More photos of Carla

I've got some still photos to share of Steve's visit with Carla in Chile.


This is the first group of children Steve met in Chile - Kevin (sponsored by Jo I think) and Jo's other sponsor kids three year old twins Martina and Monserrat (which is which I do not know) and of course my Carla and her mother Margarita.


Steve with Carla and Margarita and me in a "Flat Stephanie" version. :)


A beautiful candid shot of Carla. She looks exactly like an angel. Probably one of my favorite photos ever of any of my sponsor kids.


Carla and "Flat Stephanie". Carla has the most beautiful almond shaped eyes and eyebrows a super model can only pray for. Seriously, how can I get eyebrows like that??


Carla and Margarita. Carla is the only person I know with hair longer than mine. :)

Robyn asked about my plans for Carla's IGP. I do hope to make Carla's IGP my next Firstgiving project. I probably won't receive the info from Children International for another month but it will work out alright because my next project is scheduled for the #20 slot and we are still raising funds for #11 & #12. I only hope that the project comes in under the $500 mark. If not I will probably try to pay the extra amount myself.

Video of Carla in Chile #5

I love this video - Carla is with the other children and their mothers in the room that the field office workers had set up as a little party for the children. They had balloons and cookies and a drink that I think was milky coffee. I love how Carla is on her best behavior, sitting so properly and sipping her drink like a perfect little lady. So precious!!

Here's what Steve had to say about Carla:

What a doll! Too cute for words. She certainly recognized Stephanie from her photos and her Mom read her the letter she got. She could audition for a child acting part and steal the show.

I have to admit that Carla is the one sponsor child that I chose because I instantly loved her little face. I was looking for a child to sponsor in Chile and Carla was "the one". :)



I hope to have an updated estimate from Children International in a few weeks for an Income Generating Project for Carla and her family. Their original idea was to fix up a room in their home and run a small general store selling household items and personal hygiene products. I think it's a great idea, especially since it would allow Carla's mother to earn an income while staying at home and taking care of the house and children. I think many mothers would jump at that opportunity. :) Apparently there is no such store in their area so it would be convenient for the people of the community and hopefully therefore a success. So, we will soon see if that is still the plan and how much money I will need to raise.

Video of Carla in Chile #4

In this video Steve gets the whole group of children and their mothers to say "Hello!" to their sponsors. This was the "first wave" of kids that Steve met - another bunch came to the sponsor center a little later.



Yesterday my father said that every time he mentions my sponsorship he gets the response that essentially it must be a scam. There aren't really any kids and even if there are they aren't really getting any money/help. Sigh. I'm getting pretty sick of that response from people. I've got literally hundreds of photos and hundreds of letters from my sponsor children. Every single one is an individual that I am privileged to have gotten to know. They are all different, some are silly and happy, some more serious, some write funny letters, some put alot of effort into making drawings for me and every single one of them is getting medical and dental care, food, clothing and help with education that they would not otherwise be able to have at all. Every single one of them is a treasured friend of mine. From little Alison who just turned three all the way up to Glenn who is a grown up of fourteen, they all teach me so much about life and compassion and love and just how to be a human being. I only hope they get as much out of their relationship with me! :)

So I'll get down off my soapbox now and end by saying that I feel sorry for people who maintain that kind of attitude. I don't blame them for some initial suspicion - believe me I did my homework before choosing to support Children International. I'm not parting with my money lightly! But if you live your life hiding your head in the sand and not getting out there and seeing what can be done, what you can do to contribute...well, to me that seems like a real waste. It's not living up to your potential as a human being...

Video of Carla in Chile #3

Oh yes she can! In this video Carla's mother reads her the letter I sent. Afterwards she asks Carla what she would like to say back to me. Carla takes a deep breath, prepares to speak and .... her mind goes blank. LOL! At the end Carla makes a kissy face and sends me a "beso y abrazo" - a kiss and a hug! Her little voice saying "ciao" - too sweet.



I'm slowly learning some Spanish from reading my letters from my sponsor children. I always read the original letter in Spanish before I read the translation. I am now able to go to Chile, Ecuador, Honduras and Guatemala and ask anyone for hugs and kisses and thank them for writing me a letter. :) Fortunately several paople in my family actually are fluent in Spanish so if/when I visit my sponosr kids I will drag one of them along.

Video of Carla in Chile #2

In this video, Steve gives Carla the photos I sent as well as a letter to Carla that I had my sister translate into Spanish for me. The smile on her face when she sees the photos is super precious. Margarita says, "look, look who is that?" and Carla says. "Stephanie!"



Carla says I'm pretty (blush!) and then she holds my picture up to her face and says "Beso!" (Kiss!) Can she be more adorable??

Video of Carla in Chile

Steve has posted his videos of our group's sponsor children in Chile. I think he ended up meeting about 8 or so of them. Of my two Chilean children, Javiera didn't show up (I rather expected that). However, Carla did show up and she was totally adorable!

