You guys. In January 2016 my youth in the village and I began discussing and planning for their next project for the year. They told me their number one idea was a poultry farm because it was income generating and something new they wanted to try. We worked SO hard to research, plan, get quotations, fundraise, in kind, and discuss. We were surprised by the Fiji Ministry of Youth and Sports who chose us for their small grant opportunity. It was exciting and wonderful. Due to some miscommunication and pressure to turn the grant information in only a week after being notified it was available....we ended up with 89 live day old chicks in 2 boxes on our "doorstep". It was hard to complain..they were free. But we were not prepared yet. We first needed the building materials, feed, lighting, etc that we planned to fundraise for and seek assistance from Peace Corps. We kicked it into high gear and people donated roofing iron, wood, and cement from their own homes. People gave the small change they had so we could purchase feed. People from our village with jobs in the city sponsored us with buying lights and feed. It was a bit stressful but we did it with only losing a few chickens (a miracle seriously). I kicked it into high gear and got the remaining info needed to write our Peace Corps proposal. It took me 4 HOURS to write the final grant proposal in July. I turned it in..phew! Then there was a long delay in the grant review process. We were finally notified on September that it was approved!!!.....the same day I was being sent to America for medical. But no worries, I would be back in two weeks, right when the money would be cleared. WRONG. Yet another obstacle. Because I was "medically separated" from the Peace Corps I no longer could accept the (finally) fully funded grant (over $3000USD). This amount is less now due to the youth being forced to in kind and get creative the last 4 months.
While I am going back to Fiji and the village and youth have only expressed well wishes for my health...it is not fair for them. Or me. We put in SO much work. You have no idea. And so I decided to raise money. I need a little bit to help me get back there (no more Peace Corps stipend). And then I want to be able to show up with some of that expected financial support. The village fed me often, kept me safe, gave me a house and most importantly have become my family. I can follow through on this promise to them. But..I need your help.
Please consider donating. I will post updates on my blog of how the project is going. Here are some pictures from the the last 4 months.
****having issues with the link...will be fixed shortly..but for now please copy and paste it into your browser.
https://www.gofundme.com/missy-back-to-fiji-and-dakuivuna-2uxmtysk?ssid=778045777&pos=1
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Fiji? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Fiji in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez