School supplies, Water units, and Soccor balls

Todays trip to the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt was not totally fruitless - we now have the hours of operation for the consulate 8AM-11AM. We plan on getting there Tuesday, 3/3/09 at 8:30AM to get the required affidavits that we will need to get into Gaza, through the Rafah Crossing also on Tuesday. It is a five hour trip from Cairo - We also plan to get the water purifiers through our contact, Faiza, and the Iraq Water Project (Cleveland, OH contact, Art Dorland w/ Vets for Peace) in the morning before we head to Rafah.The school supplies collection in Cleveland last week was pretty darn good, considering we just had 3 days to do it- filled one large suitcase and a duffle bag with pecils, pens, folders, glue stick, staplers, etc. ( our luggage was NOT detained like the last time I came to the Middle East).The Massachusetts team members, Dr. Martha (Marty) Nathan and Paki Wieland brought a bunch a soccar balls and other goodies for the children.We plan on meeting up with the Code Pink Delegation , including, Rachel Corrie's Parents and author Alice Walker and some 60 others in Gaza.