Thank Goodness - not a Criminal

Finally! I broke down Monday and called the Police Dept. to see if there was some hold-up with my criminal records check. Why hadn't they called yet? "Your suppose to call us, like your doing now", I was told. Well Duh on me! Went down in the evening and picked it up, the officer saying, "well, your not a criminal, so I don't have to arrest you"; thank goodness for that! I immediately scanned and sent off the forms to World Vision, for the sponsor children visits and yesterday was told they have been 'approved' at Head Office. Not sure if I still have to await approval from overseas. And still not sure about filling in the visa application for Zambia, you have to list everywhere you'll be, (ok, have that ready) have letters from everyone welcoming you etc. (have letter from Happy Africa for the first 2 weeks, do I need one from Kalomo?) copies of your flight info, and you are only allowed a 30 day visa (what will they think when they see I'm staying 5 weeks). So, do I ask for a tourist visa, as that's what I will be, for the first week, or a business (which is what you need to volunteer), do I get a single entry or a dual entry, in case I step out of the country for a day, which I see I may need to do to extend the visa for my second project....arghhhhh! Just not sure about any of it, and I don't want to have it denied or sent back for more info, as you have to send it FedEx with a return FedEx envelope which gets expensive, not to mention the cost of the visa itself.  Well, still months left to worry about it and hope to figure it out.
I also went to my doctors on Thursday, last week and got her John Henry on the medical forms for the African Impact  projects and emailed that off, so I do believe all the paper work is done as far as the projects are concerned. Whew, a relief to get that all taken care of. Only need to make the final payment and
it's finished. Will our dollar ever go back up, so I can actually, sort of, save some money on that payment? Gets pretty daft when everyone wants to charge an extra 4%  for using Visa/Mastercard, 2.4% for PayPal AND then having to pay exchange rates.

Friday evening my sweet great niece came over and 'sponsored' a doll, using her allowance!  What a great kid! Plus she has asked me to try and find her a pen-pal while I there. Amazing, in this day and age of electronic messaging, that a young one would actually want to sit down and write. I'm floored and very proud of her.
I'm still searching for somewhere, somehow, to procure medical supplies for the projects. The things I'd like to find are used Stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and (new of course) thermometers. The nurse at my doctors office said she would collect the samples of aspirins and such for me to take, and my niece Des dropped of a box of sample stuff today from her office. It's a start. I finally found a couple of sites, on the Internet, one in Canada, but they want a $500.00 'donation' and a couple in the USA which only want $150.00 (but extra shipping, and what about customs, hmmm not sure on that), which include the above, as well as dressings and gloves etc.  That would be nice, as they are packed and ready to go, within the luggage weights allowed. Will keep working on that, but will need extra cash from somewhere, I can tell.

I finished 5 crib size blankets from more scrap material, which I'm sure will be appreciated. Now I'm thinking that if I take medical supplies, along with the dolls and balls, I may not have room for the blankets. One of the ladies who was on the Zambia trip with me, has a volunteer appointment with a hospital in Malawi, that she has signed up for, where she says the Ped. Ward can have up to 150 children. Kathy may get a big surprise soon and get the blankets along with a bunch of dolls I told her I would make for her! I really don't mind if they don't go with me, as long as a child gets to feel loved and cuddled.

So, that's all the updates for now. Keep watching for more news as it happens.