Please read :)

Haha, so straight up, this is a blog asking for money, nice and
blunt hey :) I'm asking because I see the need and have the access to
people that are needy. Many people gave me money before hand, and I've
put much of it to use in my first two months and will continue to use
it positively in my last few weeks here. But if you are interested in
helping, read below. Thank you :)


Sarah is a primary school student who lives with her grandmother,
mother and younger brother. Her father is an unknown figure in her
life, one of four or five rebels who raped both her mother and her
grandmother. Sarah's mother braids hair in the next town, often away
for a few days at a time. I'd like to believe them when they say thats
what she does, but often 'braiding hair' is a euphemism for something
much less innocent. Its common knowledge that many woman and girls
alike sell their bodies to keep up with the financial demands of daily
life.

Mary is a washing lady who cleans my clothes every week. She lives on
camp alone, her husband long gone and her two children living with
their grandmother in Liberia. Though being a refugee is never the best
option, for Mary, staying here on camp and having refugee status gives
her a one up on all the millions, no billions of underpriveleged
people around the world. She is part way through a Ghanaian nursing
course, a much better opportunity than anything she'd be able to do in
Liberia, and is desperately trying to raise funds for her last year.

Mercy is six. Just months ago she was buying her own food and cooking
her own meals. Her mother is a drug addict and abused Mercy, burning
her legs with cigarettes and leaving her to fend for herself. Luckily
Mercy is now fostered by a loving family that live just next door, but
with financial issues of their own, money is not always easy to come
by.

Faith has burns down her arm from an accident as a child. She is
thirteen, loud and friendly and always laughing, but often roaming the
streets with her best friend - Maria, 18 years old and a teen
prostitute. Faith isn't yet involved in prostitution, but with the
company she is keeping, I'm not being cynical when I say its only
time.

My name is Laura. I live in sunny Brisbane mostly, but for the past
two and a bit months, bustling Buduburam has been my home. Each of
these girls are people I see daily, girls that run around our house,
that play hand clap games with us, that invite me over for dinner. I'd
love to say that I adore these girls all of the time, but sometimes I
really don't. Faith is often too overbearing, Mercy can throw amazing
tantrums, Mary is my friend but I feel it could be just for the sake
I've got money, and Sarah's grandmother is not afraid to make the most
of her grandaughter's heritage for her own gain.

And yet, they are all in need in their unique way, as are many many
others. To give them money might help for a day, a week if they spend
wisely, yet in three weeks time when I catch a dreadfully long flight
home, they are still in need. So instead all of us, myself and the
others I live with, have been focussing on giving these girls, and
others, something worthwhile - an education.

School fees range from $10 - $40 for most schools. For Mary to finish
her last year at nursing college is $250. We've all been helping
students as we can, but I realise that I have access to people that
many of you may never meet, but people you'd be willing to help if
only you knew their stories.

So here's the thing, if any one is interested in helping I'm happy to
be your go-between. Drop me a line with the amount you want to give,
remembering that something small at home goes a ridiculously long way
here. Get the amount to my dad, if you'll see him, or pledge it to
give to me when I get home. I'll add it to the money I already have
here to get as many people as possible into some sort of education
program.


Thanks heaps guys,
much love