02/21/10

This past week has been fairly uneventful. We did have our refugee program on Monday and Thursday which were the last two times that we will be giving out food. We are going to change the aide program in an effort to serve the refugees in a way that will help them in the long run. We will be meeting about this tonight so I do not have all the details yet.

As for the past four weeks, we have given away 9,100 lbs of rice, 2,300 lbs of beans, 1,700 bars of soap, 240 cans of milk, and approximately $10,000 US in small bills. When money was given out, it was given in the amount of $5 for a family of two. The intent was not to just hand out money without a cause as that in itself does not create long term stability. The small amount of money was given to aid in the purchase of simple necessities, such as clean water and charcoal to cook the rice and beans that we gave out. It could also be used to purchase personal necessities such as a tooth brush, tooth paste, deodorant, etc. We tried to keep the amounts low as to not cause temptation of wasteful spending.

Other than the refugee program, I didn't have anything going on out of the ordinary. I did see that American Airlines is flying again. Their first flight was last Friday, the 19th of Feb. This is very good news for us as it means our groups can start coming in again. We haven't had a group here since we returned after Christmas break so it will be great to have visitors again! It's also a great sign to have flights again as it's a step toward getting back to normal and it promises a little more progress!