The long-awaited banners with pictures drawn by the children of The Good Samaritan Home are available for the world to see at the Clearwater , Florida Downtown Library.

The children of the Good Samaritan Home created drawings that were five inches square.  The topic was "Who Am I?"  Drawings included animals, sports, grandmothers, and neighbors.  These pictures were put into banners by Sarah Butz.  The Surface Design Guild of Tampa Bay provided financial support for this project.

Sarah's class at the Boys and Girls Club in St. Petersburg, Florida also made banners that are in the shown.  These banners were inspired by seeing a video about life at the home. 

Laura Salazar's silk painting remembering the riots in the Rift Valley of Kenya is on exhibit at the Dunedin, FL Fine Arts Center.

Handmade items from Fabulous African Fabrics are now available to buy on line at the following address:  htt/://mymagicgarden.etsy.com 

ETSY is a website devoted to buying and selling all things handmade. 

My Magic Garden is devoted to items by Laura Salazar.  If this shop proves to be helpful in raising money for FAF, other FAF artists will join an ETSY team to sell a wider variety of items.  Not all items are pictured today, but that will be corrected by May 1.

<a href="http://etsy.com"><img src="http://team.etsy.com/images/downloads/buttons/findme.jpg"></a>

Find MyMagicGarden on Etsy for FAF items for sale. 

THE CLOTH AND THE MUD, NUMBER 33

SPRING, 2008

NEWS FROM FABULOUS AFRICAN FABRICS

a 501 c 3 organization

616-735-4109 and 727-946-5322

Our Mission: to support agencies working with AIDS widows and orphans in Africa and to educate others about the AIDS crisis in Africa

IMPORTANT DATES--APRIL 11, SPRING PARTY IN FLORIDA,

--MAY 4-10 SCHULER BOOKS AND MUSIC DAYS

--MAY 18, ANNUAL MEETING--DETAILS BELOW

In charity there is no excess. Francis Bacon

NEWS FROM AFRICA

Today I received this message from Charles Kaduwa, Program Officer of Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya in answer to my e-mail of last week. Here are excerpts. The support of FAF [$1000], that enabled us to purchase foodstuffs and other sanitary towels for women and young girls is just part of a big pool that we were able to attract. In total we have reached over 4500 women and children with relief foods, blankets, clothing and sanitary towels. In the course of these developments. . . attention has shifted from mere relief supply to recovery. With the peace deal that was signed by our Political leaders, alot has changed in terms of tranquility. We have now realized that our clients require recovery support. . . We have in mind almost 200 women whose small businesses, their only source of livlihoods collapsed. . . These clients now urgently require support to reestablish their small businesses or to till their farms and plant new crops as this is the planting season in Kenya. You mention that you have some funds that would support this course? This is extremely good news. We are able to support at least 100 women to restart their businesses or improve their farm yields by purchasing fertilizers and branded seeds.

On January 22 we received this message from Mercy Thuo of the Good Samaritan Home. In Kenya we have been hit by serious riots, chaos. There is lots of turbulences and tension all around. By Gods grace we have not been affected directly but many Mothers and children are popping in our center for help. Nevertheless we trust that we are going to recover soon. Pray for us and for our country.

The Kenyan Parliament passed laws changing its method of governance, making power shared between the party of President Mwai Kilbaki and his election opponent's, Raila Odinga. To date this compromise seems to be working, although Kofe Annan said, "The journey is far from over. . . Let the spirit of healing begin today. Let it begin now."

ROTARY GRANT APPROVED

Thirteen thousand, eight hundred dollars has been awarded to the Good Samaritan Hom in Nairobi, Kenya. The $6900 was raised by the North Dunedin, FL Rotary along with other clubs in their district. This amount was matched by Rotary International, headquartered in Evanston, IL. With the cooperation of a Nairobi, Kenya club, the Good Samaritan Home will receive $14,000. The funds are earmarked for high school tuition. Public high schools in Kenya require tuition of about $300 per year at a basic school. The orphans of the Good Samaritan Home recieve their elementary education on site. Through hard work and excellent teachers, many children score well enough on their exiting tests to enter high school. Every year it is a scramble to find enougth tuition money to pay for all of the deserving teenagers. Any additional monies will go to food expenses for the orphanage. FAF Executive Director, Laura Salazar, is a member of the Dunedin North Rotary.

That club dipped into their pockets again this February and donated $227.00 for aid to Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya so they could provide displaced clients food and supplies during the riot.

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The December 2007 Rotarian notes that a five-year study of people over age 55 showed that those involved in two or more organizations were 44% less apt to die than those who didn't volunteer. The only other activity more strongly correlated with lower mortality during that five-year period was smoking cessation. (p.64)