THANK YOU

Sorry for the absence of blogs lately but killer storms (52 dead) had cut power and phone lines over here for the past 3 days making it impossible for us to blog...

Today we leave “Strong Farm” and it will be sad to leave this place and the people here who made it so special for us. 10 months ago we arrived with the intention of spending 1 month to “check” the place out and we found a Brad & Miriam size gap that fortunately, being Brad & Miriam, we were able to fill! We are very thankful for our generous hosts, the Shipways, who made our stay here very comfortable and were the “go to” people that we needed to often “go to”.

We also want to thank those who supported our work here by helping out financially – it’s been amazing over the past few days as we’ve been compiling a list of items paid for by our church, friends, family and ourselves to see how much of a difference your donations have made in the lives of the children. Since arriving, over $20,000 has been raised and gone into projects that directly affect the children’s lives for the better. Some of the money has gone into “fun” items that excite the kids and brighten their day but our special desire is in providing infrastructure items that will have a more lasting impact on their lives. Some of the projects such as the new school are longer term projects that will see fruition in 1-2 years but mostly we’ve focused on things that could be done immediately.

Below is a list of things we have compiled that wouldn’t have happened without your help, and in addition to these items, $5000 was donated towards general administration, $500 towards new textbooks for the school and a further $3850 towards the new school building project.

Farm items

Harrow

4 x tyres + overhaul for farm vehicle

Trolley Jack

Repair of generator

High pressure water sprayer (cleaning/stripping paint)

Axe

Kitchen items

Refrigerator + voltage stabilizer

Food processor

100 x Steel plates

100 x Steel cups

Pressure cooker

Large cooking pot

Water purification unit for kitchen

School items

18 x dictionaries, maths sets, stationary items for class 10’s

12 x school bags

20 x Sports day prizes

4 x Computer UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supplies)

18 x Computer stools

2 x Metal library cupboards

3 x Rugs for nursery school

4 x Ceiling Fans

Bathroom renovation for the older boys hostel

Miscellaneous

100 x kites (yes 100!)

DVD Player for older girls

3000 x Shampoo packets (single use)

Filing cabinet

Laundry iron

Sporting equipment

Cricket, Soccer, and volleyballs

Cricket gloves

2 badminton sets

Table tennis table & equipment

Tug-Of-War rope

10 x Almiras (Metal Cupboards)

12 x Winter Jackets

3 x Chicken meals (for Christmas, Thanksgiving and Farewell)

250 x serves of ice-cream

1 x Child-safe paper cutter

30 x child-safe scissors

9 months supply of fruit

2 x Inverter systems (Guest-house, Nursery)

Hot Water System for older boys

4 x Backup lighting units

In Progress (funds fully provided)

Kullah (grain drying, basketball)

Playground for boys

Courtyard refurbishment for the girls

Painting of nursery

Once again, thanks to those who supported this fantastic place during our stay, it is very much appreciated. We're off on a short (1 month) trip around the hilly parts of India (cooler also) before heading to SE Asia where we will be looking for some organisations to drop in on. We plan on being back in the land of Oz late October. Depending on Internet availability, blogs might be a bit intermittent for the next few weeks but be patient, we haven't forgotten y'all.