Arrival/Tours

So, we made it all the way to Johannesburg in a total of 20 hours of flying and loads of driving, too. Unfortunately, Ed and Darelyn missed our flight from ATL to Jo-Burg because their previous one was delayed, and they had trouble getting on the next one, but they ended up getting it sorted out and flighing from ATL to Amsterdam where they had quite a long layover, and then continued on to Jo-Burg. We will be picking them up at the airport tonight at 9:45 p.m. Today, the 13 of us that were here had an amazing, thorough tour through Jo-Burg, Soweto, and The Apartheid Museum. We visited a small village in the slum where we talked with some of the kids living there, as well as their mothers--those who had them. I got some great footage of this village for the documentary, which i'm very excited about. We all were snapping pictures like crazy, which leads me to worry i'm going to have no more memory space by the end of the day tomorrow. But, we'll figure something out. To say the least, the day was amazing and incredible. Many of us are still jet-lagged, so I expect we will all be going to bed really early tonight. (I say that even as some are napping right now). Last night after getting lost about 8 times, when we finally showed up at our Bed and Breakfast, The Woodpecker Inn, we were greeted with a large and delicious barbeque which was quickly demolished by all of us who hadn't eaten anything decent in two days. The time difference felt so strange. On the plane it went from sun down to afternoon within an hour, it felt. I, along with many others didn't sleep for a single hour during the flight (i got just under 45 minutes of sleep), which benefitted us when we showed up to the Inn at 8:30, and went straight to bed after dinner.
We are all laying low at the moment, waiting for dinner time to arrive. It's nearly 5:00 p.m. and we haven't eaten since 7:30, because the tour was so busy. Anyways, after dinner I'm going straight to bed, 'cause we've got an early rise tomorrow morning as we begin our journey to Swaziland. I'll update this again when we have internet access. Thanks you guys!

Will

so long---

we're off in the morning!

just wanted to say goodbye before we left. hopefully we'll be able to update this while were abroad, but you never know what kind of circumstances we'll have. and, we'll be quite busy so i'm not sure we'll even have time for an internet cafe. anyways, thank you all for your support and donations. you all are what have made this trip possible.

we'll be updating this as soon as we return on october 1st, so check back to see how it went!

i'll keep you updated afterwards about how the film is progressing, and when you can expect it/where you can look for it. Thanks again!

until the next time,

will

travel updates

hey! we're all frantically excited to leave tomorrow, while pulling together last minute things and running around like mad people. Just a quick update—our flight tomorrow was switched due to an unrealistic layover time from ATL to Jo-Berg. So, instead of leaving at 1:30 something, our plane takes off at 9:50. so, we will plan to be leaving for SLC at 7:00 or so. Our flight in ATL is at the same time though, so we'll have a 4 hour layover or so, rather than 37 minutes. Wish us luck and check back frequently!

Schedule

Hey guys so we leave in 3 days and we are all excited beyond belief! We've raised $800 over our original goal, and we have nobody to thank but all of you out there that have supported us in this huge endeavor. Below is a schedule of our day-to-day activities that you can follow while we're gone, if you wish to do so. Thanks again—this will be a truly life-changing experience.

9/16- 

-Leave for Salt Lake City @ 9:30 a.m.

-Depart from SLC 1:35 p.m.

-Depart from ATL 8:10 p.m.

9/17-

-Arrive at Jo-Berg 5:15 p.m.

-Pick up rental cars

-Drive to Hostel, Eat, Sleep.

9/18-

-Tour Soweto

-Apartheid Museum

-Swim

-Dinner/Movie

-Sleep early

9/19-

-Early Rise/Drive to Swaziland

-Stop by Moya Centre

9/20-

-Distribute Supplies to Child Headed Households

-Hike Around Nature Reserve/Journal

-Sunday fun activity

9/21-

-Baylor Children's AIDS Clinic

-Bring Toys for kids

9/22-

-Buy Painting Supplies/Crafts

-Rebuild Garden

-Paint house

-Drive/Explore

9/23-

-Moya Centre

-Present Computers/set up hardware

-Soccer tournament with Moya Centre

9/24-

-Quad Tours around Swaziland

-Spend the night in Swazi Huts on the Mountain

9/25-

-Cultural Center

-Research

-Filming

9/26-

-Drive to Kruger National Park/get set up

9/27-

-Safari Tour

9/28-

-Self-Guided Safari Tour

9/29-

-Drive to Jo-Berg

9/30-

-Depart for ATL 8:45 p.m.

10/1

-Arrive ATL 7:00 a.m.

-Leave ATL for SLC 10:20 a.m.

-Arrive SLC 12:29 p.m.

