Almondo, Emilio, and Abram: August 2009

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Summer Photos

Working on beaded necklaces

Doing a crown craft with volunteer, Melissa.

Abram (bottom left) and Emilio (red shirt) with some of their friends during the Club.

Almondo and his good friend, Richard.

The three boys with some volunteers working in English class.

Almondo blowing up a balloon.

Abram and Emilio starting a craft at the Club.

Almondo sings english sings, learning body parts.

Emilio and Abram pose outside their house with their friends, Mother, and grandmother.

The boys posing at the school in Playa Oeste.

The following are excepts from Crystal's blog as she spent 2 weeks in the DR volunteering and got to meet the boys, whom she sponsors.

"I got to meet Almondo today:) He`s my sponsor child and a real sweetheart. He thanked me for the gifts that I dropped off yesterday and gave me a big hug. When club was over he wouldn`t leave, he hung around until we left , because I was there. I got to take lots of pics of him and his little brothers and Yoandi too"

"The boys arrived and right away Almondo came over and took a bracelette off his arm and put it on mine:) He is such a sweetheart! Then we got down to buisness and teamed up to start building benches.Each boy went with one of the Minnesota group and Jenny, Jensen and I and we got to work. It was a bit chaotic but overall everything went well. They were all pretty excited to participate, especially when it came to the power tools"

I`ve been sponsoring this family since Dec. of 08 and was very excited to meet them on my trip in July. I was able to go to their house and meet most of the family. Their grandmother is wonderful and seems to run the show at home:) All three boys are sweethearts but I spent more time with Almondo because of the woodworking activity the class was doing.He is an absolute doll! He`s always smiling and happy, and wanted to be around me the entire time I was there.He even asked one of the other kids to move on the bus so that he could sit with me. He loved taking pictures with my camera:)One day near the end of my trip he gave me a bracelet that he was wearing...I think that one of the other groups volunteering in the area had given in to him and I was touched that he wanted me to have it. From that day on every time he saw me he`d come up giggling, touch the bracelet and give me a big hug. Almondo really stole my heart and I can`t wait to go back and see him again:)