So many times, my blog posts are updates about our family and what we are up to on a daily or weekly basis. But this post is completely different. Whether you know us or not, I implore you to read this blog until the very end. I will try to keep this as brief as possible while including all the critical bits of info.
In 2005 most of us will remember the horrible hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans and so many surrounding towns. In one of those nearby towns lived a beautiful girl named Siri, who was here as a foreign exchange student. She had come from a village in Cameroon...near the areas of Yaoundé and Bamenda, and she was here to get her nursing license. The family evacuated to Maxwell Air Force Base, in Alabama, due to one of the family members being a national guard member, so that's how they gained access to the base.
Norman was in charge of all evacuees...housing them...feeding them, and ultimately when it was time for them to go home, Norm was responsible for making sure they all left. And they did. All but one. Siri. We found out that her host family had come to the decision that they didn't know how they were going to survive...just the few of them, as they had lost everything. They lost their home, all their belongings ...everything. So they decided they could no longer care for Siri, and they left her behind at Maxwell.
I will never forget the afternoon that Norman called me. He explained that there was a 19 year old girl who had been abandoned and only had the clothes on her back. Her host family had felt that the hurricane was nothing to be too concerned about, so Siri had left behind all of her documents ...passport, birth certificate, school papers...clothes. Everything. So this meant that this incredible girl had nothing to her name. All Norman knew was that he was being pressured to get all evacuees out so that all base operations could return to normal. I will never know how or why I felt comfortable with the next words that came out of my mouth, but I simply told Norman to bring her home to us. Something happened to me in the span of a few seconds that I can only attribute to God, but within those precious few seconds, she became my daughter. There are so many things I could write about, about how much she taught all of us. But ultimately that's not what this is about. What IS important is that she gave us a bond to Cameroon, and we had no idea at the time just how impactful that bond would be. Here is a photo of our Siri. 🥰❤
So now I get to the point. Siri is our connection to Cameroon; our link to the people. She helped our family understand so many of the hardships the Cameroonian people face on a daily basis just to survive.
So with that in mind, when we moved to Washington D.C., we met Rich Akwo through our realtor group SPG (Saydam Properties Group). Every home purchase and sale, they donate $1,000 out of their profits to Generosity Global, a non-profit 501 (c)(3). If you are
looking for a home in the DMV...please contact https://www.saydamproperties.com/ . We attended a fundraising Ball in September 2018, and we were blown away. Here are a few things that stood out to us that make Generosity:Global stand out...head and shoulders above the rest.
*They are the most transparent organization I have ever seen.
*They send out (I believe) quarterly updates so donors know where every single penny is being spent.
*Saydam Properties Group has covered ALL expenses of the fundraising galas, which means that every penny of the ticket sales to the donations goes directly to Generosity:Global operations. The money goes to drilling wells for clean drinking water in Africa . It goes to building and operating the shower trucks that are specially designed trucks that provide showers, soap and shampoo, haircuts, clothing, and so much more that I promise you...it's not something you can even wrap your head around. When the city of D.C. started taking the tents away from the homeless citizens in the middle of winter, Sheena, Han, and all the team at SPG stepped forward and went out in the bitterly cold weather to deliver blankets. They provide food and clothing at Selfless Saturdays...and this is just what they do locally.
But what I want you to focus on...what I need you to hear is the work they are doing drilling wells for villages made up of thousands of people to bring them clean drinking water.
How many of you have children? Could you fathom them not being able to attend school because they had to walk miles each day to bring home filthy, parasite infected water that could not only make you sick, but kill you?
Now imagine a man comes to your village and says that he is going to drill a well that would provide clean water for your village that will not only allow your children to go to school, but it will eliminate your fears of diseased water and all of the problems that come with drinking dirty water.
The rough cost of drilling each well is approximately $10,000. That amount...$10k can literally be the cost between life and death for thousands of people. And perhaps the most important part isn't just the well itself...but the team spends so much time with the villagers teaching them how to maintain the equipment, and having sessions with the residents of each village on water hygiene. For many of us here we cant grasp the need for such instruction. But Rich's team not only drills the wells, they take the time to teach water hygiene so that they get the maximum impact from that precious clean water...that precious gift that they have been given.
I will close out this long post by asking you if you could find it in your heart to donate to this amazing organization...All you have to do is click this link to help. https://generosityglobal.org/ I can assure that every cent goes to building those wells and to all of their other amazing projects. You decide where you want your donation to go. You aren't paying for an electric bill or a company lunch...you are giving life.
But a goal I have is to raise enough money so that we can pay to have our own well drilled. Some of the wells have plaques on them listing the donor who was responsible for that well. I can think of no greater legacy...not as a way of showing off...but to know that in this lifetime I (we) were able to help improve the quality of life for others. To know that while we were put on this earth, we truly were God's hands and feet. This is the legacy I want to leave behind. As a stay at home mom who homeschools my boys, but also as someone who was so unbelievably "blessed" with two chronic illnesses that doctors have no answers for, and I've dealt with two back surgeries and two concussions and one TBI... What an amazing assortment right? But while I might not be able to move mountains, God can. And through my little home business of skincare I am making it my goal to help people twofold...one, I want to help people locally have healthy skin and overcome a lot of common skin conditions. But two, I want that skincare to turn into people care and make enough money to hand Rich a check that will cover the cost of an entire well. So if and when you consider where and from whom you will purchase your skincare and makeup, please consider using my little business...because though it is small, don't doubt our desire to succeed. We want to help you, and in turn, our partnership will help them. To order please visit my website http://www.senegence.com/staceycannon. I would be so happy to help you find the products that will help you get the results you are looking for.
Please share this post, and please feel free to text me with any questions. Leave me a comment, and I'll text you my number. Below I am sharing some precious pictures of Rich. Please know that if you donate directly to https://generosityglobal.org/ they have the ability to make your donations tax deductible! All that matters is that the wells get drilled. It has just become my own personal mission to fund a well on our own.
And as a side note, for ANYONE interested in attending the Mission Ball next September 26, 2020, I will be writing a separate post about that! So now, please enjoy these photos! I took NONE of them...I am borrowing from Rich, and he and his team members have taken them.
XOXO
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments make my day!!! :)