Burundi or Bust!

Hello Friends! It's been a crazy month or so. Fall has come everywhere but Phoenix, though it has cooled off a bit. Ian and I have settled in out very own apartment and into the daily grind of school, work, rest.

So now that we're all comfortable and settled, our next project is a community garage sale to benefit the Global Citizen Journey Burundi trip that Ian and I are going on in June. We are currently collecting any garage saleing items from people around the phoenix area and we will sell them off in mid-late November. All proceeds will go to the project.

If you're not in Phoenix how can you help, you ask? or if you are in phoenix and want to help in other ways? What thoughtful questions! Here are some ideas:

If someone is outside of the phoenix area they could do as follows: If they wish to send money to GCJ they can go to the GCJ website: globalcitizenjourney.org, They can put either my name or Ian's on the donation and the money will go toward our part of the funds--also their contribution will be tax deductible.
If they would like to have their own garage sale and donate the proceeds to GCJ they can do so and write a check and send it along to GCJ as per the address on their website or they can send it to us 2855 E. Broadway #240 Mesa, AZ 85204.
Other ideas would be to invite folks over to their house for a dinner party and ask for a 10 dollar donation per person. They could have a movie night, again asking for donations to benefit the trip and show Hotel Rwanda and have discussion afterward--it is important to note that Rwanda is Burundi's neighboring country and shared in this race war. The same groups of people were effected. Burundi simply didn't get the publicity. It is a question of global citizenship. Burundi is poor and small and so doesn't get the face time that its neighboring countries do.

Anyone here in the phoenix area can again, send money for the project directly to GCJ or to us. Also they can volunteer to help us with the garage sale, they could have a dinner party with us over to talk to their friends about Burundi and explain a little more about the project, show Hotel Rwanda and have conversation etc.

To recap from previous entries: This trip is through a federally recognized 501c3. Please check out their website: www.globalcitizenjourney.org. They have done other trips, one to Ghana, and another to Nigeria. Our trip to Burundi will be to do a couple of things: we will be working with a Farming Co-op that is opporated by several widows whose husbands', the fathers of their children, were killed in the war. We will also be meeting with civil and community leaders to discuss subjects such as Burundi's place in the world community, racial and gender prejudice, global citizenship, etc.

Have any questions about the project or how to help out? Please Please contact us. We could really use your help! And part of this project is educating the masses :)

We have until June to raise the money necessary to get this project off the ground. Thanks for all who have already helped.

-Love, Christine