There is this blog that I follow from time to time. She and her husband are in Ethiopia right now for their first visit. They were at Hannah's Hope (AGCI's transition home)...This is what she wrote in her post...
"Hannah's Hope needs cloth diapers!!! They are literally rinsing out disposable diapers and hanging them out to dry! Today Addison had one such diaper on. It only had one tab remaining. They had placed a cloth diaper ( the decorative kind like we use as burp cloths) inside of the reused diaper. Of course we had brought them all of those donations, but guess they know that they have to ration them out with over 30 babies in diapers" http://betsyandtheboys.blogspot.com/
WOW! I had no idea that diapers were even in such great need at our agencies transition home! This is where a lot of these diapers that I am getting donated are now going to go!
Think about this...If your child is at Hannah's Hope, is going to be at Hannah's hope, or even if your child is at another orphanage/transition home can you just close your eyes right now and imagine your child in this situation...
I told my husband tonight that if we were there to get Zek and this was the situation I would take him and stay in Ethiopia until the embassy appointment. There is no way that I would want to leave my child where there weren't any clean diapers! The special mothers there are doing the best they can with what they've got, I know. The special mothers are awesome individuals and really take loving care of these babies. The diaper situation just makes me sad.
God placed this diaper ministry on my heart and he is finding donations for me and finding me lots of places to send them!
When I heard I was getting 1400 pocket diaper shells donated amongst all of the other donations that are coming in I had no clue where all of them were going to go. Then Kristi posted about her agency being in need of diapers and now I hear news of Hannah's Hope being in such great need. And the many orphanages Adam will be helping at during his mission trip that are in such great need and the government orphanage that Zek was at before going to Hannah's Hope. We are going to get lots of babies lots of diapers!!!!!
I still have to have your help! I need prefold diapers, flat diapers, or microfiber inserts for these pocket diapers! Please let me know if you have any of these to donate. Even if its a small amount! Anything helps. If you don't have any diapers but want to donate for us to buy some please click donate on my sidebar of my blog. Remember anything helps! WE NEED to get these diapers to these babies in Ethiopia!!!!! If you have covers/wraps we need those too!!!!!
This ministry is going to be ongoing so remember whatever cannot be sent over at this moment will get sent over. There are always lots of families traveling and people going on mission trips so we will always find way to take babies some diapers!
email me if you have any questions or need an address to ship to - knowingnobounds@gmail.com
Lets bless some bottoms!
Bottom Blessings
changing the world one bottom at a time
What is the best way to give? To buy some diapers and ship them to you or to donate the money to you? We definitely want to help, just want to make it the easiest way possible for you :)
ReplyDeleteAmy you could do either way. Although I have a company right now who will sell some things at cost. I have contacted lots of companies trying to get things at cost and havent heard back from them yet. So it may be best to donate. We may get more for your money :) It is totally up to you though. If you can find some good deals then by all means feel free to get them yourself and you can ship them to me :) thanks so much amy!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Christie! Excited to find your blog from the other Kristi's blog! :) We are an AGCI family too...on the waitlist for our baby girl! And I LOVE that ya'll are collecting these cloth diapers! My kids and I went to Target yesterday and bought every pack they had! :) Thanks for all that ya'll are doing! Our baby girl could very well end up wearing some of these diapers at Hannah's Hope one day! :)
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you are going to continue to do this! I also think it is great that you have had such great luck with companies!Awesome!
