However, the amazing thing is, when I met the girls three and half years ago, some of them didn’t even know their birthday, let alone celebrate them. That has all changed now. The new Saint Monica’s celebrates the girls birthdays every month with a grand monthly celebration. It’s a wonderful addition to the home and the girls feel special. And really, that’s what this is all about.

I thought I would share some of the photos that were sent over to us last month. Click on the pictures to see the larger versions. I hope you enjoy!

A Is For Aids, is the title of a primary reader. It’s part of the New Progressive Primary English (NPPE) course in Kenya. It’s targeted at elementary school children. It is self-described as a “reading scheme that offers the modern pupil an excellent mix of graded stories all packed with many exciting things. Now the pupil has fun that’s built to last.”

I took screen shots of a few of the pages. The page to the right reads, “O is for orphans. Mother went first. Father followed fast. AIDS is not a curse, we’ll win at last.” I am wholly unfamiliar with what being a child in extreme poverty in Kenya, especially an orphaned child, must be like. But I’m going to come back to this post any time I’m having doubts about the veracity of what MFFO is doing.

We’re helping orphaned girls become powerful women. Educating girls is a key to breaking the cycle of poverty and preventing the spread of AIDS.

The “create your own” link caught my eye and the first thought that popped into my head was, “we already have one.” The story of how Mothers Fighting For Others came to be is a real life Google Search Story. Rocky tells it in her Founder’s Letter. It begins, “I would have never guessed that Mothers Fighting For Others would have started by a simple Google Search on “Volunteer Africa” in 2006. I was just doing research, that’s it. Less than a year, and many, many shots later, I was to far off Kenya. I volunteered with Global Volunteer Network and was assigned with an all girls orphanage outside of Nairobi.”

At this very moment she is once again in Kenya and the girls at Saint Monica’s Childrens Home are now in a new place. It’s been an amazing journey. To cap it off, she returns from this trip on Mother’s Day. It just doesn’t get any better. So, I just had to put together this Google Search Story.

It makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile too.

I was on Skype with Rocky when she told me that the girls had no concept of what a slumber party was. That’s certainly no surprise. It’s a cultural thing. So when I saw this first tweet, I was prepared.

[tweeted]http://twitter.com/headmutha/status/12958923946[/tweeted]

Rocky uses the same tactic when our family stays somewhere that can’t really fit our six kids properly. Beds on the floor = a slumber party. In this case, the beds in the new home are not put together yet and this is their first night in the new home. Then the next tweet came a short while later:

[tweeted]http://twitter.com/headmutha/status/12959535813[/tweeted]

To be sure, knowing every detail of the trials encountered to get to this point, and even from this great distance, witnessing what has transpired is indeed a miracle. I can hear the joy in her written words and I can tell she is in her happy place. And I still kept it together. But the next tweet sent me over the edge and I couldn’t hold back the tears of joy.

[tweeted]http://twitter.com/headmutha/status/12960397589[/tweeted]

The new home is indeed beautiful, but what makes it special is that it will be a home, not an orphanage run inside an old motel. There will be laughter and love and respect. And there will be discipline and struggles and tears, all handled with respect and love. They way they are supposed to be handled. If we are to help orphaned girls become powerful women, we must give them more than just a formal education. We must strive to provide for them a living example of what is possible in the homes they will create for themselves and their children.

This is day one of their journey. I’m looking forward to taking it with them.

This is why we’re taking action in Kenya by creating a new home for 34 girls. We believe that part of the education process is teaching girls that they DESERVE to be treated with respect. Combine an education with a healthy sense of self-worth, and you’ve powerfully changed a life. And changing the life of a girl is important. Here are some facts provided by The Girl Effect.

1. When a girl in a developing country receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later, and has 2.2 fewer children.
2. Educated girls grow into educated women, who – research shows – have healthier babies and are more likely to educate their children.
3. When girls and women earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.
4. An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ future wages by 10 to 20 percent.
5. An extra year of secondary school boosts girls’ future wages by 15 to 25 percent.

At Mothers Fighting For Others, our mission is to help orphaned girls become powerful women. And there’s a lot of work to be done. If you’d like to help, please let us know.

This is amazing news. For the last two months, we have been unable to speak freely about the work we’ve been doing behind the scenes with our US partner, Stepwise, and our Kenyan NGO partners, Sisters Arise Project, to take over the guardianship of the 34 girls so we could move them into a more suitable home. Today, it is done.

We have been unable to speak openly about this until now. But you should know that the money you have donated in the past few weeks has already been put to work. We have secured a new temporary location for the girls and have paid for four months rent in advance.

I Leave For Kenya On Thursday

The timing of this news could not be better. Although we had some concern about how the volcanic activity in Iceland might affect this trip, that now appears to be mitigated. When I arrive in Kenya, my main focus will now be:

• preparing the new facility
• purchasing the needed supplies
• and moving the girls into the their new temporary home.

This signals a whole new chapter for these girls’ lives. And we could not be more thrilled. You will now begin to see more frequent updates about exactly what we’re doing and exactly why your funds are needed and where they are going.

Thank you all for your support. My heart is filled with joy right now!

In response to this need, many have come forward to donate their services to be auctioned to raise funds to help. Our first auction raised $2,413 and Denise Ulrich, from Duluth, GA, graciously made the winning bid.

Now, we have two more packages being offered, and both auctions end Saturday, April 17 at around 8 PM PST. We are reposting these auctions to end April 20, at 2PM PST.

Package 1 – Marketing Services – Total Value Over $2,800

Epic Marketing: Newsletter Design – $1000 & up

• Design of a two page newsletter.
• Includes design, copy and images, and printer ready PDF.
• Does not include printing.

