Caras Alegres - Update!

Hola dear everyone!

First of all: GRACIAS!!!
Thank you for all the support and enthusiastic responds!!! It filled my heart with such joy and gratitude to hear that people were inspired by my story about the project and some also willing and capable to support Caras Alegres by donation!! Muchas gracias, in name of all the families of Caras Alegres!

Here is an update on what I´ve already been able to do with the donations. I will post pictures as well!
Also, I´d like to let everyone know that you can still donate! I will keep gathering donations and will update everyone on the ways in which we´re helping the people in Las Rosas.
(Bank account information: see at the bottom of this post. See my previous blog for more information and pictures about the families involved.)

Together with Andrea (coordinator of the project) and Gris (social work assistent) I went to buy many, MANY supplies for the 4 families I wrote about in my previous blog. It was incredible: for approximately 150 euro we were able to buy a MONTH worth of food for all families and gas for Ana Selma´s family. We bought milk, incaparina (invented in Guatemala as a replacement for milk, with lots of minerals, vitamins etc), mosh, cerials, sugar (unfortunately they use lots of sugar in all of Guatemala and in all dishes and drinks), rice, beans, cooking oil, masaca (for making tortillas) and pasta!
Very moving and impressive was bringing the food packages to the families. It was incredible to see the circumstances in which they live in, the poverty.
The family of Ana Selma (see previous blog) belongs to one of the poorest families. They live together with many people (at least 20), all in some way part of the same family. They live at the end of a sandpath that often turns into a river during the rain season. The living circumstances were very poorly and dirty, they don´t have running water or electricity.
All the families were very, VERY grateful and told me to pass on thanks and many blessings to all who helped!! Together with tears they also told stories on how hard life is for them. I felt really happy we could at least be a little bit of support in their lives, hopefully allowing them to spend the money and time that month on other important things instead of buying food.

I also invited a German friend (who I´d met at the language school) to come to the project: She is a dentist and has been working 2 full days to clean all the teeth of the kids and most of the staff. The tools she needed for the job were payed with the donations, together with a bunch of other things for the project in general (footballs, pens, pencils etc)... so again: THANK YOU for making this possible!!

Amongst other things that struck me when visiting the families, was that these kids hardly ever drink purified water. We teach them at the project that it´s only good to drink purified water, because of all the bacterias in the tapwater. However, the majority of the children, if not all, always drink from the tap because they have no other option. No wonder they´re sick so often!
After visiting 3 families on the friday, we decided to bring the food to Manual Menchu´s family on monday. However, when I showed him the ´surprise´ I had for him for the next monday, he got so excited and happy that he went to get his mother straight away. All in all it was an experience I will never forget!

AND... there´s still lots that can be done! So if you know people that might be interested in supporting Caras Alegres as well, feel free to forward the link to my blog or my email address ([email protected]).


Thanks, love and lots of beautiful sunny days to all of you this summer!

Rianne


You can send your donation to:
account nr. 8405218 (ING bank)
in name of R. M. Sportel
(if needed: ) at Uitgeest

For donations from countries other than The Netherlands, you need the following information:
IBAN (International Bank Account Number): NL78 INGB 0008405218
BIC (Bank Identifier Code): INGBNL2A