We travelled to Cape Verde (Santiago island) on Friday night (the 20th of April) with a certain degree of apprehension but willing to give our best during the two days we would be spending in Calheta, in which we would try to see as many children as we possibly could, particularly the ones we were organizing a birthday party for (the ones, whose birthdays were from January to April).
For Lurdes and Henriqueta it would undoubtedly be an emotional experience, as they were meeting their "protégées" (Diva and Eunice de Jesus) for the first time, as well as the ones of their children (Kevin, Eunice and Ana Bina) and for Lurdes a further "special" moment because it was her first flying experience.
Still under recovery after having had a major operation I felt it would be a great physical challenge for me though I hoped to be able to overcome any possible limitations.
As we got to the Pension in Praia we had to get the things ready to take to Calheta the following morning and organize the babies's clothes we would leave behind, so as to distribute them to an Emergency sheltering centre for abandoned babies and children at risk.
We got up fairly early the next day and faced our first set back, as the Mayor's driver didn't make it till around ten, so while we were waiting for him to collect us started revising our "visiting plan", once this time we would have to look for the children ourselves the moment we reached the village.
Upon having reached Calheta we had to go through the whole process of unpacking and packing again, as we decided we would be starting by the area of the port going towards Manguinho and Miranda Cutelo afterwards before having a break to eat something. We also had to discuss the party arrangements with the two ladies who would be in charge of the cooking.
We met Lola as we walked out of the pension, so not only did we give her the birthday presents her "godmother" Carla Carreira had bought for her but also had the privilege of "making" her our first guest for the party the next day.
As we were heading towards Erica's we sighted Diva in the distance. Without the need of any explanation she recognised her "godmother" Lurdes and as expected a rather emotional meeting happened between them both.
It was soon Erica's turn to get the "anticipated" birthday presents her "godmother" Noëlle sent her and though she wouldn't be in our list of birthday guests, as her birthday is in June, she came out of the house wearing one of the outfits Noëlle bought for her.
We were soon surrounded by children as we walked to Jocelyne and Ivanilde Elena's in Manguinho, though none of them was Henriqueta's and she was starting to get "apprehensive and nervous as according to the "visiting plan" she would still have to wait for a while till we reached Cutelo.
Jocelyne got the anticipated present her "godmother" Marie Hélène bought for her, though similarly to Erica she wouldn't be a birthday guest, taking into account the fact that her birthday is in September. Her sister not only got the puzzles and school kit sent by her "godmother" Rosa but also the second invitation of the day for the birthday party the following day.
(To be continued)
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