First 4th of July and thoughts of the winter that is coming!

Now that the utilities are working properly in in the apartment and Makandja and Bobasha have settled in to a schedule of English classes, we are able to have more relaxed visits and find opportunities to explore Chicago. 

This week, after a brief cleaning lesson in the apartment and a few other logistical things that needed to be taken care of, Lisa and I took our new friends to the Art Institute where we spent a long time in the African galleries. There was a large map on a wall that showed all of the African countries. Makandja and Bobasha read the titles on the information cards to discover which region each piece came from and they seemed proud and happy to find the work from Congo and Tanzania. 

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We took them through the French Impressionist wings and through the western religious art galleries where they stopped.  Where they stopped to look, we stopped to look with them and tried to answer questions with google translate or sometimes goofy sign language. We spent the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening taking photos outside, at their request, in front of the museum, in Millennium Park and at the Taste of Chicago. 


We talked about the winter ice skating rink at Millennium Park and showed them photos of winter snow that will come to Chicago. They looked surprised and maybe a little horrified! It is hard to know what they were told before they arrived and what they expected life to be like in Chicago. Lisa and I took the opportunity walking together through the park to discuss winter needs for Makandja and Bobasha and to plan a volunteer strategy.

We are hoping to involve new volunteers from Lakeside who might want to join or form knitting or quilting clubs. We will need people to buy and collect winter clothing. These men are both small and the clothing will need to fit properly  to be useful. There is very little storage space in the apartment   so we will need the collection to be well coordinated and focused. 

Please get in touch with me or Lisa if you want to help with this winter effort. Call the office at 847-432-7950 and we will get the message! We will not begin to collect winter items until sometime in September. Thanks so much for your continued interest.

Lisa and Marcie