Santiago. La Paz, Bolivia, Oct 2009

Happiness is a new soccer ball. Regulation sized? Great! Inflated? Bonus!

Ed, my husband and I took off for the run-down neighborhoods around La Paz with a social worker and a translator.  Our goal: To hand out approx 30 hand decorated dolls and 16 soccer balls to handicapped children living in the slums.

Being born poor is not uncommon in Bolivia, it’s one of the poorest and least developed countries in South America. But add a handicap on top of it and life can seem pretty bleak. So why not add a bit of happiness to a situation that we can’t possibly change in this lifetime.

The dolls and balls were greeted with a happiness and joy that I don’t recall feeling at any of the cash registers or malls in Denver.

Huh, maybe happiness isn’t a new pair of shoes.

Maybe happiness is a smile and a new soccer ball.

If you’d like to join us we’ll be at the charming Bella Notte Unique Gifts in downtown Golden, Colorado.

April 2nd from 5-8pm

May 15th from 10am-4pm

A donation of $20 helps with the cost of dolls, supplies for decorating and soccer balls for the boys. Thanks! See you there!

Bella Notte Unique Gifts is hosting 3 doll parties!  If you are in need of a unique gift for a friend or are looking for children’s toys or clothes this is the place to shop. They have items available from local artists as well. They are located in the heart of cute downtown Golden, Colorado and will be hosting gatherings on the next two ”First Friday’s“  from 5-8pm and  all day on Saturday, May 15th!

We’ll have decorating supplies and ragdolls available so bring your creativity! The cost is $20 per doll, the money will go to cover dolls, decorating supplies and soccer balls for the boys. After the party your doll will be traveling around the world to children living in poverty. The next destination is Egypt and Jordan and some of the dolls will be traveling to Haiti in the fall.

If you’d like to see photos of some of our happy decorators or recipients please visit our Flickr site.

We have a flyer available for download. If you’d like to post one for us we’d appreciate it.

Hope to see you there!

So far we have 38 dolls and figure we’ll have about 50 total when we leave.  I’ll be having another doll decorating gathering next month so please let me know if you want to be invited!  

I did find an website that describes the journey from Egypt to Jordan and gives excellent advice on visas and the crossing via Israel. Jordan Jubilee 

Also, I’ve been reading the following book and LOVE it. Finally someone can explain such a complicated area in a way that I can understand.   

What Every American Should Know about the Middle East

The What Every American Should Know series returns with a timely guide to the region Americans need to understand the most (and know the least)

The latest edition of Melissa Rossi’s popular What Every American Should Know series gives a crash course on one of the most complex and important regions of the world. In this comprehensive and engaging reference book, Rossi offers a clear analysis of the issues playing out in the Middle East, delving into each country’s history, politics, economy, and religions. Having traveled through the area over the past year, she exposes firsthand the U.S.’s geopolitical moves and how our presence has affected the region’s economic and political development. Topics include:

· Why Iran is viewed as a threat by most Middle East countries
· What resource is more important than petroleum in regional power plays
· What’s really behind the fighting between Sunni and Shia
· How Saudi Arabia inadvertently feeds the violence in Iraq and beyond
· How monarchies like those in Jordan and Qatar are more open and progressive than the so-called republics
With answers that will surprise many Americans, and covering a vast history and cultural complexity that will fascinate any student of the world, What Every American Should Know About the Middle East is a must-read introduction to the most critical region of the twenty-first century.

This doll was made for a friend’s new granddaughter. She loved butterflies and the doll had to have exactly 7.  I decorated the dress with 5 butterflies using iron patches cut into shape and embellished with fabric paint, added another to her hair and one on her tummy (as a dot for the “i” in her name).

If you’d like to purchase a doll to decorate please visit our website One Doll.

We held a doll decorating party on Jan 31st. Here’s a photo of the dolls we made. We’ll be delivering them to schools and orphanages in April. Our destinations are: Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.  If you have any connections or info on the area we’d love to talk to you!

To host your own doll decorating party please visit our website One Doll.

So far we have about 38 rag dolls decorated or being decorated. Here are a couple we’ve gotten back already from my friend Allyn and her mom, Jo.

Allyn and Jo with their dolls

We’ll be making rag dolls for Haiti and delivering them once things settle down. If you’d like to be included in our next event please contact me and I’ll make sure you get invited. If you’d like to make a donation to the Haitian orphanage we’ll be going to please visit Mercy and Sharing. You can also visit our website if you’d like to host your own gathering. I’ve just added supplies to our inventory to make it easier to pull a doll making party together.

