The last school material to be handed to the children of Calheta ...

I have just received the photos of  some of the last children of Calheta to whom the school material has been handed (Josefine, Cynthia and Juliza), together with the information that some money has been used to buy extra school bags for some of the children who didn't have any (photos will be downloaded as soon as I get them).

Josefine

Juliza

Cynthia

I can't help but feeling proud of what we are doing regarding these children 's education ... and though I may be wrong I feel they appreciate our committment ...

Amsterdam (Day 1 - afternoon) - the 22th of September 2011

We reached Amsterdam Central Station at about lunch time and as we would have to wait   for a few hours until we could do the hotel check-in, Mia and I decided to wander around and try to make the most out of the promising afternoon, as the weather was quite good.

From across the Station stood the Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance 1842-19121 Saint Nicholas Church, which we visited and whose interior impressed us, though the dim light didn't allow us to thoroughly appreciate some of the paintings on its walls.

We then continued walking along Oudezijdsvoorburgwal Canal  heading towards Munttoren. I must confess I was impressed with it in a way I cannot exactly express.

 

To one side of it the huge tower of the oldest remaining church in Amsterdam dating back to 1300 and to the other the renovated Restaurant in de Wag located in one of the oldest city gates (1488), both of which impressive in different ways. 

Right behind the Old Church main entrance were a few "flourishing" Red Light District narrow streets, which we walked along (out of curiosity, I must confess) ... and though at the beginning it looked rather shocking that these should be virtually encircling the oldest religious bastion of the city ... in what might look like a provocative approach to religion ... it led me to realize that we were just coming across one of the oldest (if not the oldest) professions in the world ... so why not? ... Religion and "sin" side by side ...

As we reached the Grimburgwal there was a boat cleaning up the canal by pulling bicycles and other vehicles out of it.

We headed left in the direction of the Waterlooplein trying to locate the Hermitage Museum, as the hotel we would be staying at was to the side of it overlooking the Amstel.

We had booked a room in a quite interesting old house dating back to the 18th century, which had like many others been adapted into a hotel.

The Hermitage Hotel

We fell in love with the little attic room on the 5th floor almost instantaneously irrespective of having to climb up the steep stairs in order to get into it. ... we had a magnificent view over the Hermitage Museum and the Amstel and that seemed worth it ...

Having dropped our baggage we headed back to town this time in the direction of the Dam via the Jodenbreestraat and the Oudezidjs Achterburgwal, not before having had a look around the flea-market at Jordenplein and tried the typical chips with mayonaise.

Soon after we reached the Dam Square considered to be the very heart of Amsterdam with its classical Koninklijk Paleis, the Nieuwe Kerkhe  and the obelisk commemorating the Dutch killed in World War II it began to get dark, though street performances and other events were being carried out.We hanged around for a while but then considered it best to head back to the hotel.

The walk back to the Hermitage Hotel was quite hard as we were both exhausted, but it allowed us to have a different perspective of what Amsterdam might look like in the evening ...

As I reached the third floor of the hotel I had to sit on the stairs and regain my breath ... Apart from the tiredness this first afternoon in Amsterdam had been really worthwhile ... A good night sleep would certainly determine the following day's mood ...

Some more school material distributed to the children of Calheta

Some more material has been distributed to the children who had "missed" the first and second handing out of whichever material they would need to start the school year.

There are still  children who haven't collected what has been bought for them, but Sibylle  will make sure they do prior to the official beginning of the primary and secondary school year.

Nélida who had already been given the material (the first day) came around to Sibylle's to have her photo taken, in order to show her "godmother" what was actually bought for her. I was also told she didn't bring all of her new notebooks as she will be using the ones of the previous school year until she can no longer write on them.

Nélida

Delmizia dressed in in her school uniform and holding the school books (left). Eduardo smiling for the first time ever, whilst proudly holding his school books, with the school bag on his back (right).

This young man really loves school and is a very good student.

