We’re heading out today! Our team is here, the trucks are packed, we just finished breakfast, and we head out in just a few minutes. We start the 5+ hour drive north to Isiolo, where we will drop off our luggage, and then head to Bulesa Dima, where the team gets to have a dinner that will be hosted by the village!
So it’s 4 of us traveling to Kenya - Matt and Mary (me) Lossau, Lydia Auch and Kelsey Moss. Three of our Algonquin neighborhood families represented… who couldn’t help ourselves. We had to come see our friends in Gambella.
we arrived in Nairobi about 6pm, got through customs pretty quickly (even though the price for a visa doubled…) We grabbed our luggage, snapped a picture of us and the “Welcome to Kenya” sign and ran into our trip leader, Jonathan, who led us to Wubshet and his landcruiser who took us to our home for the night.
Wubshet and his wife, Habiba, lead the work here around Isiolo. They resource our adopted village of Gambella and now 3 others around Isiolo. Wubshet is friendly, and wears a leather cowboy type hat - a new one just today! He and his wife LOVE these villages, and it is such a delight to be with him in the car as we drive away from the airport at sunset.
we drove w/the windows down and i could hear something chirping as we drove. there were people walking all along the roads… for the entire 40 minute trip. traffic’s crazy, but i didn’t much pay attention to that. my heart was FULL as we drove. We are in Kenya!! KENYA! Algonquin FOR Gambella. Tomorrow we make the 4.5 hr car trip to Isiolo, settle into our home for the week, then head to a newly partnered village, very similar to where Gambella began 3 years ago.
And as i hear the crickets chirp, i’ll head off to sleep (complete w/mosquito net) happy in my heart. This is a beautiful moment!
Brook Mrkvicka from the Algonquin Patch came out to the run/walk, and took some pictures. Click the link above to see them. Thanks Brook!
Our first ever Run 4 Gambella 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk was a blast! There were dozens of runners and walkers that showed up, and the weather even cooperated with us.
It was so fun seeing so many runners completing their first 5K ever! We had kids decorating t-shirts, and true to our word, we did not time the run (much to the disappointment of the high school boy who was the first to finish)!
Through donations made by the run and walk participants, we raised $1,220 for the people of Gambella. This brings our total donations made this spring to $3,755 (including some checks that are not reflected in the ChipIn widget on the site)! We continue to be humbled by the support of the community—thank you!
Have you ever wished you could change the world? Have you ever wondered if the money you give to different charities actually makes a difference? Here’s a fun and easy way for you to truly be a world changer!
Come join us for our first ever “No Frills” 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk this 
Saturday, May 21, at 9am in Cornish Park in Algonquin. Every dollar that is donated for this event is going straight to the village of Gambella, in Kenya, Africa.
Gambella is a village that literally had no hope just a few short years ago. The villagers had no clean water, no means to educate their children, they lived on about $.50 a day, and they have been the subject of violent attacks. After just a few years of their partnership with Global Hope Network International (GHNI), and a small handful of partners like our neighborhood, their village has been transformed! In fact, the change in the village has been so dramatic, that the United Nations, the Kenyan Government, and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been out to visit our village of Gambella, to find out what has given them so much hope.
The money that we are raising will be used to purchase more goats, to replace the animals that were stolen in an attack on the village almost two years ago. The nutrition provided through the milk of goats, is crucial to the people in Gambella. In February, we were able to provide 38 goats to the village, but we’d like to give more. In addition, we will be creating a pool of money that the villagers will have access to in order to start income-generating businesses, like this tea shop that was opened about a year ago.
Join us on Saturday, and have some fun while you change the world! Learn more and register on our run page.
Our 2nd Annual Garage Sale 4 Gambella was a tremendous success, as we raised $1,020! Special thanks to Mary, Beth, Michele, and Lee, for all of their time and efforts in planning the event, and for braving the cold each morning to sit outside during the sale. I also wanted to thank everyone who donated items to the garage sale—we certainly could not have done it without you! We do have a few more items (kitchen table, Bitty Baby with crib, etc) that we will try to sell on eBay or Craig’s List, so the total may go up some more.
The next and final fund raising event coming up is the No Frills 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk next Saturday, at 9am. We’d love to see you there! Read more about that at http://a4gblog.org/run.
Our primary fund raising efforts for the year are in full swing. Last year, the bulk of the money that we raised went toward building a storehouse (pictured below), so that the villagers would have a place to keep the crops they harvest safe and dry until they can be sold to local produce companies. 
This year, we’re raising money to help the villagers replace more goats that were stolen during the raid on the village two years ago, and we’re also using the funds to have a pool of money to be available for micro loans for businesses for the villagers (businesses like the tea and chapati shop, and hotel that have already been successful).
We’re done with our first two days of our garage sale, and we’ve raised about $600 for Gambella so far. That’s a respectable amount, and we want to do more! We still have tons of great stuff (great furniture, clothes, books, and more). This is a good opportunity to not only get a good deal on stuff, but also to help a poor village in the process. We’re hoping the rain will hold out tomorrow, so that we can reach our goal of $1,000 raised from the garage sale.
Our “No Frills” 5K Fun Run and 1-Mile Pet Walk is also coming up in two weeks, on Saturday, May 21. We’re very excited about this inaugural event, and would LOVE to see you out there! Name your own “entrance fee” (in the form of a donation of any amount to Gambella) for this event. So far we’ve raised over $600 for this event. Check out our Fun Run page for more information: http://a4gblog.org/run.
We are having our 2nd annual neighborhood garage sale for Gambella! All proceeds will go to the village of Gambella, in Kenya.
If you have an interest in donating items, please contact Mary via email
(garagesale@a4gblog.org).
Date/Time: Thurs, Fri, and Saturday 5/5 - 5/7; 8am - 3pm
Location: 321 Lincoln St, Algonquin, IL
Our group will be cleaning ambulances this coming Sunday, April 10, beginning at 9am. The ambulance company pays us for each vehicle that we clean. We need to clean 18 vehicles by the end of the month, and we could use your help. Come help us, and enjoy some fun conversation, as we talk about the things that have happened in Gambella since they became involved with GHNI, as well as what their future holds.
The ambulance company is Rescue Eight, and they’re located at 1520 Industrial Drive, Suite C, Lake in the Hills, IL. See the map below.
We hope to see you there!
We will be doing another live video call with our adopted village of Gambella, in Kenya, on Wednesday, February 16th. You are invited to join us to meet some of the people from the village. We’ll also spend some time talking about adopting a village, and about the Transformational Community Development model that Global Hope Network International uses.
If you are at all interested in adopting a village of your own, this event is for you!
Where:
Algonquin/LITH Main Fire Station
1020 W. Algonquin Rd.
Lake in the Hills, IL 60156
When:
Wednesday, February 16 - 9:00 PM (inconvenient time due to the time difference with Kenya)