ReplyDeleteI am so excited to hear that a number of the diapers are going to Hannah's Hope! I was so encouraged by your effort but was still wondering if the need at Hannah's Hope would be met(betsyandtheboys is my sister). I use the pocket diapers and I go through about 10 a day. I can't believe you had so many donated! The advantage to using prefolds and covers is that the cover can be used repeatedly unless it actually gets dirty. I have been talking to a cd friend who may be sewing some covers for me to send to HH. She thinks she can get the fabric at cost. I'm sure you have a ton of people throwing ideas and info at you, but I also wanted to tell you she thinks that for the long-term effort wool covers may be the best solution in an orphanage setting. She said they really last forever and are very breathable (but they are pricey). I'll be searching for inserts for those pocket diapers and praying for bottom blessings daily:)
ReplyDeletehey Holly
ReplyDeleteWe also cloth diaper our two boys. i know that covers and prefolds are best for the orphanage setting, but we got these donated so we obviously will use them. I am taking any sort of donations I can get at this point. HH has a good place to wash these diapers, so pockets will be good. For more remote orphanages like the ones my husband is working at next month the prefold and covers will be going to those. They will be best for them. Wool covers are very expensive. If someone wanted to donate them then that would be fine, but buying them is pricey. So it may not be the best thing. I am getting covers, prefold, snappis, and pockets donated so I am sending those to where I feel is best. For the ones we purchase it will be covers and prefolds and a snappi.
Wow that is awesome! I can send you a box of prefolds!
ReplyDeleteAlso check out Alltogether diaper company, they allow wholesale purchases for humanitarian aid!
http://www.alltogetherdiaper.com/Products/Humanitarian-Newborn-Kits
Also ask them about 2nd quality diapers..ones with imperfections at a lower price.
I'll email you about sending you some diapers! Way to go mama!
I just wanted to also post some more info that I posted on Kristi's page that I thought you might find helpful.
ReplyDeleteBe careful with the microfiber inserts as they are more difficult to wash than cotton and retain odors/residue more so.
Flats, t-shirts, flannel, muslin are ALL very economical and best for situations like this. Flats will fit babies of varying shapes/sizes/weights etc by folding differently, can also be used in pockets as inserts or the pockets can be used as COVERS OVER the diaper, so it can be reused a few times. Also the fleece could even be cut out of the pocket so that the pul is exposed and then it can just be wiped off between uses and used more often and dry quicker when washed. But flats wash up/rinse SO much better and dry so much faster than prefolds or any kind of inserts will. And putting them in the sun will disinfect them (multi-layered diapers will as well but not as well as flats) Plus you by weight/size you'd be able to get more flats in a suitcase or paying to ship, than for prefolds or other heavier inserts.
You can find great deals in the fabric store for flannel or muslin gauze, Joann's always has 40 and 50% off discounts plus you can easily find bolt ends or mis-cuts etc...and flannel is always on sale. All you need to do is cut a large square 30" or so before shrinkage. And serge or zig zag stitch the edges. most people have or can find used flannel receiving blankets, muslin blankets (yes they are actually quite absorbent when folded), even terry cloth towels work great, so even non-cloth diapering families can pitch in.
You can also cut up flannel and make wipes, as well as old washcloths baby sized or regular ones work great as wipes. I have tons of cloth wipes and honestly baby washcloths are the best!
Cottonbabies has their onesized econobum covers 2nd's on sale for $5 if anyone wants to purchase some covers to send to you...or you could purchase with your funds.
http://www.cottonbabies.com/index.php?cPath=51
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gasWvBJEDlU
http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/flat.htm
Here are some instructions you could print out for them.
http://www.diaperpin.com/clothdiapers/article_artofdiapering.asp
The little lions unbleached flats are by FAR the best flat diapers I've seen, they are the perfect size and are super absorbent! you could contact them about when they will be instock and if you could get a "deal"...but there are some instructions you could print out as well.
http://www.little-lions.com/page47a.html
lots of great pics and ideas and tutorials here about flats...you could print some of this off to share with the orphanages.
http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=877212
Also a really good absorbent diaper, fastened on doesn't HAVE to have a cover on it. It helps them to breathe and helps the caretakers know to change the baby as well! And if they DO use a cover they also don't have to fasten it with a snappi or pin if it's a snug fitting cover, the pull on style covers generally need the diaper to be fastened though.
And also what about Potties? Do they utilize any elimination communication methods?
Ikea has some very inexpensive potty seats for like $5 but I don't have Ikea near me.
http://www.theecstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26&products_id=2216
http://www.parentingscience.com/infant-toilet-training.html