Se7en7: Identity Design  – $1500 & up

• Complete identity design package.

Honeybee Consulting: Copywriting – $375

• Three hours of copywriting services.

Package 2 – Real Estate Services – Total Value Over $3,000

Laura Monroe: Virtual Assistant – $400

• 10 hours of virtual assistant services.
• The scope includes consultation and implementation on either a project, goal, or the creation of an action plan in area of the winner’s choice.

Mike Price: Logo Design – $500

• One complete logo design, and all finished digital media formats.

Real Bird: RealBird Pro – $297

• Three years of complete RealBird Pro service.

PlanOMatic: Photo Tour – $350

• One full-service flooplan creation and photo tour.
• This service is contingent on the location of the buyer. Please contact  aaron@planomatic.com for coverage areas.

Joeanne Fossland: Business Coaching – $800

• One full month of personal and business coaching.

Brian Gardner: AgentPress Pro Membership – $150

• WordPress AgentPress Pro Membership with StudioPress.

Gina Kay Landis: Licensed BPO Specialist – $600

• 10 hours of training & consultation for an office, team or single agent.
• Instruct how to construct a value assessment BPO (and how to get more BPO’s)!

As I write this, there are no bidders, but several watchers.

Thanks to everyone above who donated their services for these auctions!

Every dollar counts, normally. Now, two of our supporters have decided to make a few dollars count twice. $2500 each, to be exact. Bill Lublin kicked off the matching funds challenge by offering to match, dollar-for-dollar, any donation made to his chipin widget, up to $2500. When Monica McNamara heard about Bill’s challenge, she decided to create her own matching funds challenge. Monica will also match, dollar-for-dollar, every dollar donated to her chipin widget, up to $2500. We’re doubly thrilled!

Donate today! Every Dollar Counts – Twice!

Of course, to take full advantage of their generosity, we need you to donate too. So, please, this is an opportunity to double your money. Donate to MFFO via one of their widgets and help us create a new home for 34 very deserving Kenyan girls.

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Please help if you can!

That’s what happened at REBarCamp in San Diego in November of last year. Mothers Fighting For Others, was the charity chosen to support and Jim Marks lead the charge that raised over $4,000 to support The Gift of Education. By any measure, their efforts were a huge success. But a few of the attendees wanted to do more.

Brad Carroll, from Dakno, Mike Mueller, from AreWeConnected.com, and a few others began a brainstorming session to come up with an idea to raise more money. The idea was to piece together a package of Internet-based Real Estate Marketing tools and services and auction them off to benefit MFFO. Brad Carroll took the lead in contacting the participants and negotiating the pieces of the package and about a month ago, it all came together.

As fate would have it, the timing was perfect.

An urgent situation has led to the MFFO Board of Directors deciding to create a new home for 34 orphaned girls outside of Nairobi, Kenya. And my wife, Rocky, is headed back to Kenya in a few weeks. In response to the need Maya Paveza decided to try to raise $50,000 to meet the support needs of the home in honor of her upcoming 50,000th tweet.She wants to do it before the Rocky’s return to Kenya, which coincides with the 140 Character Conference in New York, where Maya is a speaker. If the $50k isn’t raised, she won’t tweet from her @mayareguru account again. You can follow the progress by watching the #50kfor50k hashtag on Twitter. But, we really don’t want her to stop tweeting. So…

The following services are being auctioned on eBay as one package right now.

ActiveRain – $715 Total Value
One Full Year Membership with the following:

• $348 – RainMaker
• $159 – RainCamp Ticket (closest Location to winner)
• $108 – Localism Sponsorship – 1 local community
• $100 – Outside Blog (includes support)
• Feature one post of choice – (complimentary

Mike Mueller – $500 Total Value

• One Custom Facebook Business Page (Includes 2 custom built tabs)

Dakno Marketing – $2682 Total Value

• SwiftSite with 5 hours additional design customization ($925)
• SwiftBlog ($550)
• 1 Year of Hosting both the website and blog ($708)
• Posterous Blog Customization (to match the design of the site/blog) ($199)
• 6 month membership to Dakno’s AllAccess Live Training

RealEstateShows – $1562 Total Values

• A whole office account up to 50 agents.

Nicole Nicolay – $2000 Total Value

• 2 hours of one-on-one social media coaching via phone/Webinar. Coaching can be used for a specific goal or project, OR a review of current social media strategies and Web presence. Nicole will also provide you with a custom social media plan, including revised/or new goals with recommended implementation tasks.

Altos Research – $960 Total Value

• One Altos report subscription one year (provided they are within their service area)

Diverse Solutions – Value Varies

• an IDX for a year (provided they are within their service area)

Drew Meyers – $150 Total Value

• 1 hour of consulting time  – SEO, Social Media Marketing, wordpress, or whatever the person wants to talk about.

WellcomeMat – $2100 Total Value

• A 10-Pack of WellcomeMat Pro for One Year

Jay Thompson – $300 Total Value

• 2 hours of 1-on-1 consulting

Total Value – Over $11,300

All proceeds benefit Mothers Fighting For Others. MFFO is a non-profit 501c3 organization (EIN/tax ID number: 26-0320699)

This is a great package for a small real estate office as well.

The individual items could be given as prizes to Realtors® in the office and the group packages could be used in mass. Note: After we launched this auction, several other real estate service providers stepped forward to offer their services for MFFO as well. We’ll be holding a second auction with a completely different package as this one draws to a close.

Click here to view and bid on eBay!

And thank you to everyone for your amazing support!