Let's Do This!!

Made it to LAX (thank you, Dean!), skateboards are on the plane (thank you Turkish Airlines!), I'm sitting at the gate and good to go ... assuming I brought enough snacks: 13 hours to Istanbul, 5.5 hours to Addis Ababa.

Weeeee!

What I'm Doing!

This isn't an African kid, it's a Brazilian kid ...
Raffi is Lincoln Ueda's adorable son who was explaining
something very important to me at X Games in 2010!

Thanks for checkin' out my blog! 

I have the privilege of time and resources (largely from other people's generosity) to be able to spend a month volunteering in Ethiopia!

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In this green sidebar you'll find Background 411 if you're interested in the What, Where, and Why of what I'm doing.

You can also follow my blog via email by simply adding your email address (mother ... do this ...) so you don't have to keep coming back to this page.

Briefly:
I'm spending the month of May in Ethiopia where I'll be helping at the Mercy Ministry Happy Children Home in Addis Ababa. I'll be teaching street children English and math; organizing learning and recreational activities; and tutoring. For most of the children, whose home is the street, this is the only formal education they'll receive.


Twice a week, I'll help at Mercy Ministry's feeding center providing a meal for the homeless.


Weekends are free, so I'm in touch with Jon Burns from the Ethiopian Skateboarding Park Project (ESPP) to see if I can be of help to them. 


When I leave Ethiopia on May 31, I head to Nairobi for a week. There I'll help Leo Kilel from the Skateboard Society of Kenya. He's trying to schedule an event while I'm there the first weekend in June.


Thanks to Tim Ward and Skate After School!) and Neal Hendrix for donating skateboards! And GoPro has donated a camera to to each skateboard organization!


After a brief stop in Istanbul (because Neal Hendrix said I have to and Turkish Airlines said, "Okay, no charge"), I'll be home June 10! 


Hopefully I'll have access to Internet while I'm there and can keep you updated on my experiences!