Goodbye Nanny. 안녕히가세요. Au Revoir. Kwaheri.

Sadly, on April 29th of this year, my great-grandmother (more casually known as Nanny) passed away in her sleep at the age of 99. Nanny played a big role in my life, including watching me after school for years when my parents could not make it home in time. I owe a lot to her and her memory as most of what I've accomplished in my life would not be possible without her support (both financial and emotional) for me and the rest of my family. Being half a world away was tough, but I was able to catch a plane back to Canada for her funeral.

I received several donations in her name. I would like to take the time to thank the following people:

• Bunny & Paul Zaza
• Liz and Graham Lightfoot
• Sarah Chisholm
• Carol Chisholm
• Judy Morely
• Joan & Enzo Deluca
• Joe, Sandra, Chris & Dan Lovranski
• Marshall & Jean Davidson
• Peggy Martin
• Thelma Oddi
• Yolandi Ricci
• Barb Martin
• Rita Molinaro

I hope that I have not missed anyone. Thank you all for your kind donations. And I would like to say one last thank you to Nanny. She lived a long life and helped many people along the way. For this I am extremely grateful that I got the time that I did.

SWAK

Ladies Night in Africa #1

On May 1st, my Mom hosted the first of two Ladies Nights at her house. Since I am away teaching in Korea, I was unable to attend, so my mother wrote a short writeup of the evening:

The May 1st dinner had 13 guests attend and many dressed in African dress...Everyone seemed to have a good time...we had raffles, door prizes, listened to African music and enjoyed a dinner of African food..  Everyone was given Madagascar vanilla truffles to take home along with a special tulip shaped cookie and thank you note for supporting Michael.
All in all it was a successful evening (despite the events of a few days prior - the next post will explain all) and I raised quite a bit of money from several of my mother's friends. These are the people who attended and/or donated money (in no particular order):

• Florence Demacio
• Helen Rigby
  
• Barb Drake Land
• Josie Knill
• Barb Martin
• Debbie Polkinghorn
• Karen & Michael Bromilow
• Susan Gillies
• Roberta Wood
• Debbie Skerrett
• Barb Beamish
• Carol Ann Thompson
• Peggy Martin
• Colleen Meyer
• Margaret Lewandowski
• Anna Marie Southon
• Bob & Betty Hambrook
• Mary Jazvac

I'd also like to take the time to thank the people who volunteered their time to make this event (and the 2nd dinner) possible:

• Judy Morley
• Heather Davidson
• Sarah Chisholm
• Florence Demacio
• Lorri Poutney
• Lauren Smyth
• Debbie Bulir
• Helen Rigby
• John Davidson
  

Last but not least, I'd like to thank the people who donated door prizes for both of the dinners:

• Debbie Polkinghorne
• Cindy Olynyk
• Caroline Bonner
• Everton Blair (owner of Blair Elements)
• Janet Gefre

One final thank you I need to give is to my mother, Sharon Davidson, who spent more time than I probably know getting things organized and inviting everyone she could think of. The amount of money that her efforts have brought in have already far exceeded the amount I thought I could raise.

I find it really incredible the number of people who have been supportive of my volunteering in Tanzania (and this is only a small part of the people who I will be thanking in posts in the coming days - I have at least two more long lists). It makes me feel that this is more of a community effort than an individual one. So a big thank you to everyone who was involved

In closing, here are a few pictures of the evening:

Je n'ai pas oublié. I haven't forgotten.

I realized it's closing in on two months without an update. Much has happened in that time (in life and in fundraising), and many things have been put on hold for at least a short while. That, however, is no excuse. There is much information to update and I am hoping to be able to do so in the next little bit (and hopefully I will also be given some pictures of a couple of fundraising events that have occured recently).

I will also try to give some updates from my time in Korea and in Seoul. Since the theme is me working around the world, I figure there may be some relevant things that have happened here.

Anyway, I apologize for the delay (미안합니다) and I look forward to continuing to write in this space.

If you want to see some updates, you can check out Michael Without Borders to see an updated list of donors (it has gotten quite long recently) as well as an update of how much money I have raised (more than $2700).

Until next time (which should be soon).