-Organize Rides back to Orem

The Vibrant Sound in Downtown Provo

on Thursday we made another $500 at an acoustic benefit show hosted by The Vibrant Sound in downtown Provo. We had about 8 bands play and quite a few people show up for great music, art raffles, and boba drinks. So, Thanks to everyone who came out and supported our local artists, as well as The Kaiizen Foundation. We're still working hard on fundraising all the money we need for this trip and we're down to a couple thousand. Donations are still welcome and much appreciated. T-shirts are also still on sale in all designs. Keep it comin' folks.

will

cash money

Hey all-
so, the homepass went well. i didn't sell nearly as many tshirts as i originally hoped to, but i think my expectations were a bit unrealistic. I had to split up the tshirts into 2 bags when i flew home, because all together there were 56 pounds of shirts, and you can only check 50 pounds of luggage in one suitcase. anyways, if you want a shirt, we've still got pleanty. Even with the shirts i did sell, though, we brought in another $820 for our funds. Thanks a lot for all your guys' help. If you're in the DC area and you wanted a shirt but didn't get one for some reason, call me and i'll mail some to you. don't hesitate to ask because i'm more than happy to. if you're in utah, well, you know where to go. Stay posted...

will

futsal tournament and t-shirt sales

The last few days have been a big success for Kaiizen. As you know the yard sale went well, and the following day we brought in another $1100 in donations. All of you generous contributions to our project are taking us farther than we could have imagined two months ago. As it stands now, in order to reach every single one of our fundraising goals, we have $9000 to go--which is great! We've got close to $18000 in the bank, and that doesn't include the 10 computers that we have already purchased for the Moya Centre. This has been fantastic and we owe it to all of you. Keep it up so that we can reach our goal! donate on facebook to the cause "Kaiizen is for the kids!" or on www.Kaiizen.org
For those of you in the DC area, I'm coming home tomorrow with loads of t shirts (The two designs below as well as another cool design) and they're up for purchase! They're $25 a piece, so instead of buying a $50 abercrombie polo, buy two sweet t-shirts, while donating to a sweet cause at the same time. We've got a fundraiser set up on Friday, August 28th where anyone can come and participate in a futsal tournament. It's a $10 cover charge and that gets you on a team of 3 playing futsal all day. Call my cell phone if you're interested in shirts or futsal and we'll get you set up. Also, tell your friends to look at the blog--we need as much support as we can get.
see you guys soon

will

the soapbox series

so, we had an incredible success at saturday's yard sale. In total through Darelyn's baked goods, our t shirt sales, and all the crap that we sold, we made $1400. We also brought in about $500 more through donations that day, totaling about $1900...not too shabby, eh? We've still got a ways to go, and all your donations are helping a TON. Keep em' coming and pass it on to your friends.
As of the documentary, it's coming along. I reserved a camera up in Salt Lake yesterday, which is gonna be pricey, so i'm hoping we can afford it. If not, we'll do it on a lower quality camera. I think we're gonna call it The Soapbox Series, and film it in a series of shorts, combining together to make a full feature. If you know anyone with a camera handy, let me know because i'm on the verge of freaking out about what in the world we're gonna do. Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

ps- facebook search me to keep in touch if we're not already friends. i try to keep this blog up but sometimes i don't. you can stay more updated on facebook, as well as donate through paypal, if you wish. Thanks

will

shirt designs

T-shirts are finally here

So, the curse of the T-shirts has finally come to an end. Today, the first batch of 250 came in and they look great. I will post a picture of it tomorrow, so you all can see if you're interested. If so, each t-shirt is $25...i know, it's a bit pricey, but we've got to make it that way in order to make money off of it. Plus, they're sweet shirts, so it's definitely worth the buy. If you're interested, shoot me a message on facebook (I'm under Will Engebretson) or give me a call at 1-703-967-0960. We've got 250 i stock now and 250 coming in soon, so don't be afraid to buy your whole family a t-shirt. Check back soon for pictures of the designs. Thanks,

Will

donations

hey all—so, with the trip getting closer and closer, our stress levels are getting higher and higher. So far, we've got a little over $8,000 raised. $12,000 more and we will reach our goal, but if we go higher than that, it only means we can do more. You can help simply by posting the link on your facebook, or emailing it to your friends and family. Remember, go to kaiizen.org and donate using paypal or mail checks to the address it displays. Everything helps, and you can check up on where your money's going by looking at the blog as we go about this adventure. Thanks to all.

To get started..

For all unaware, Kaiizen is a non-profit dedicated to underprivileged children who need it's help. It has been up and running for just over five years, making about five trips each year to an orphanage in Baja, California. Baja is Kaiizen's biggest focus due to geographical ease, however Kaiizen also has trips to other places in the world.

In September, I will be going on a two week-long excursion to Swaziland, a landlocked country between South Africa and Mozambique, with 13 others who belong to Kaiizen. We will be working closely with The Moya Center—a school in Swaziland that cares for and educates a large group of AIDS orphans in the area. We are bringing down 10 laptops, and a printer for the Moya Center to use in educating their children. In addition, we will be donating a video camera so that they may keep us updated in years to come. We will be bringing food around to each of the child-headed households as well. Other service projects we will be doing include: volunteering at an AIDS clinic, building fences and gardens for families, repainting The Moya Center, and filming/editing/and producing a documentary on the experience for those who are unaware of the culture.

Now, my main job on this trip is to film, direct, and create the film that i want to show to the world. The film will be an attempt to display the vast contrast in our culture and the African culture(s). I hope to inspire my generation as much as i have been inspired in the past 7 months to live a life worth living—free from labels, materialistic obsessions, and unnecessary luxuries. I hope for my viewer to walk away from my film faced with the question—"Life over property or property over life?"

I will update as much as I can on each aspect of our trip, but for now we are working very hard to raise the money to make this trip possible. Between car washes, yard sales, benefit concerts, T-shirt sales, and other donations, we hope to raise $20,000 to make this trip the best it can be. Like I said, we are all working hard, but any help we can get is greatly appreciated. If you would like to donate our fundraising, visit www.kaiizen.org and click on the donation link. Check back every couple days for more updates and photos on the trip and it's fundraising.