Ivanilda

Ivanilda, whom nobody had seen for a while as she no longer showed up in the "softball group" came by to collect her school material as well ... She doesn't know how really happy I am that she has ...  (I was beginning to get worried ...).

More school material handed to the children of Calheta ...

More school material has been handed to the children of Calheta who didn't show up to collect it on Friday and according to Sibylle, who is in charge of distributing it (locally) there are still a few children missing.

Apart form the required school material Ismael has been further given a pair of pants and sandals he had absolute necessity of and Justina a new school uniform.

Filomena, Liliane Rosy, Eveline and Sonia (from left to right)

Wilson (left) and Ismael (right)

Justina proudly wearing her new school uniform

The school year is about to start and  though I feel happy with the fact that we have been able to provide these children with the basic "tools" ... the real challenge hasn' started yet ... 

Latest news regarding Calheta ...

I have been  kindly given some second-hand clothes, toys and books for the children of Calheta by two colleagues (Francisco Lisboa and Luis Almeida).

I have  since then been sorting them out by ages and  packing them in different cardboard boxes, as I will add some toys and games I had been previously given and which I haven't been able to send to Cape Verde yet, but which will hopefully be sent around Christmas time (Photos will be taken after the selection process).

I have also been given some of the last presents for the children, which I shall be carrying with me next October.

Birthday and Christmas presents bought by Gabriela for Elias (left). Birthday presents bought by Dora for Veronica (right).

Birthday presents bought on behalf of Natividade for Ana Borges (left). Birthday and Christmas presents bought by Célia for  little Odete (right).

Because in the course of these years I have become attached to the family of the girl I have been "protecting" I have also bought some birthday presents for one of her sisters, whose birthday will be next October.

Birthday presents I have bought for Lou

As I was recently buying some colouring pencils, paint brushes, scissors and a set of toys  a colleague of mine (Portela) gently offered to pay for them, as a contribution towards the project.

Nine more children will soon have "godparents" once the daughters of three "godmothers" (Paula, Celeste and Henriqueta) want to become "godmothers" themselves, together with an Australian friend of mine (Rachele) and my friend Isabel Garcia, a friend of a "godmother" (Telma), two friends of Francisco (whose money he has already given me) and a colleague (Ana do Vale) who would like to "protect" two children. The moment the children in need have been identified, their photos will be published together with the "godparents" who will be in charge of their school needs.

I would like to openly thank all the people who have trusted the project so far and are above all committed to making these children happy.

Together we may  achieve something ... and ultimately become happier ourselves ...

  

A cross-cultural approach ... (the 10th -11th of September 2011)

According to the cultural agenda the initiative - "Todos 11" (which stands for All in 2011) was supposed to get Lisbon city dwellers to travel the world without leaving the capital city ... and though I can understand the organizers' willingness to do what they had theorethically proposed to achieve ... I must say they didn't impact us the way they could have.

The photo exhibition on those residing in downtown Lisbon quarters (mostly foreign natives) by  4 photographers, which was on display at the National Photographic Archive and Martim Moniz  wasn't too bad ... but easily forgetable.

Of the many kiosks along Martim Moniz square only three were selling clothes and artifacts related to this cultural activity ... with most of the others being closed ...

A Guinean outfit I bought for myself

Of the announced street activities, two caught my attention ... a French-Algerian puppet theatre company  (Hippocampe Thêatre) and an Indian brass band (Jaipur Maharaja Brass Band).

The first because of the magic conveyed by the amazing capacity on the part of the pupeteer to get both children and adults hypnotised by the sequence of Indian scenarios backed up by a beautifully well played live music ...

 ... and the second, because of the liveliness of the musicians having led many to follow them as if they were (un)willingly following the Hamlin flute player ... 

The afternoon ended up being "cross-cultural" in a different perspective as Isabel (a long time friend whose "cultural paths" have very often crossed mine) and I  unexpectedely found ourselves  at the same table where Armando (an "old" Guinean - Portuguese acquaintance ...) and his German girlfriend were sitting ... 

Isabel, Anya and Armando (from left to right)