In early December a group of volunteers from Barcelona and Casa de Campo spent the day at Villa Caboa, a poor district of La Romana with the Fundacion Lirios del Valle – a charity founded by local Casa de Campo resident Ana Maria Pla Pujal and her husband Jorge Ibanez. (Debajo en Español.)
About the Fundacion Lirios del Valle
The Fundacion Lirios del Valle aims to educate the children of Villa Caboa, provide them with clothing, food, school supplies and toys.The Foundation currently has 120 girls and boys enrolled in it’s care program. A number of these children have been sponsored by kind donors, who pay between USD$29 and USD$43 a month to provide meals, after-school help and recreational activities as well as school equipment, schooling and school uniform. To read more about the Fundacion Lirios del Valle, click here.
On Saturday the 4th of December the group of volunteers threw a beautiful Christmas celebration for all the children who are enrolled in their program – with clowns, a flock of Santa Clauses handing out gifts to every child and of course a Christmas feast!
Here Ana Maria Pla Pujal, founder of the foundation tells us a little about the celebration:
Hubo los payasos, juegos, comida y Santa Calus con juguetes!!! Gracias a todos los que han colaborado para que podamos hacer realidad el sueño de los niños y a ARACELYS con su incansable energia y organización, todas las voluntarias de cocina y de Barcelona gracias, gracias a todos…. Y esto que os gusta!!!! Los niños de www.villacaoba.com gracias a todos los que estais colaborando par conseguir un futuro mejor para nuestros niños!
Unfortunately, because I was busy running the rehearsals for the ‘Teatro de la Comunidad’ I was unable to attend this great party, but here are some photos provided by Ana:
Here Inge Demyttenaere, a Casa de Campo real estate broker and supporter of the Fundacion Lirio del Valle tells us about her participation in the scheme:
I am glad to participate in this project because first of all the people who all started it are friends of mine and so I can help with the management of the funds they collect. Also, it is a small scale project and it focuses on education. This is the second year that I have «adopted» a child, her name is Francesca, and she is 7 years old. Even at this young age she is always taking care of younger siblings – these kids have no easy start in life. If I can contribute to give her a better education, at least I can give her a better preparation for life. The project has now a closed environment – a lot with a simple building on it, where they have activities every saturday. Also they learn about hygiene, and other elementary things in life. Our contribution is only a drop in a large ocean, but I like to think that every gesture is better than nothing, and putting a smile on their faces is all the reward we need.
Inglés
In early December a group of volunteers from Barcelona and Casa de Campo spent the day at Villa Caboa, a poor district of La Romana with the Fundacion Lirios del Valle – a charity founded by local Casa de Campo resident Ana Maria Pla Pujal and her husband Jorge Ibanez. (Debajo en Español.)
Here Inge Demyttenaere, a Casa de Campo real estate broker and supporter of the Fundacion Lirio del Valle tells us about her participation in the scheme: I am glad to participate in this project because first of all the people who all started it are friends of mine and so I can help with the management of the funds they collect. Also, it is a small scale project and it focuses on education. This is the second year that I have «adopted» a child, her name is Francesca, and she is 7 years old. Even at this young age she is always taking care of younger siblings – these kids have no easy start in life. If I can contribute to give her a better education, at least I can give her a better preparation for life. The project has now a closed environment – a lot with a simple building on it, where they have activities every saturday. Also they learn about hygiene, and other elementary things in life. Our contribution is only a drop in a large ocean, but I like to think that every gesture is better than nothing, and putting a smile on their faces is all the reward we need.
