and lots of medical equipment that is clean but no longer sterile, or is now out of date. Another company gave suture materials and also some theater clogs!!! So they have all been packed and are slowly making their way over to Africa…. Yay!! I even had a random visit from a midwife who'd spent time in Ethiopia and had a contact for someone who was giving away a couple of fetal heart rate dopplers. I'll be picking them up tomorrow.

The actual fundraising has been going well. I’m very happy with the response to the quilt. I’m still selling tickets and it will be drawn on May 2^nd, so if you still want to get some tickets, please see the previous posting for the details on how to get them. It’s funny how people react when you start to fund raise My department at work have fallen behind the ‘gold coin donation morning teas’ really very well and I’m sure some of the doctors are putting in more than a gold coin… in fact one of the older more crusty doctors often finds creative ways to give me money! Thanks hunny!! I think he thinks that I haven't noticed! Another couple of doctors have also donated $200 each and some donations have come from quilting friends as well. Thanks very much one and all.

Part of my getting ready to go has included my sewing kit. Those who know me know that I need something to do for those quiet times. I've had this little kit stashed in the cupboard for a while now. I started this years ago, but didn't get very far at all. So I've been cutting squares of fabrics to take with me to make into a quilt. It will be made using an Apple Core design on the principle of a charm quilt which means no piece of fabric is repeated more than once. I've also been tidying the fabric stash as I go. I’ll keep you posted with the progress of my quilt as well.