Prairie Grlz Meet Matilda

Lena and Mercy meet for the first time in Nairobi

 All summer, Prairie Grlz have been following Lena's inspirational blog, www.journeywithlena.blogspot.com.  You may remember Lena as our only guest blogger ever.  (Lena Finds Inspiration With Prairie Grlz, July 3)  Lena received the coveted Prairie Grlz t-shirt for her literary efforts  (That is a veiled request for more guest bloggers!).  Sharon and I were particularly moved by Lena's musings on Mercy, a little girl Lena has sponsored, providing money for basic needs and education.  Lena's trip to Africa this summer included meeting this little girl for the first time.  What follows are excerpts from Lena's blog, "Meeting Mercy."

The guide said, "That's Mercy." I couldn't believe it was Mercy standing there waiting for us. We pulled into the driveway and when we got out she gave me a big hug right away.

The first thing we did was meet the director of the program and meet some of the leaders.They showed me Mercy's complete records. The records showed how they spend the money that is sent to her, her school report cards, medical records, and other comments. It showed the purchase of her uniform, shoes, school supplies and the food that is bought for her every week. It even showed when she received Christmas and birthday gifts. They wanted me to know that the money I send to Compassion is really spent on Mercy. I was impressed with her progress in school. This year she had very high marks and very good comments.
 
 Later we went to Mercy's house where we were greeted by her aunt.  We found out that Mercy's mom left her three children. When the aunt found out she went to get the children but couldn't afford to keep them. The government took her brother and sister and put them in an orphanage somewhere. Since Mercy had gotten sponsored they left Mercy with her aunt.

Prairie Sherry will share this marvelous recipe tomorrow!!

Sharon and I were catching up on Lena's blog while canning tomato jam.  We thrive on multi-tasking.  Somewhere between trying to scour burned sugar off the stove top and making an impromptu batch of chimmichurri, we decided to sponsor a child through Compassion 
(http://www.compassion.com/).  We chose Compassion because the money goes directly to the child and isn't tied up in a lot of bureaucratic nonsense.  Being teachers, we are pretty tuned into bureaucratic nonsense and have no time for it. 

In under five minutes we found Matilda.  We chose Matilda because she had been waiting the longest (almost a year) for a sponsor.  She is a beautiful, 10 year-old girl who lives in Ecuador.  Every month we will use some of our Prairie Grlz profits to sponsor Matilda.  (More impetus to open that darn Etsy store.).  To date, this is our favorite decision we have made as a team.  While sorting tomatoes yesterday, we also decided to start an Ecuador fund.  It is our intention to travel to Ecuador in the next five years.  We will travel the country and meet Matilda.

I would like to point out that this is what Eydie
looks like before a comb or shower.  I still
like her.  Prairie Sherry

I hope Matilda can feel the love Prairie Sherry and I are sending her way.  We look forward to sharing updates about her in the blog.

(((Hugs)))

Prairie Eydie