Ed and I have been following Mercy and Sharing in Haiti for about a year now. Last year some of our dolls went to Haiti and afterwards we received this photo of Lisa with her new doll. Her first smile!

No one is smiling at the moment.

Susie Krabacher started this organization 16 years ago and it’s amazing what they have been accomplishing. Up until now. They really need help and the money will go directly to the children and their needs. Here is an email I received yesterday. Please help by going to their website www.Haitichildren.org

Thanks!

UPDATE SUNDAY Jan 17

Susie, Jeff, Bill, Jacques and two Haitian police (as security), crossed the border into Haiti and arrived at the Williamson project this afternoon.  Unfortunately, things are not as we had hoped. Typically we have approximately 85 employees working eight hour shifts around-the-clock, there were a handful of employees on site trying to take care of hundreds of children.  Many of the children have not had water or food in two days, the handicapped children have a bed sores, and they are trying to stabilize the situation in Williamson before nightfall. There is no diesel fuel to run the generators, which power the water pumps, electric and Internet communications. The well hand pumps are largely ineffective.  They are getting water and food for the children this evening, and then searching for a place to stay that might have Internet or other communications.

We have now reports that the children of the abandoned baby unit have been two days without food and water.  They are reportedly alive, but the morgue is piling up with hundreds of bodies, and the morgue is located right next to the abandoned baby unit.

The office building and hospital in Port-au-Prince have been completely demolished, we have lost all of our paperwork and records which are laying in the debris and blowing around the streets.  The project has been completely looted.

The team is traveling to Port-au-Prince tomorrow to go to the Cazeau orphanage.  We have reports that Cazeau is not safe because the walls collapsed, there are men with machetes robbing anyone with anything or value, and the people in the neighborhood have stormed the building, over powered the guard, and have taken up occupancy in what is left of the buildings on that property.  We intend to remove all the remaining children from Cazeau and take them to Williamson tomorrow.

Madame Chenet is very traumatized, she has been living in her car, and having experience to the devastation, she is likely in shock. Dr. Rodriquez lost 4 family members, Dr. Algenor lost his brother.  Our accountant lost his 2 brothers.  Madame Chenet said it is total devastation around her.

We urgently need cash donations. We cannot accept supplies yet. Donate on line at www.haitichildren.org

Above all, pray fervently for the US team and the children, as well as the staff, are medical doctors and medical personnel.

B. Joseph Krabacher

Mercy & Sharing

201 N. Mill Street, Suite 201

Aspen CO 81611

(970) 925 6300 x 222 Direct

(970) 948 2277 Cell

(970) 925 1181 fax

jkrabacher@krabacher.com

www.haitichildren.org

A 501c3 Public Charity

  ]]> http://www.theonedollproject.com/archives/542/feed 4 http://www.theonedollproject.com/archives/476 http://www.theonedollproject.com/archives/476#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:23:14 +0000 admin http://www.theonedollproject.com/?p=476

The Ubuntu Hair Studio just keeps on giving!

Early in December the staff and clients of Ubuntu (meaning: I am because we are) hosted a doll decorating party to benefit children in Mexico and Southern California. By looking at the photos of smiling faces I’d say the event was a success! The dolls not only were lovingly created and decorated but were pampered and given beautiful new hair styles.

The Ubuntu Hair Studio strives to make social and environmental change through the small things that they do. Here are a few ways that your visit changes the world for the better:

*Pay it forward : gratuities, or as we like to call them – gestures of thanks for great service- are passed on to good causes. We donate 100% of gratuities received to diverse charities such as Hope For Hossana Project, Aspire, Kiva, Girls on the Run and Grossman Burn Foundation. A simple “thank you” goes a long way. 

*Waste not, want not : after serving you well for a few seasons, your hair goes on to do more good. After a cut, the clippings are collected and later reincarnated into oil-spill clean- up mats thanks to our participation in the Matter Of Trust Program.

*Nature’s elixirs: we stock retail products made from essential oils and plant extracts because just like a plant in fertile soil, beautiful hair grows from a healthy scalp.

We hope to be the change we want to see in the world and ask you to join us. We do not live alone, but are connected in something much greater. Together we can make a difference.

We’ll let you know when their dolls are delivered. In the mean time if you’d like more information about the Ubuntu Hair Studio in Solana Beach, California go to http://ubuntuhairstudio.com/