The chocolates are here!

OK...so we got the fair trade chocolates delivered today, yay! Only problem is, it's VEEERRY tempting having around 450 blocks of chocolates and 150 bags of snakes (yum yum) sitting in the living room....I hope you're all geared up to put your best "chocolate sales-person" face on! I will be delivering the majority of them this Saturday. We will be doing another "chocolate drive" in a month or two, so if you think you might like to help us with that one, please let us know :)

We have being thinking of other ways to raise money (for the places mentioned below)...so far we have thought that we might hold a "bollywood" trivia night or an Indian dinner later in the year, but the organization involved might not be a possibility at this stage (due to me studying full time & working almost full time!). So....we were hoping that we might get some ideas from you all! Does anyone have some great fundraising ideas for us? We'd LOVE to hear from you if you do!

Luv Mark & Nat Xx

"Hope Trust" orphanage, Nepal.

We spent a day with these beautiful children in December, 2009. What a privelege!

As you can see by the video below, they are such delightful children, that were wrapped to receive a present each, thanks to donations from many people, including many people from 'Southern Life Church', in Carrum Downs, Victoria. They mostly loved the hand written personalised cards! Thanks to the many children who took the time to make them (including Rach & Beth, who made many!)

Some of these children are orphans & some of them are simply 'not wanted'. Heart breaking...

In January 2011 we would like to give them $1000 (approx 64,000 NPR). The rental costs for a house big enough for all of these children are huge, and a constant struggle for the people that run this orphanage. When we were visiting, they were looking for another rental that they could move all of the children to. They only had a few weeks to be out of the current house, but still hadn't found a place they could afford. This is a regular event for them all.

"The little sisters of the poor", Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, India:

As promised, here are a few pics of the places we will be supporting to begin with:

"The little sisters of the poor", Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, India:


These devoted nuns work tirelessly, day after day, caring for close to 100 very sick elderly men and women, including all of the cooking and cleaning. At times they start their day by door-knocking on the villagers doors, asking for donations for food or clothing. Life saving, or even symptom relieving medications are a luxury that they can simply not afford.


We would like to be able to bless them with $1000 in January, 2011.

Chocolate fundraising drive

Our aim is to raise $3000 in the next 6 months from selling fair trade chocolates and lollies! 24 of you have already signed up to help us...and we are anticipating that we'll get a whole lot more on board!

We would like to give $1000 to each of the following independant groups...
'Hope Trust Orphanage' in Thamel, Nepal
Pastor NP's 'Old Age Home' in Banepa, Nepal
'Little Sisters of the poor' Aged care in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, India

You will see that on this site we have a video of us handing out personalized gifts to each of the kids in the 'Hope Trust' orphanage, from our visit in December 2009. The kids were all so wrapped at receiving these gifts...mostly LOVING the personalized cards that they all got, written/drawn by many different children (including many by Beth & Rach!).

We will add some photos from each of these places in the next day or so...

If you would like to join in by selling a box of chocolates, please message Nat or Mark on facebook, text either of us or reply on this site!

Much love,

Nat :)

Hi!

Hello all!

We've decided to start a blog....

We are "on a mission", as well as a journey ourselves, to raise awareness (as well as funds) of "how the other half" (which is a lot more than half) live...

We will be putting up various photos & links over the next few weeks. We will be sharing photos and details on the different groups we are currently trying to raise funds for.

Our next trip is planned for January, 2011. We will be travelling, once again, to India and Nepal. We have kicked off the fundraising with a chocolate drive, with the aim to raise about $3000 from that. We are looking into various other ways that we can raise more funds before we go...we will provide updates as we embark on new projects.

Thank you for taking a moment to check out our blog. We hope that you share a bit of our excitement at the possibilities....

Much love from,

Mark, Nat, Rach & Beth :)