Students knit dolls for children in Kenya

This past week I was priviledged to visit Helen Gobby's grade 5/6 class at King George Public School. She has 28 students and thought it would be a great idea to teach her students to knit. She had heard about the comfort dolls that people in North Bay were knitting for our team to take to Kenya and hand out to the children and thought this would be a great idea for her class. She enlisted the help of several women knitters in North Bay who came into her class to help teach the children.

Each student knit a doll, wrote a letter to the student who will receive the doll and included a picture of themselves with their letter. They worked hard on their project and were very proud and excited with their achievment when they presented them to me to take over in September.

What a great idea since children in Kenya rarely have toys. I am anxious to give these out to the students in Kenya to see the look of joy on their faces. Thanks to all these students and their teacher for thinking of children on the other side of the world who have so little..

In a little more than two months I will be leaving once again for Kenya. This year's team is smaller than usual but there are three fantastic people going with me. Steve and Ada Dreany and Kathy Hallett, all from North Bay. We have a lot planned for this trip and I am hoping that everything will be accomplished.

I am always excited in the lead up to the trip each year: collecting what we are taking over, purchasing school supplies, deciding what projects we have funds for and making sure that all our paperwork is in order. It is a busy time but full of anticipation.

I will begin blogging on a more regular basis to let everyone know about our upcoming trip.

I have done a lot of speaking this year about Kenya, but mainly to church groups. Tomorrow I will speak to a grade 5/6 class in North Bay and in the evening to the Trefoil Guild. A week or so ago I drove to Parham and spoke at a small school of only 115 children. They were so excited to hear about the kids in Kenya and they have been busy raising funds all year. They are anxious for the strike to be over so they can send me their cheque. Their teacher Debbie Jones is one amazing woman and used the fundraising as part of her teaching.

We are so lucky to live in a great country like Canada and have so much.