ZimKids update from Dennis

Lots of stuff happening with Zimkids:

I am happy to say Zibusiso Ngwenya, a Zimkid, who was paralyzed and lost his voice last summer, is now walking and his voice suddenly came back three days ago! We still aren’t sure what he had.

Thanks to my good friend Ric Keeley we have a web cam and now that we got broadband we have video scyped schools in New York, Florida and New Jersey. At one session one of my kids asked another kid in New York about their favorite food. He said ‘sushi’! An American kid asked if they all spoke African! So it’s been lots of fun for both sets of kids.

Took our first batch of 19 kids to get HIV tests. Three were positive so now getting them staged which is a tad difficult as the CD4 machine isn't working. But we try!

We’ve been expanding horizontally, that is, we are not, as yet, adding to our numbers but increasing the depth of out coverage to those we already assist. To move our Council of Elders, our 16 to 18 year olds who run their activities for the younger children, toward a greater sense of responsibility, we have paired them with even needier people. We took a trip to Bulawayo landfill where 200 squatters live. They are conducting interviews of the people there and we provide some food assistance. We are providing them with exposure to many aspects of life here in the city touring Arts schools, trade schools and the universities and colleges and even the local prison, police headquarters, etc.. And we are helping them to plan their futures by saving their doll money for future educational use.

The last week of January we lost two mothers to HIV related illness. Now we have five families headed by 18 – 19 year olds. Since the well being of those who look after the orphans in our group is essential to the children’s stability, we reach out to them with our CARING FOR THOSE WHO DO THE CARING project. Sometimes a very simple thing opens the door to earning money. One grandmother needed nothing but a pair of glasses to begin earning money once more by sewing. A father lacked only a bobbin holder for his sewing machine in order to bring an income into his household; another needs vegetable seeds or a dozen chicks. We are building a project page on our website for this so you will see the caregivers, a brief biography and what they need to succeed.

FOR THE DIGNITY OF OUR GIRLS was establish because our older girls were entering into womanhood without access to bras or sanitary napkins. Rather, they leave home with their breasts bound tightly in cloth or not at all, and they are forced to use and re-use old rags during menstruation. We are currently raising funds to buy bras and sanitary napkins to help them feel more comfortable with their own bodies.

It seems that every two weeks I hear from another school or church that has heard about Zimkids and wants to help or just get involved. It’s been amazing.

In the meantime my wife Elli is heading to LA for the Oscars as her documentary got nominated in the short documentary category!

Sincere thanks for all you have done for us.

Carpe Diem.

Bio 1 (Round 1)

For now, no more chemo. By the way, I have been on quite a few different chemos for almost the past 2 years so as you can see I'm ecstatic to be off the chemos for now. Ye ha Ole.

Things went quite smoothly again today. Once more, vitals were good, blood work was good, weight was stable and all I had, infusion wise, was the Avastin. I'm going to keep a journal, for the next short while, to see if there is noted improvement in how I feel. I hope so.

Just a short bit about Avastin. It's a cancer medicine that interferes with the growth of cancer cells by blocking the formation and growth of new blood vessels in the tumor which slows their growth. Not a chemo but a biological (whatever the hell that means).

Carpe Diem.

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If you get the following error message when you click on a one of my videos, it's a Blogger web site problem. I hope they get it fixed soon because it's a pain in the ar&$.

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Carpe Diem.