Perhaps because I have been vacationing of late, stories like this have caught my eye. These participants of Executive on a Mission with the Salvation Army shared their time in an overseas development project in Tanzania through the power of the internet and blog software.

Now it is possible not only to combine your values with the experience of travel, but to share it with the world while doing so. Coincidentally, my Winnipeg friend Cheryl has recently touched ground in Africa where she has been posted through the Volunteer Services Organization. What possesses an independent single woman who grew up in small town Manitoba to leave her household and fund development and communications career behind to help people living with HIV in Soweto, South Africa? We’ll find out as I invite her to share her experiences.

Meanwhile, she’s asked for some help. The organization she’s working with runs the Footprints Hospice and community projects that assist people living with HIV. They have created a Food Garden project to provide good nutrition and medicinal herbs for existing and discharged patients of their hospice. They are also hoping to train families how to grow their own foods. They are looking for copies of a book called Jekka’s Complete Herb Book - Revised Edition by Jekka McVicar, and would also love any others about herbs and their medicinal properties. Since their internet service is limited at best, she’s also asked for any help in researching foundations that have an interest in assisting people with AIDS/HIV in Africa.

Their address is  Footprints Hospice, PO Box 5, Diepkloof, 1804, Soweto, South Africa or email cherylherda@gmail.com