I'm going to sponsor a child, the hard part was choosing my little angel

The charity we are working with, Plan International, has a program which allows you to sponsor a child for £12/ month.  To us this is one cheap dinner out and less than a taxi from my fav bar home.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to sponsor or not but as we learned more about the program it just seemed like the thing to do. I want to do much more volunteering around the world, but for now I'll start with Rwanda.

I thought it was going to be a breeze; I'd sponsor the adorable little girl who sat in my lap at the opening ceremony.

It didn't take much asking around to learn her name but then it surfaced that she was in high demand and others already wanted to sponsor her too! Oh no!  I actually went into a slight depression over it for a minute - before looking out the window and remembering there are about 1,599 other kids out there in desperate need (& those are just the primary school age). From there I headed into the schoolyard to scout for my child.  Minutes later I realized this was a horrible idea and felt terribly wrong. Imagine starring at all the kids, some barefoot, others with ripped clothes, plastic bags for rucksacks...how am I to pick ONE of them to support???

Thankfully the money goes into a pot for the community, but you write letters to your child and can send pictures etc. Finding it too award I went back to work. 'Asha, come..' back to my water collecting with Dominique. Later a little girl came along with the longest, most beautiful eyelashes.  She was quite sweet and able to tell me her name and age. I thought I'd found my match until about an hour later when I met T. She was part if my water tank crew and though she hardly said a word - perched herself on the concrete to take in excitement with the little entourage we'd formed. The older kids had to ask her name and age for me since she was so shy and didn't speak English.

I spent the rest of the day back and forth from the tank, chatting with the kids at every break while the jug was filling but still wasn't convinced I'd found the one until she showed up at the classroom we used as our home base.

I brought William over to ask her name so they could track her to see if she's available for sponsorship. When he found out he turned and told us her name and the meaning...I teared up right there. Emma looked at me and said she's perfect- meant to be. Her name means 'in him (God) we trust' -done deal. She was chosen for me. I couldn't say a word while Alfred wrote down her name, age and class. Everyday here is emotional and full of surprises.  I can't believe we only have one more day. It will be hard to leave our new found friends.

If you want to sponsor a child too, please go to www.plan-uk.org

Day 4 of work - Thursday

Our first stop was the local Women’s cooperative, here we learned about the women, how they are making the bowls to try to come out of poverty and to support them by buying some of their gorgeous bowls. Happy to say they made a killing of us!

Time to work - day 4 at the site and things are really moving along. 

Emma and I were on shovelling duty with Dominique then we helped him fill and carry water jugs from the water tank.

The tank became the hot spot. The crowd of kids grew but it stayed small enough to be interactive and amazing. The head student led the pack and though she wouldn't admit it, spoke more English than she'd use; but it was so fun (and exhausting!) learning to communicate with them. They found a piece of chalk a d wrote Emma and I’s names on the water tank, then later between runs they would chat with me and write words on the tank for me to read in Kinyarwanda. I have no idea what some of the words meant but from the smiles the teachers gave when they passed by I think it was all good fun.

The kids are so sweet and smart. They are growing up with just a few bits of clothes (most of them have had on the same outfit everyday this week) and they are so resourceful. Many of them don't even have shoes or water within a kilometre of their home (I wouldn't call them houses) but they wake up each morning by the rooster's crowing and make their way to school. They get water wherever they can and make due with what they have - which isn't much. Even the guys we are working with building don't have anything. No shoes, gloves and def no hardhats. Thankfully we are all leaving out supplies here for them buy wow. I show up everyday in my new steel toed boots, drink endless supplies of water and have 3 meals, bigger then I'd have at home... 

All the Rwandanes I've met deserve a great deal of credit for their extremely hard work ethic - and not to forget their charm!

Pinch me...I'm in Rwanda!

I must say when I left America in 2008 I knew I was in for an amazing adventure - but I had no idea what to expect. As we are bumping down the road on our way back to Kigali I can't help but pinch myself - we are in Rwanda and I just left my second game park in two months! I've fallen in love with Africa and as much as I want to see the rest of the world, I want to see all of Africa. It's beautiful, unspoiled in many ways, and full joyous people and places to explore and discover.

Today I'd rate our game drive as just ok. I'm sorry for the people on the trip who haven't been on a proper drive before because they don't know all that they missed. We arrived quite late, drove to fast and even though we had two locals and a park guide in the bus we hardly got any info from them. They did come through on the elephant sighting though- which was the highlight of the day.

We ate lunch at Akagera Game Lodge. It was at the top of the hill overlooking the lake and the mountains. The view was absolutely stunning and so was lunch. They eat a lot of tilapia here, I've now had it for the third time in two days! Hopefully they'll have a new option for dinner tonight.

I'm getting to know everyone on the trip and what a great group.
Everyone is so different yet so creative. I've never been around so many creative minds from different backgrounds at one time. We have CNN producers and writers, Cartoon Network peeps, an IPC magazine guru, PR, marketing, sales, HR and more! It's amazing. The digital equipment alone is unreal. Matt has graced us with his mega lens and we'll be filming this week for CNN and Bulgaria TV.

Many people think trips like this are once in a lifetime, grab them while you can; but I and many others on this trip know better. Life is what you make of it. So get out you check cards because there are many more charity trips to come in my future ;)

Get ready, we start building tomorrow!! xx Ash

Ash is off to RWANDA!!! Please help!!

Dear friends,

As usual I’m off on another amazing adventure, only this time I’m giving something back! In just a few short months, (February 2010) myself and 19 others from Turner Broadcasting, will set off to build a school in Rwanda. I cannot express how excited I am to have this opportunity, and my only fear is that I’ll fall in love with the kids and never want to come back.

The children currently attend school in a run down shack, which floods when it rains. Each year Turner chooses a charity to support and sends a team out for a week to help the community build a school. Last year they went to Mali, and the volunteers came back full of respect for the people they met and a new found appreciative for their blessings back home. It’s an incredible opportunity to make a difference, which will in turn affect so many others for decades to come. These children are the future, and with a better education and learning environment we can help make all the difference in the world.

Please help me – help these kids. I need to raise £1,000 for the project but I hope to surpass this goal!!! So show some love and pretty please donate what you can.

** If you are in America this is about $1,600. Don’t worry, you can still help me raise the money by donating on the site! Please note- be sure to convert what you donate: i.e. if you want to donate $25, this is £16.

Details on donating:
JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now ;) http://www.justgiving.co.uk/ashleyhg

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Lots of love!
Ashley

Xoxo