In this video Carla says Hello! to her Madrina (Godmother/Sponsor) and tells me that she likes to get my letters which her mother Margarita reads to her. She says she is going to school to learn to read and write and that she will write a letter to me soon. Steve asks when she thinks she might be able to write to me herself and Carla's mother answers that it's been going slow but Carla is learning to write and hopes to be able to write in a few months. Right now Margarita writes Carla's letters for her.



I think it's so funny how the sponsor kids all seem to lose their minds the minute they are expected to "deliver a message" on camera. I think their minds just go completely blank and then the moms step in and prompt them on what to say. Carla doesn't have any trouble once she gets started though. At one point, Margarita suggests that Carla say "Don't forget me!" and Carla gives her a totally skeptical look. Carla knows darn good and well I'd never forget her! :)

Carla's Birthday Gifts

How cute is Carla? The high ponytails are so sweet. :) Her birthday was in March and I recently received these photos from CI.


Carla's birthday gifts.

Carla seems like she is a girly-girl. The kind that would be a Hello Kitty fan. So I kind of chuckled when I saw the pattern on the package. It looks like Hello Kitty to me - or at least the Chilean version! I think the package contains her new sheets for her bed.



This is the first year that I sent a special needs gift for Carla's birthday. I think last year I had just barely started to sponsor her and had not yet caught on to the idea of sending a special needs gift for birthdays. I was still thinking I would be sending packages and small gifts of money. Since then I have figured out that a special needs gift works out so much better all around. The larger chunk of money all at once helps the family out more and goes farther and I get photos. Win-win!


Carla's new coat!

Carla was especially happy to get a new winter coat. It must be windy and cold in Chile because all the kids always seem to be bundled up. Maybe it's the elevation...


Carla and her mama Margarita writing a letter to me. Margarita has beautiful handwriting.

I think that the special needs gift and the fact that I remembered Carla's birthday have helped to convince Carla that I am really going to be there for her. That I'm not going to just disappear. She seems to have opened up more and started becoming more interested in me as a person. In her last letter she drew a picture of my daughter. It was cute to see what she thinks my daughter must look like because she hasn't seen photos yet. In Carla's mind my daughter is something of a fairy Princess. It must seem that way to her when she thinks about this other little girl that lives so far away.

I hope that Steve's visit will help reinforce to Carla that her sponsor is thinking about her! I'm so jealous that he gets to meet her. I hope I will also someday.

Carla's Family and Housing Photos

Next week super sponsor Steve is flying to Chile to meet and spend some time with several of his sponsor children. As he did when he recently went to Guatemala, Steve has volunteered to meet with and take photos of other children sponsored by people in our group. In fact, he will be meeting with 11 children on his second day! I hope Steve has lots of room on his memory card - 11 kids sounds like tons of photos!

Hopefully Steve will be meeting with two of my children - one of which is Carla.


My sponsor child in Chile, Carla.

Carla lives with her family in/near Valparaiso, Chile. I have been sponsoring her for a little over a year.


Carla outside her home with her mother Margarita and brother Hans (13).

Carla is fortunate that her home has running water and a toilet. These are luxuries that many of my sponsor children do without. They also have beds and cook on a portable gas stove - again, things many of my sponsor children do not have.


Carla's home.

Carla's father Carlos is a street vendor like so many of the parents. Margarita stays home with the children. The family has requested an IGP to set up a small store in their home where they could sell household items and hygiene products like soap, shampoo, toothpaste etc. I think it's a good idea since it would bring a second income for the family while allowing Carla's mother to still stay at home with the children. They need the start up money to buy stock as well as supplies to repair that part of their home to make it suitable for a store. I'm waiting for an update on the IGP and hope to get it started within the next six months.


Carla and family outside her home.

Carla's family has always been at the top of my group of sponsor children in terms of the money they have to live on. They currently have $226 a month - somewhat less than they have had in the past. However, I don't think the impact of poverty can be judged solely by the dollar amount associated with a family - there are so many other factors. For instance - it may be easier for Joey's family to live in a rural farming area for only $21 a month and much harder for Carla's family to live in a town/city on considerably more money.



Luckily Carla's brother Hans has a sponsor. And having only two children in the family helps to keep the financial stress down somewhat.



It took quite awhile for me to feel like I had developed a connection with Carla. I'm sure that part of the reason is Carla's age - she just barely turned six years old. So her mother has been in charge of writing letters for her. It's hard to get a six year old child to express their thoughts for a letter to someone they have never met. I'm also Carla's first sponsor so I'm sure that she has been trying to figure out how this whole relationship works. :) Carla's letters were very short and general for a long time. I kept at it though and recently I have been getting more of a picture of Carla's character and her likes and dislikes.

She recently requested that I send her some photos of me and my family which I did. Hopefully she has received the package - or at least will very soon. I was happy that she was expressing curiosity about me and wanting to get to know me better. She also seems to like to hear about my daughter. I think Carla is curious to hear about the life of a little girl in another country and culture.

So - all in all things have been going well with building my relationship with Carla. Some of my children became very attached to me right away (Ana, Harry and Maica come to mind.) Some of the children have very sunny, open personalities (Nyslin and Jhonny) and we became friends very quickly. Others (Hermelinda and Zoila) are more shy and reserved and more slowly come to believe that I am a friend who will be there for them. It's a different journey with each child and I enjoy the process with all of them.

