Help With I-KODI

R has been very active with a non-profit that is building infrastructure and providing food and medicine to a village in Africa. The organization is I-KODI and the reason we (mainly R) got so involved is that the man behind it all, DO, is actually from this village. His story is a good one. He came from a dirt poor village, worked hard and got an education, then came to the States to get his Ph.D. and now wants to give back to where he came from. It’s genuine grassroots philanthropy at its truest. How can we not help?

R works very hard for I-KODI, on top of all her professional and familial duties, and we help out when we can. R and MD are constantly holding fundraisers and selling food to make money, because when you’re that poor, every dollar counts. This past weekend was no different. MD had arranged to sell food at the Lyme Flea Market. Apparently the town does this regularly by allowing people to set up a table and sell whatever they want to sell.

MD decided to cook up a feast and sell breakfast and lunch, using the money to give to I-KODI. They open first thing in the AM in Lyme, which is about 45 minutes away. This meant that someone was going to have to get there around 6:30 to help set up, which meant waking up at 5:00AM. Of course that meant me, but what else is new? I was willing to help, and since I’m the early riser in this family, it was my job to show up early.

The plan was for me to go to Lyme in the early AM, help set up and get things going, and then at some point R would show up with the kids. They could have some breakfast, browse the flea market, have some lunch, and then we were free for the day as R would take over. It worked out fine, though the market was not that bustling. We lucked out on the weather, it was beautiful, but the sales were a little disappointing. It was sort of nice being at a market without having a huge vested interest like we have at the big city market. More relaxing.

Anyways, it was fine, the food was amazing, even if sales were just okay, but MD managed to save the food and have a lunch the next day, so all was well. I’m not sure if DO truly grasps all that they do for I-KODI, but R and MD (especially MD) work amazingly hard.

Afterward, we all headed home and got some stuff done around the house, and R came home with supper and lots of sweets, which we were happy to devour, though being the complainer that I am, I have to say, the portions were a bit small, especially for someone who spent 5 hours working like a dog.

Oh well, you just can’t please some people. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Daniel for the pic.