Stop, Drop, and Donate!

Remember this chick? Who made us laugh our asses off, went to Alaska, ran a marathon, didn't like her time, so ran another one and then kicked its ass? Then, went off to Senegal. C'mon, you remember. The chick who inspired me to write this silly little blog.

And if you don't remember, or you came late to the par-tay, then take the phone off the hook, put your feet up, and go start at the beginning and read 26.2 Miles Vs. Naomi right through to the end, right this minute.

Anyhoo, Ms. Naomi, aka noames, still in Senegal, now a wildly popular and widely published journalist, needs some help.

And when Naomi calls for help, people, I sit up and listen, and you should too!

So I'm happy to get the word out, Noames.

Noames has a friend, Marie-Suzanne, who needs help.

Here is the lovely Marie-Suzanne:



Noames says:

After the umpteenth girl from her village got pregnant (and had a baby daddy drama) she decided something needed to be done. She is organizing a safe sex/anti-AIDS workshop in her village next month, to coincide with a big festival in her village which everyone attends, even if they've moved to the city.

And here is Marie-Suzanne's request in her own words:

My name is Marie-Suzanne Seck. I live in Mont Rolland, a village in the Thies region. I am twenty years old.

I have found that the girls in my village are not very aware of AIDS and early pregnancy. I want to do a workshop for this in August, because all the young people are there for a festival. I am writing to ask for help.

In my village, I know 15-year-old girls who have gotten pregnant. At 15, you have many boyfriends and you do not know which one got you pregnant. If you say to one that it was him, he will say it wasn't me. If you say to another, he'll say it wasn't me. And then you will be obligated to raise the baby on your own. Sometimes the family understands, sometimes they don't.

As for AIDS, I had the idea because we did an anti-AIDS workshop one time in Mont Rolland for that, and I thought to myself that we should organize many to help young people and speak to them about illnesses.

For the activities, I would like, first of all, that the young people discuss together. Afterwards, I want to have two skits, one for AIDS, one for youth pregancy. After that, we will pose questions, and if someone gets it right, we will give them a present (for example, a condom, or a ticket for a dance night that we are organizing that night). We will also have some singers. I have asked a friend to
write two songs: one for AIDS, one for youth pregnancy.

The evening, I want to have a dance party for the young people to encourage them to come. It will be free for everyone who came for the day's activities. If someone else would like to come, they will have to pay 500 CFA (about $1).

I have already reserved the hall and I have started to organize the details. But I don't have enough money to do it all. I have compiled a budget, and in all, the workshop and party will cost about $200. I hope that you could help.

So that's the pitch. And the total amount needed for this shindig??? $200!!! So five bucks a piece! I happen to know that another rockin' blogger (I mean besides me) has posted this appeal and has already raised 2/3 of the amount needed.

And that is unacceptable people, because we must win!!!

So, if you'd like to help...do this:

Just go to your PayPal account, hit "send money," put in Naomi's e-mail address, which is
naomims AT gmail DOT com
type in your amount, click on "For GOODS" as opposed to the other options (otherwise PayPal will take out 12 percent of your donation) and... "badaboom. your good samaritan act for the day is complete!!!"

A.J. says it's easy. So go give it a whirl.

And, since A.J. ended her post this way, that means that I have to too:
If you're dying to know what's up with me, here ya go:
I've been playing with facebook.
My car is still dead and that state of affairs is not working out for me, at all.
My bathroom ceiling finally fell in, but upstairs tenant's landlord might actually pay for part of renovating the whole bathroom.
I have to come up 5K for NOD's last year of school.
I am leading (stop laughing) the slow runners on tomorrow's run.
I'm having brunch with some newlyweds and this rockin' chick tomorrow afternoon, AND
I think I'm going to run this tomorrow night. Maybe. We'll see.