Special gifts to our girls at the HOPE House

In December of 2006, we had a volunteer – Sarah visited us from the United States (Texas) for two weeks. She interacted with the kids at different levels to know them individually. Finally when the time came for her to leave, it was very hard on all of us. Some of our girls were emotional and it took few days for all of us to get adjusted to our daily routine.

Since then Sarah kept in touch with all the girls on a regular basis. She wrote letters, called over the phone (with a translator) on a conference call and then she sent gifts boxes now and then. Sarah became known as “Sarah Aunty” for the girls.

Few weeks ago Sarah sent me an email to tell me to expect a gift box for the girls for Christmas. I imagined of the usual gifts of Christmas. When they did arrive, I could see that Sarah cared enough to pack a gift for each child and wrote their names on them. As the gifts arrived late (after Christmas), they were given out on the New Year’s Day. From outside, each packing look like a book. Only when the kids began opening their gifts did I realize that they are books but of different kind and value.

Each child was sent a customized 12-page photo album filled with child’s pictures. Inside the album, there’s an envelop with more photos of the child. I couldn’t believe my eyes and containing my emotions was equally hard. Each child ran from pillar to post showing her own pictures to everyone around and felt so special. That night when I wrote an email to Sarah to acknowledge the gifts, I was told in her reply that she spent more than a month to prepare these albums.

Since these pictures (she took more than 600 photos) were taken about a year ago (in 2006), we could tell how much the girls have grown and they got a kick out of that. They have received many gifts so far but I have not witnessed a gift like this. My heart was filled with the feeling of thankfulness to God for crossing our paths with Sarah’s.

Sarah, on behalf of all the girls, THANK YOU.

Ruby