Our Story

In 1999 we sold our business and some properties and discussed what’s next?  Kay and I love to travel; we embrace the unknown, sometimes to the chagrin of our parents.  We always wanted to do a mission trip that would expose our 10 and 12 year old children to a 3rd World culture.  We decided on Africa and made South Africa our place of interest since it was the safest country in Africa.  Initially our kids were dead against it, missing friends, eating strange food, and unlike Kay and I, the “unknown” was probably their greatest fear.

Even though we were willing to pay all our own expenses, it was hard to find an organization that would accept us.  The issues were; length of time, bringing children on the mission, not having a medical background, etc.  Finally, someone suggested to us to call the Catholic Archdioceses.  When we contacted the Archdioceses, they were more than happy to have us and said “how soon can you come?”  They informed us that they had an abundant need in several different organizations and they would keep working with us until it was the “right fit.”

In December 1999 we were off to Africa.  Our base was Cape Town, South Africa.  The city was breathtaking but sadly, mainly only whites lived there.  We rented a small home but now we needed to find a place to spend the next four months lending our hands.  The beautiful homes and scenery were quickly gone when we entered the areas of the different organizations.  The most emotional visit by far was an orphanage of children with HIV or AIDS disease. None of us will ever forget the several hours we spent interacting with these little angels. We would have loved to volunteer here but when Sister told us that 1 to 3 babies and/or young children die a month we knew that would be too emotional for our kids and honestly for us too. 

When we arrived at the “day care center”, a tattered brick building housing 85 beautiful children aged 3 to 6 years, but with only 4 staff, we knew we had the perfect match.  Most of the kids had lost one or both of their maternal parents due to complications from AIDS.  Thankfully ignorance can be bliss, as they were generally happy kids.  Simple things satisfied the children such as, playing with rocks, sticks and rolls of tape for balls.  Our kids instantly were rock stars.  Grant, our 10 year old son, played ball, chased and gave comfort to the kids when they fell.  Brooke, our 12 year old daughter, did the same thing but it was hard at times because the older girls did not want to leave her side.  The children were fed two meals a day with Brooke and Grant generally giving the ladies a break and serving the daily lunch.  The kids were unbelievably well behaved.  Before lunch each day the children, in unison, said their prayers with hands folded and heads bowed!  Our family helped them in art, learning numbers, letters, etc, but we were told when we arrived what they needed most was just love and attention.  That was easy for us…..

Gifts from home…..Without telling us, Brooke and Grants classes at their school in Lakewood, WA, raised money to buy needed supplies, learning tools and toys for the daycare.  Our gift, along with a few others, was a 60 foot big toy set with swings, slides, etc!  

I know it is a cliché but this says it best – We received much more from those 85 kids and hard working teachers than we gave to them.   We had numerous highlights with the kids from dancing George, Lucindo’s melting smile, to the thousands of hugs we received.  However, nothing compared to their farewell performance to us.

Since we generally arrived at the daycare around 9am and the students around 7am, on our last day the teachers decided they had time in the morning to teach the children a song which would be a farewell gift to us.  

The children mainly spoke Afrikaans, which is a blend of Dutch and some native African languages.  What made this “performance” so unbelievable was the song chosen, “Wind beneath Our Wings”, was sung by the children in English while acting out parts of the verses.  To say we were “blown away” is an understatement.  We were so moved, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

Our family was constantly on the move.  Part of the family negotiation was a Safari where we camped in the jungle for three days.  Other adventures Brooke and Grant rode ostriches, we swam with penguins, ate crocodile meat but passed on the monkey brains (which is a delicacy) but mostly we immerged ourselves in the different cultures and the VIBE of Africa.  

Our time was done in South Africa….Kay and I needed to figure out what our next adventure, business, would be. Now you know the rest of the story…

Mission Statement

The Mission of Green Giraffe is to create and develop an independent, economic network of indigenous artisans from around the world, from which we can gather, and then bring to market the finest crafts indigenous peoples can create. Through the economics of this network, we will better the quality of their lives by paying a fair, life sustaining wage and have direct involvement with our artisans and their communities.