August 2010 Distribution Items

What a fun and busy month this will be!! Yesterday was the first day back to school for the students, and now, we will have August distribution tomorrow!! The Zambia team has been in the shops purchasing everything they will need. Above are some of the items they have purchased (thanks to the sponsors!!)

Then, a week later we will have medical exams for those who choose to get them done for their children. It is only $10 for a full exam! Payment must be received by September 10, 2010 in order for the child to be included in this special event. The parents will sign a release giving permission for the sponsor to know the medical conditions of their children. At that point, the sponsor may choose to help the children get treatment they may need if any.

The last thing for the month will be September distribution!! The children whose sponsorship started in August and those that started in June will be at the end of September distribution. Sponsorship payment must be received by September 20, 2010 in order to get the distribution items purchased in time for the children to receive them the following week.

So, are you exited about tomorrow?! I know the kids are!!! I will be posting pictures as soon as I have them.

June Distribution 2010-Part 5

Little Dorice, above, is wearing the uniform with the white collar. It is these type uniforms that are currently out of stock. Because the uniforms are out of stock, they will not be available until some time Tuesday. Once the staff is able to pick them up, they will have distribution on Wednesday.

By the way, we have an additional 5 children whose sponsorship is pending, which means that the sponsor will be sending money for them shortly. Since I know that these sponsors are completely reliable and will be sending in the sponsorship fees within the next few days, I have chosen my 8th child-Dorice!! I do not have her bio information yet, but she is in the 1st grade.

We now have a total of 65 children sponsored!! Ya'll rock!!! Thanks for helping these needy children! We are going to change their world!

First Care Package to Zambia- Arrival

The first care package has arrived in Zambia!! While it seems like it took forever to get there, it took just a little over 1 month. These items will be distributed to the children in the June distribution!!! One small note, please make sure to mark your package as a gift with $0 value! Zambia will collect taxes if you do not do this. I marked the box with a $1 value because I thought I have to put something. The Zambia team was charged 6,500 Kwacha to pick up the package (US$1.27). Just something to make a mental note of.

3rd Care Package to Zambia!

At last! Here is the photo of the box containing the items that were separated between Care Package #2 and Care Package #3. This package weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds 6 ounces!! The total cost to ship it was $82.50.

Chim has confirmed that the packages take a long time to arrive. As of Friday, Care Package #1 has still not yet arrived. With that in mind, I am afraid that more than likely, it will just be the uniforms that are distributed this month. Hopefully all of the boxes will arrive by July or August distribution. I will keep every one posted.

On that same note, many of you have asked me when the children will be getting their uniforms this month. May's sponsorship payments are not enough to purchase the uniforms, that is why it was determined that they would not be distributed until after the June payments are received. Once you all made your first donation in May, the child had immediate access to health care that was covered by May's donation. The remainder of May's donation is going to be put with June's donation to purchase their uniforms. The faster everyone pays their June sponsorship payment, the sooner the kids will get their uniforms. So far, I have payment for 10 children. That leaves 20 children that we are waiting for sponsorship payments for. I will let every one know once all of the payments are received.

Meet Manyando Kaumba

This is the person on the Zambian team responsible for taking care of the money. He is the one who goes to the bank to pick up your sponsorship payments and get them to the children's accounts. Here are his responsibilities:

Accountant
 Preparing and presenting financial reports and guide programme team in formulation of the CHILDHOPE budgets
 Processing all requests for payment;
 Programme financial data management and production of accurate, timely complete and reliable periodical financial reports for programme decision making.
 Verifying and managing all incoming invoices and review the classification of all vouchers/ receipts.
 Monitoring accounts payable/ receivables and give monthly feed back to the Co-ordinator/CEO.
 Providing input for all kind of contracts, their fulfillments and initiate payments.
 Preparing project monthly and annual budgets, as well as tracking variances for payments.
 Any other duties as may be assigned by the co-ordinator/CEO