Fundraiser Saturday March 14th 2009 - Successful? - You Betcha!!

A big thank you to all of our friends and clients who made a special effort to share part of their day with Dedan, Chris and myself at our fundraiser on Saturday. We really appreciated your support and can not thank you enough for your donations and kind generosity. To date we have raised $11,000 and so we are well on our way to reaching our goal of $15,000 which translates to a cycling AND a walking leg!!! Dedan had a great time and loved meeting you all and was very excited to have delivered his 'first English speech' with flying colors.

Dedan's first English Speech:

"I am Dedan from Nairobi, Kenya. This is my first time in the United States. I only speak a little bit of english but I would like to thank you all very much for coming today. I am very grateful for all the money you have donated and the support you have given me. It is my dream to one day win a medal at Paralympics. With your help I believe this is possible. I promise to make you all very proud of me. Thank you".



Now..put yourself in Dedan's place. Let me drop you in Nairobi, Kenya and in two weeks I would like you to say a speech in perfect Swahilli. Hmmm quite a feat don't you think! He did really well!


Dedan with Phil & Marlene Kerbis, Elizabeth Minter, Patricia Burkhart and Wes Boyce:








I'm sure you will all agree the DVD of Robert Blunt speaking Swahilli and translating into English and welcoming Dedan was unbelievable. Robert is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago and a fluent speaker of Swahilli. He was the person in Dedan's bio (www.dedanireiri.com) who bought Dedan a Fuji cyclocross bike and suggested to him that he become a bike messenger in Nairobi. I knew that Robert wanted to be at the fundraiser but could not attend so I called him and suggested we surprise Dedan by having a DVD of Robert speaking to Dedan. With the help of my friend and fellow Chek Practitioner Mark Stone he took up the cause and went to Robert's office and interviewed him and then did what Mark does best and formatted it so that all we had to do was put it in the DVD player. Hey presto! One surprised Dedan. The look on Dedan's face was priceless especially when Robert started speaking immediately in Swahilli.

Dedan watching Robert's Swahilli Welcome:

For those of you who were unable to be with us Mark is working on a compact version so we can get it out to those who would like to see it...it really is astounding and yes Robert..you rock!!!.


Dedan also showed everybody his cycling skills on his 'brand new, one day old, Specialized Roubaix, speed machine!' You can see that he was definitely 'wearing his bike'. It is one cool carbon fiber bike and is it obvious that the boy on the bike doesn't look half bad either? You can tell by the photo that he is certainly lovin' that bike and having way too much fun!! Plus the Tour d'Afrique jersey looks great too. For the TDA'ers out there...Quizz time.. What year jersey is Dedan wearing?





















The food was good...a combo of home grown and a little bit of local catering from Andrea and the boys from Seaside Market. Mucho gracias....very tasty! You can see we had an African theme going with the table cloth (purchased from the Sunday market in Cape Town the day after we arrived with TDA 2007), Serengetti plates and serviettes in the foreground and OK let's make an exception for the Japanese sushi but you can see where we were going!




Hakuna Matata - No worries T-Shirt from Kenya. Dedan with Randy Olmstead:


Dedan,Tim Murray and Ingrid Saffert:


Dedan and Angie Yang:


Robert Yang with his boys:


Dedan with Michael Shelly and Tyeara Camacho:


Dedan with Penny Crozier:


Dedan with Kim Koch and Ingrid Saffert:


Dedan with Kevin Koch:


Dedan with Pam Higgins:
The company was great, everybody enjoyed meeting Dedan but best of all we are almost there with our target goal of $15,000. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping us make this happen.Virtual hugz are being sent to you all as a token of our appreciation. To those of you who were with us (physically on the day), you're lucky as you got your hug in person. To all others who have contributed to the fund but were unable to attend...I owe you...a big, kick ass, hearty bear hug!!
Oh! la! la! Can't wait to pay that debt off.
OK I'm outta here.
Rest day tomorrow.
Cheers
Janet