About four months ago we sat down and looked at the budget for the orphanage and could see that we had a problem. Diapers were eating up more than 15% of our monthly expenses, not exactly the smartest way to be spending your money. It’s odd, we are able to eat with our entire family at a decent restaurant for less than 9 Dollars (US dollars that is) but to go out and buy a package of 25 diapers costs more than 14 Dollars. To buy anything in this country that is not normally used in their culture costs a fortune. We emailed our U.S. directors and the crew from The Rock of Roseville and told them about our problem, they quickly responded by telling everyone they knew that we could use some cloth diapers over here. About a month later we had a bunch of little cloth bums running around and have not bought a imported pampers since.
A little side note on the diapers, we don’t have the luxury of sending our garbage off in a shiny truck around here so we were burning our plastic diapers in a pile in the back yard (I know, all the eco friendly people out there are cringing right now, we hated it too…) that alone is reason for us to celebrate not having to buy disposable diapers. Normally in this culture kids go without diapers and just make messes on the floor, which we were willing to endure, its just that with as many kids as we have in one not very big house we were stepping on the piles (literally) all the time.
So, just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who pitched in and sent the diapers our way. You are awesome!
Ryan Duffy
November 20th, 2009
Wow, I can smell the turds from here. Nothing like cloth diapers in a country where the laundry is done by hand! Haha!
anna
November 20th, 2009
we actually use cloth diapers…voluntarily. well…until i got pregnant w/ twins and could no longer handle the washing, but until then, that’s what we used and love them! i plan to use them w/ the twins too. are you in need of more cloth diapers. i tried to donate financially but have had problems w/ the site (speed/lack there of). i’d love to send a bunch of cloth diapers to you if that’s still a need. we certainly can never have enough! just let me know if that’s a need still (for more) and what kind you need. (arwamsted @ gmail (dot) com). thanks!
RebeccaC
November 23rd, 2009
Hi, Levi! Do you feel like I’m stalking your family?
Just kidding!
We used cloth, too, until we had twins. Then I turned into a lazy bum and only used the cloth diapers sporadically on the next kiddos. I hate to think how many tons of hmm hmm are still smoldering in an Eastern Oregon landfill because of me!
Did you know that babies can be potty-trained by 6 months of age? Serious as a heartattack. It takes work, dedication and determination, but I’ve always had more time than money! Check out this site: http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/articles/child-training/potty-training/
Plastic diapers here are ridiculously expensive, too. We’re (thankfully) past the diaper stage of life, but if I were to suddenly find myself with a baby, I’d use cloth on my newborn and nix the diapers altogether by 6 months.
Hope you have a fantastic week!
Rae
November 23rd, 2009
Hey guys… I know all about that trying to burn the plastic diapers, getting covered with plasticky smoke- it’s really amazing, isn’t it, how you notice what you use so so so much more when trash gets burned.
Love you! Hooray for cloth bums!