As most of you are aware, Grace and I are going to South Africa this winter. We are leaving January 26th and returning March 17th. For Grace, this trip is a long waited visit home. For me, it will be my first trip overseas. I am looking forward to seeing where Grace grew up and experiencing a country and culture I've only read about. We hope that this will be the first of many adventures for us.
Our trip will be a 50/50 combination of vacation and aid work. We hope to work with several churches and organizations in SA but our main focus will be a 2 week stay at Lily of the Valley (LoV) in KwaZulu-Natal.
LoV is an organization that consists of two orphanages, a school and a community medical center. The medical center serves several surrounding communities. The kids at the LoV orphanages range in age from infants to teens. They are orphans not because of anything they did, but because they were born to parent(s) with AIDS. Many are not only affected by AIDS but infected with AIDS. People have told us that in spite of the reality of living with AIDS, the kids are filled with joy, love and compassion.
There are a large number of opportunities for Grace and me to help. They need volunteers in virtually every aspect of their day to day work and we are excited to serve wherever we can. We don't expect to make a huge impact but if we can make someone's day a little easier we'll be satisfied.
Many of you have asked how you can participate in our trip. We will be posting photos and blogging on a weekly basis (assuming sufficient internet access). The url is claytoncapers.blogspot.com. So we hope you will bookmark this site and 'tag along' with us virtually.
In addition, we are hoping to raise some funds towards this endeavor. We'd like to be able to give a $400 gift to LoV over and above a $600 contribution towards our living costs at LoV (total of $1,000). If you would like to contribute towards this please make checks out to Lily of The Valley Endeavor and mail to Mark Clayton, 21 Goodwins Ct #1, Marblehead, MA 01945 before Jan 22th. Checks received after the 24th will be deposited when we get back.
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We thank you for your continued interest and support in our trip,
Mark & Grace
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