As you know from my blog posts, I met some amazing people while in Tanzania. I lived and worked with volunteers from the U.S. to Germany to Malaysia. Jasen, one of the volunteers I told you about in an earlier post, is now back in the U.S. for a short time before returning to Tanzania for a year. When he first arrived in Moshi, Jasen got to know our coordinator Ally and before he had even visited Good Hope Orphanage (Ally's school/orphanage) he knew he wanted to find a way to help. Jasen saw two needs: one for health clinics for orphans who often only have the opportunity to see a doctor once every month or two and one for volunteers who want to give of their time and talents, but can't afford the high costs many volunteer agencies charge. After many phone calls, emails and late night brainstorming sessions, Jasen and his mom, Freda, had started a nonprofit organization, JustUsFriends, dedicated to building health clinics and providing low-cost volunteer opportunities for people who want to lend a helping hand and make a difference.
The progress Jasen has made in such a short time is nothing short of astounding. His website is up and after being home only two weeks he has raised enough money to build the first clinic and then some! Yesterday the site had over 2,500 hits. Please take a moment to visit the site and share it with anyone you know who is interested in donating or volunteering.
www.justusfriends.us
We also have a new blog up and running for JustUsFriends:
http://justusfriends.wordpress.com
Finally, several of you who don't have Facebook have asked to see pictures from my trip. It took some time to sort through the 1800+ photos I took and then to upload them to Kodak, but here they are:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=431590815212%3A540334954&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
Until next time...
