On Sunday before going taking the girls to the park, our group presented the girls and the Sisters with all of the gifts & donated items collected. With Sister Sophie providing translation, we passed out all of the gifts and goodies with an explanation of where they came from, who they were from and why we were giving them these gifts. We presented the decorated wall hanging from the Friends School and the photo album scrapbook to the girls to a buzz of excitement to see & learn about American students.

Without a doubt, the gifts that received the most laughs were the Disney costumes donated by Danielle Cooper. The girls especially loved dark skinned Kaliyani wearing the blonde Cinderella wig. They adored the dresses and jewelry of Snow White, Little Mermaid, and Beauty (from Beauty & the Beast). Since there weren’t enough dresses for all of the girls to have one, the Sisters decided to save them in the special closet and brought out only for school plays.

The other major hit were the baby dolls that were donated by the WYC Community.

Wow.

This was the true tearjerker. Upon receiving the dolls, every girl seemed to go into her own world, immediately creating a special relationship with their “baby” and immediately reverting into a mothering role, cradling and cooing at their baby. This was very bittersweet to watch, because it seemed to highlight the desire they have for being nurtured. It was so beautiful to see how much they appreciated these. Thank you so much to Christina Enneking for spearheading and organizing this idea b/c it was a real hit. This is probably the only toy that they each own as an individual, so these dolls will be very special to them for years to come. As for the jewelry, hair barrettes, etc…girls will be girls! They love decorating themselves and immediately adorned themselves for the rest of the week with their new goodies.

Thank you to everyone from Wilmington Yoga Center & beyond for donating medicines, jewelry, mats, dolls, photo albums, and much more. The girls were truly grateful from their heart and felt so special receiving. We wish that you all could have heard the hundreds of “thank you auntie” and “thank you uncle” statements that we enjoyed during the rest of our stay.