Saturday, September 1, 2018

La Maison Blanche: A Final Look After 21 Months and $62,000


And here you have it--the final (anticipated) post on this blog.  Nearly two years in fundraising and construction and even longer in planning, our work (me, Madlen, Dean, Papa Bila and his construction staff, and the close to 200 of you reading this who have contributed amounts large and small) have done it.  We've taken a dilapidated two bedroom/one (functioning) toilet stall house for 75 abandoned kids in the DR Congo and turned it into a light, airy, sanitary, more comfortable and spacious four bedroom/eight (functioning, dammit!) toilet stall home.

I had grand plans of spending hours splicing together old video clips of the "before" and Dean's project-end footage. But ya know--if you're reading this, you know what it looked like before and have read the accounts of the day-to-day difficulties and discomforts these kids have faced.

Life is still hard for them (well, and for all of us, at some level).  But your generosity and trust have provided greater comfort and safety, helped sustain dozens of families in a part of the world where employment is difficult to come by, sent a message of care and human decency around the world, and--I hope--provided you the joy of knowing that you were part of helping some young people in need.

Thank you to everyone. The proverbial drop in the bucket and all.,.but we've made a significant difference here, one more stark than even Dean's concise and loving video can capture.

Give yourself a slap of five.  And remember:

1. "Never for money; always for love."
2. And fuck fascism.