I think that when Steve meets Carla he will meet a very cute little girl with gorgeous long hair and a radiant smile. I've never had a problem getting a smile out of Carla! She's very photogenic so, like I said, I hope Steve has lots of memory on that camera of his!!


Carla's most recent photo from CI. She's such a beautiful little girl!

I'm really looking forward to the years to come, watching Carla grow and change and our friendship to grow stronger.

Next time I will show you the photos of Carla getting her birthday gifts!

New Yearly Photo of Carla

This is the first picture we had of Carla. In fact, it's the only one we have ever had of Carla since I think she had just joined the Children International Program when we sponsored her.



Those cheeks are hard to resist huh?

Today we got our updated photo of Carla. She is five and a half years old now.



She's so cute! And so much bigger! We were very happy to get this new photo because Carla is the sponsor child we know the least about. We know she lives in Chile and has an older brother. And on a recent updated family report we were delighted to learn that her monthly income has risen to $380! That makes her far and away the "richest" of our sponsor kids. Good for them! But that's pretty much all we know about her. Carla is too young to write her own letters and her mother tends to write very short (maybe three sentences) letters. Mostly we just hear that she is being good, is healthy and thankful for our help. It's frustrating that our relationship with Carla and her family doesn't seem to progress beyond that point. I think building a relationship between the sponsor and the child is very important - it's what makes Children International's sponsorship program the best in my opinion! - and it also is the best way to know how specifically to assist each child. So I hope that our relationship with Carla is able to grow in the future. Maybe when she can write her own letters it will. :)

Craty News and the Big (Sponsor Kid) News

Been a few days since I last posted... (sometimes it seems like you have to go to Blogger confessional... "forgive me readers, it has been X days since I last posted...) ;) The transition from school to camp is always a bit crazy but we've reached our tenuous equilibrium again. :)

Crafting is off and on this past week. I'm just super tired. I've been trying to concentrate on sewing up the patches. I counted and I've currently got 31 patches all sewn up. That's about a third of the total I have. It takes me about a half hour to sew one patch up. So lets see...the calculator says it will take me 31 hours to finish sewing up the patches. Not too bad right?

The biggest & best news this week is that since my last post I have gotten letters from 8 of my sponsor kids!! (I'll post photos of the kids I haven't "introduced" on the blog yet.) -

Flor, 7 years old from Honduras who tells me she likes to eat rice with beans and cheese. (Me too!)

This is our latest picture of Flor.



Lesly, 6 years old from Guatemala who says she had a great birthday because her village has a festival around her birthday so she got to go to that.

Carla, 5 years old from Chile who drew me a really detailed picture of a little girl - I think she used every colored pencil she could get her hands on.

This is the only photo we have of Carla so far:



Mary Joy, 12 years old from the Philippines who told me how she got her nickname of "Apple". (So sweet.) I had complimented her on her lovely handwriting and she told me she takes great care to make her letters to me nice and neat. (Isn't that sweet?)

Our first letter from Joey who is 9 and lives in the Philippines. He says his father is a farmer. Joey likes math and has lots of friends.

This is Joey:



(As an aside to tell you how great Children International is - I had noticed in Joey's family report that it was noted that he needed some dental work. I called to CI to ask what the status was with that in case he needed some help and they said they would check on it. A week ago I got a letter from CI with a full report from the dentist on what work Joey had done and what his status was now. I was amazed! Talk about customer service! I have a harder time getting reports from my own kids dentist. So the good news is that Joey's teeth are all taken care of.)

Our first letter from Harry, 13 from the Philippines. He wrote to introduce himself and to thank us for our special donation (He was one of the ones we gave Mother's Day donations to.) We got three more photos of him also! He was able to buy tons of groceries, school supplies, clothes, and kitchen supplies. (Made me so happy!)

My first letter from Ana in Ecuador. She turns 11 this month. She describes herself as a "simple, humble girl". She writes very good English in a beautiful curly script.

This is our latest picture of Ana. We sent her a birthday package. I can't wait for it to arrive!



And we got two letters from Jester! He is 11 and lives in the Philippines. He is the little boy that waited two years for a sponsor. I have to say his letters really touched me. He is a wonderful boy who expresses himself very well. You can tell he has a very sweet heart. He told me about his father abandoning the family and how he feels it is now his duty to step in and take care of them. He promised to work very hard in school so that he could prove to me that he deserved to be sponsored. (Totally made me cry!) We also got another letter with several photos of him. He wrote to thank us for the special donation we had made and tell us about all the things he was able to buy with the money. The sweetest thing was how he described "jumping in surprise" at getting the gift and how happy he was at being able to share that with his family. He's a real treasure - we are so lucky to have him as a sponsor child!

Hubby told me he would get on task and install our scanner so that I can more easily share letters and photos with you guys. There's nothing like getting to see the actual letters. You can tell how hard the kids work on them and the pride they take in using their English skills and writing neatly. I feel so privileged that these kids share their lives with me. I love how different they all are. I will really enjoy watching them grow up. They are such special people!