Some Stuff to Bring

Hey crew,

Some of you have asked me what people can donate to you so that you in turn can bring those gifts to Fiji and give to others.

There will be plenty of opportunities to pass along stationary and the like when we visit schools and orphanages.  So here are some ideas ...

Here are some coloured pencils, 24 in total.  The cool thing about this little tin is that it has a built-in sharpener in the lid.  This means that once the pencils get blunt, kids can keep using them.  Things like sharpeners can be a bit of a luxury in Fiji.

Some crayons ... awesome.  And what's more awesome is that they're pretty heavy-duty - they are not easy to break as they have a hard plastic cover and when the crayon gets 'blunt' all you need to do is wind the bottom and more crayon comes up.

Hey, look at this!  Just like the crayons, but pencils!  Super cool.

Often the school essentials can be hard to purchase for kids in Fiji because they don't have enough money.  I picked up these exercise books from Kmart and I'm sure we'll all have opportunities in the schools we go into, to share them around with the students.

Some coloured paper or even a doodle pad is helpful when it comes to crafts and activities.  I would suggest that you get planning early (aka now!) in thinking about some good ideas for crafts.  I have a couple of jigsaws and Bible bookmarks that one of the graduates's from last year made up for us to use.  However there will be plenty more opportunities to use more than that, so I encourage you to get those creative juices flowing before we leave.  As you think about ministry in schools or Sunday Schools, giving the kids something to take home that links with the studies is awesome.

Pens - always handy.  Always a blessing to a family or school kids.

Here are some lead pencils that don't need sharpening - they are push pencils, so will stay sharp longer with no need for a sharpener.  Comes with a erazer as well!

These of course are just ideas.  I spent about five minutes in Kmart gathering all these bits and pieces together and so I'm sure there are other things that would be useful that I just didn't pick up.

We'll do some grocery shopping for the orphanages we visit.  It has been our experience in the past that while they have plenty of toys to play with, the essentials (like milk powder, food stuffs and nappies) are often in very, very short supply.  Of course, these are difficult to purchase in Australia and take with us, so we will be purchasing them while in Fiji.  If you have people willing to donate some money towards this, then please let me know.

And lastly, Bibles, Bible tracts and the like are always great to have.  Keep a couple of 'Essential Jesus's in your day pack - nice and handy to give out.  A nice Bible (NIV or CEV) would also be a great idea as a gift to your homestay family.

Who has other ideas about what we could bring?

And out ...