Group picture of Dolls for Cascalheira

Here's a group picture of the dolls for Cascalheira. They will travel to Brazil with us in October. This has been a very nice turn out. Kelli has been instrumental in making this happen. People from all over have sent in dolls. Thank you Kelli and all the doll givers.

More brown dolls and money

Three more packages arrived with dolls. Oh they are wonderful. Thank you Shanna, Tiffany and Jen. Some little girls are going to be very happy and will hug a soft cuddly little doll made or bought just for them.

Margie and Joe, your generous money donation is greatly appreciated.

We are making a trip to Brazil in October and probably will take some of the dolls to give out. Also, a box is being prepared to be shipped of heavier items of clothes and toys.

Thank you everyone. Please keep it coming. Obrigado!!

Dolls and clothes

Remember when we gave dolls to the little girls? Well, Kelli was kind enough to post on her blog the need for brown dolls for brown children. The above three photos are the dolls that have been received so far.

The first one is personalized with a note in Portuguese to the little girl who will receive her. She also has fairy wings on her back. The second one, from Sorrow's 11 year old with a note, " this is from my little angel (11years) to one of the angels in Brazil". The third is Miranda, beautifully handmade by Jo. Thank you Sue, Sorrow and Jo. These dolls are beautiful.

Thank you Lisione for the box of children's clothes that arrived. So many great shirts, dresses, pants and shorts.

It's always difficult with the young boys and men, we don't usually have enough to give to them. Pete donated a bunch of tshirts and some shorts. Thanks Pete!

All these items will go into the box that we will ship. It was a success last year and it arrived in time for us to distribute everything. We can pack quite a lot of things into this box.

If you would like to donate brown dolls, summer clothes or money, please email me at JTAnyu@aol.com. Money donation information is on the side panel of this blog.

Thanks to all of you.

Hope you're having a nice summer.

~Jessica

Toys for Children

During April, our last month in Brazil I did not blog of Cascalheira. There was an unexpected and very sad death in my family.

Now that we are back in the USA and have recovered I am ready to post some pictures.

These photos are children of Cascalheira, each choosing a toy that was donated by The Dolphin Bookstore, located in Port Washington, NY. It was so generous of the bookstore to contribute and make moments of happiness for these children. We shipped a large box filled with the toys and other donations at the end of December 2009. It took about 3 months for the box to arrive. We thank you Dolphin Bookstore and we thank all of you who have been so supportive donating money. It helped to pay for the shipping. Enjoy the photos.

Saturday's Outing

We arranged with Fia and Daniel to meet at 8:00 AM on Saturday to take their children, Ataniel (11), Estefane (10), Daniela (9) and Simone (4) for an outing. Salvador Shopping Mall had a ropes course and a climbing wall set up for children, we thought this would be fun for them. Ataniel and Daniela completed it. Estefane climbed up and then came back down because she was afraid of the height, at least she tried.

Then we headed over to the bookstore. The children's section is set up very nicely with small tables and chairs and the books can be looked at. Simone liked the little chair to sit on. I was very surprised at the high prices of books in Brazil. It seems that only a certain group of people can purchase books. Literacy needs to be promoted here. It seems like a big business instead. Unless I am not aware of something, this does not seem right.

Next, shoe store. Ataniel got sneakers and the girls sandals. Oh, they were so happy.

Lunch at the food court, then ice cream.

Going up on the elevator was very scary to Estefane, she hugged me and buried her head into me. Clearly she is afraid of heights. The others looked through the window and watched as we were going down.

Later we stopped at the candy shop. They each filled their bag with 10 pieces of candy.

The escalator was the best. At first they stepped on it unsure and held on tight to our hands and handrail. We cruised through the mall going up and down. It didn't take long for them to grasp it. At the end we let them go up and down several times by themselves, except for little Simone.

On the way back home we stopped at the airport watching the planes taking off and landing.

Sueli was incredibly helpful with the children. Whenever we go to Cascalheira she comes with us, so she knows everyone and knows what we are doing.

We brought home four very tired and awestruck children. Fia and Daniel were very thankful.

Bobby and I enjoyed being with these wonderful, gentle and well behaved little children. We hope to continue to do whatever we can. Enjoy the pictures!