Headed Home

From a Panera Bread somewhere near the Wisconson, Illinois atate line...

We have had a long 6 days. A lot of traveling, thinking, talking, calling, and meeting has gone on. We have a van full of small goods ranging from a generator to slightly used shoes. The trip went very well, and it looks like we will have another shot of goods sent from the midwest the first week of January once all of the business owners that we did not get a chance to see return from their holiday vacations.

We did manage to secure the Van from Chicago, as well as another small SUV (2003 Saturn VUE). Both of them are nearly new. It will be a proud moment to see these cars in Cameroon on our next visit.

If you are interested in looking at our online needs lists for the Cameroonian projects, please follow the following links and instructions. Please give to your capacity as this honestly is a noble, well thought out cause.

To address one item that popped up on our trip. "What if these people do not want help?"

While I can understand this question in a way, it is so far from my mind as after being on the ground in Kumbo just recently and constantly being told "you are welcome" "thank you for coming" so many times, from so many levels of the social structure, it is abundantly clear that these projects are in no way imposing. They are much needed and welcomed.

Below are the rough instructions for my online friends and family, we will be cleaning up the language a bit tomorrow.:

TARGET
At this on-line site you will find many of the items we classify as “household”, such as pillows and bedding, sheets and towels. The majority of items needed to set-up a kitchen equipped to serve at least 30 people are also located on this gift registry. To access it from the internet, log on to www.target.com.

Click on “wishlist” from the top menu bar.
From the side bar select: Find a wish list.
Type in Himalayan Institute and leave “location state” as “unknown”.
A results page will return, with Himalayan Institute listed.
Select this and the list will appear.


HOME DEPOT
At this on-line site you will find cleaning and janitorial items as well as gardening and hardware needs. Most importantly, we have some very special requests under the category: “Power Tools”. We appreciate your generosity. From the internet, log on to www.homedepot.com.

On the top menu bar, move your pointer to “Gift Center”.
From the pull-down menu, select “Online Gift Registry”.
To find the registry, type Himalayan Institute as the last name.
Select Himalayan Institute from the listing.


SEARS
We didn’t want to make this too complicated, however, Sears had a wonderful selection of the majority of the agricultural and other tools we will need. They also had some basic cleaning supplies. Log on to www.sears.com, then:

Scroll down to the end of their home page.
Under “Other Services” select “Gift Registry.
On the next page, select “Buy Gifts”.
Select “special occasion” as the event type from the pull down menu.
Type Himalayan as the first name
And Institute as the last name.

Please give, give, give! We need YOUR help!

Much love,

Matt D