Sending Butterflies to Africa

I’m writing from Africa! More specifically, from Arusha, Tanzania, the typical launchpad for expeditions up Kilimanjaro. I was also going to hike up it this week, for the fifth time, but things didn’t quite work out for our little team. So instead, we decided to still visit Tanzania and Rwanda. And without all the gear I had to bring, I thought instead I’d bring all the donated materials people have sent for the last four years.

Four years? Yes, because that’s how long it’s been since I have really been traveling for hemophilia. I was in Rwanda four years ago for a workshop in conjunction with the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation. Together we were trying to help the Rwanda Hemophilia Association, which I helped to found in 2014, create short- and long-term strategies.

Then Covid hit just a month later. And we were house bound for two straight years. Everyone in the hemophilia community knows me as the person to donate unwanted factor and supplies, so these accumulated. First a boxful, then shelves full, then bins, and finally about a quarter of my attic. While I could still ship factor overseas without a problem—its value is enormous relative to its cost by weight—the ancillaries and medical supplies had to wait. It isn’t worth shipping $20 worth of needles at a cost of $100 shipping. So they piled up pretty high!

I collected butterfly needles by the hundreds, syringes, alcohol pads, gauze, tourniquets, and bandages. They were overflowing and I finally had to ask everyone to stop shipping them—I suggested they could donate locally to animal shelters or veterinarian offices.

But with this trip, that changed. There are four of us traveling, and each could take and extra bag. And my boyfriend Doug only needed a carry-on. So that left five big suitcases that we stuffed to the brim with supplies. We even included donated toys and school supplies. And one bag is filled with gear for our guides and porters, as we will be doing a safari. They love getting are slightly used hiking gear and backpacks.

I know everyone who donates enjoys hearing how their donations were put to use. Well, we are dropping off the suitcases at hospitals in Arusha. The hospital staff get the supplies and an almost-new suitcase!

The message? Don’t just throw things away thoughtlessly. I store up zip-lock bags that come with the donations, gift bags, pens, anything that might be of use to someone who lives simply. I take the Styrofoam coolers that we occasionally get and leave them next to local hardware stores with a “Free to a good home!” sign on them. Doug is an avid tennis player and each week he wears out quite a few balls. They look brand new, but are no longer good enough for his games. He used to toss them away! Now he will see what a smile he will get in exchange for tossing them to a child.

Ask yourself: who could benefit from what you no longer need? Consider donating: to Good Will, a homeless shelter, or an animal shelter. In the long run it helps the earth, too.

Thank you—asante sana—to all who have donated and keep donating to us!