Calheta de São Miguel, Cape Verde - the handing out of the presents - the afternoon of the 15th of September 2012

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The first presents we had brought for the children of Calheta were handed out as we were waiting for our late lunch and judging from the children's expressions they loved them beyond any possible doubt.

 

Edeson (left) with the fishing  sent by Mia and Veronica Conceição (right) with the book and school bag sent by Marta.

Leiziny (left) with the school bag and a little colourful necklace sent by Adelaide and Evilise (right) with a birthday present sent by Rita.

We then registered the first "thank you" messages (Veronica, Leiziny, Evilise and Marcia) and their mothers (Marlene and Dulce) , who were given the money for the school of their children, so as to bring back to the "godparents".

We then headed towards Manguinho, where quite a few children live, having first stopped at the house of Marie Hélène's "god-daughter" Jocelyne.

Marie Hélène handed out the clothes and presents she had bought for Jocelyne and her siblings together with the money for her school to which I added the money Rosa Ortiz had sent for the school of Jocelyne's sister, Ivanilde Elena.

We then stopped at their next door neighbour, Diva to hand out some photos sent by Lurdes, but she would later come to the Pension to collect the remaining ones I had forgotten to bring down. As Daniela lives in the neighbourhood we went across the dried river bed and called in at her home, where we were received by her mother to whom we handed the money for the school and an extra for some house repairs she had previously requested and which were sent by Lurdes Baptista.

Daniela's mother

Before making our way up to Cutelo Miranda we filmed two more parents (Ivanilde Elena and Daniela's) delivering their "thank you" messages to the "godmothers".

Upon having reached Cutelo Miranda we stopped at Jessica Joceane's, whom the regular "godfather" forgot to send the agreed upon money to, but Rosario (Carla's "godmother" had promptly stepped forward before I left, so we were able to give it to her). The same happened to Tarine, whose "godmother" forgot to send money to, though the moment I handed her the photos from my previous stay she was still not aware of that fact.

Tarine

There are many lessons to be learned with this type of situations, because we witnessed moments of absolute "pain" on the part of the children, whose "godmothers" simply forgot about them, and in the particular case of Tarine there are additional circumstances to be taken into account. Ana Borges, a colleague of mine though decided to send her the necessary money, which she emotionally thanked for in a filmed message.

We then handed out the various presents we had for the Landim family, amongst which was a game for the  youngsters to play and a necklace with a cross for the mother.

The most emotionally heartfelt moment of the day was Ângela's thanking message to those who contributed financially for her to be able to pursue her University studies, which I filmed.

Ângela (left) and her mother Nate (right)

As the sun was going down we had to try to get back to the pension, though on the way we still called at Veronica's to talk to her and her parents, to whom we handed the money sent by Dora. Being rather tired I filmed the "thank you" message but forgot to take their photograph, which I ended up taking the following day.

(to be continued)