Friday 16 October
What a day Friday was! In all honesty because I am so excited and thrilled to tell you about what wonderful day it was I don`t know where to start(!) however, I shall try to keep this post coherent for your ease of reading.
Having arrived in a taxi loaded with bags and boxes it took a good few minutes to transfer everything into the safe house, fortunately we had ensured that everything was either wrapped or covered giving nothing away to the girls so that they enjoyed a big surprise. The girls were very pleased to see us and due to having made some decorations the previous day they were aware that we were having a party, and so they asked if they should get the decorations out and up to which the response was `claro` (of course!).
My word did the girls move fast, with all tables cleared paper chains out and up, at which point I was busy thinking to myself that if the paper chains can cause them such excitement I cannot wait to see how they react to heir little gifts.
Whilst some of the girls were hard at work arranging the room, some of the girls were helping me to unload the bags of fruit I had purchased for a fruit salad that I wanted to make with them for dessert, you might think that was rather dull on my part but I assure you I have never had such an inquisitive and pleasantly surprised reaction to fruit salad. The fruits I bought were:
-Apples;
-Banana's (OK and a couple of plantains in error, oops!);
-Black grapes;
-Papaya;
-Pineapple;
-Mango;
-Star fruit; and
-Kiwi fruit.
I am sure you will agree all of the fruits purchased were what you would expect to see in a fruit salad, but for these girls it was a first where the fruit listed below papaya is concerned. The intrigue and the puzzled looks when we got to the preparation of these fruits was something I had not expected to this extent. The fruits purchased were carefully chosen because these are fruits that they have on a colourful poster annotated in English and Spanish and I wanted the girls to know what these fruits are like, how they should be eaten i.e. peeled, whole etc and what they tasted like, if nothing else it would help them to learn the names in English! I am struggling to explain to you how privileged I felt teaching and introducing the girls to fruits they had not come across before but I will try. With the fruits that the girls were already familiar with chopping and adding to the bowl was no issue but when it came to the kiwi fruit they came to a stand still, firstly they were surprised by the texture of the skin and didn`treally know what to do with it, so I explained and demonstrated that it needed to be peeled and then eaten I said that they should try some but by the looks on their faces it was clear they were not going to, so I ate a piece and it was only then that they reluctantly tried some.
The looks on their faces was just a picture, thankfully though the taste was to all of their liking, and this is how the preparation of the rest of the fruit salad went in relation to the mango and pineapple. Needless to say despite me having a cold room (to ensure the fruit did not go off!) that smelt rather fruity room the night before it was in my view the perfect choice of dessert especially once we had added the chocolate and strawberry sauce which went down a treat!
Once we had put up the decorations and the fruit salad was all prepared minus the mango stones that had been added (I must admit this did make me smile to myself) we had just enough time for a bit of a boogie which we all enjoyed!
Next it was time for lunch, although I had arranged for pizza to be delivered for all the girls had also been busy before preparing some side dishes to go with the pizza, the lunch was superb, starting with quinoa soup, followed by pizza and spinach pie followed by a sweet stewed apple dish and then the fruits of their labour the fresh fruit salad!
Watching the girls whilst the pizza was being served was such a treat for me, once again I was able to introduce them to something new and different that they had only ever read about and seen pictures of, this was particularly clear in the way in which they proceeded to eat the pizza; they started to eat only the topping leaving the base and then went on to eat the base, once they saw me eat the pizza biting into it whole they soon followed in the same manner. To say that I felt humbled does not quite cover it.
After lunch came the giving of the presents with each present individually wrapped and labelled to perfection addressed to each girl Con Amor De Mina, Familia Y Amigos this made for a smooth process presenting each girl with their gift. The one thing I could not prepare for was how this was going to make me feel.
Every gift was received with such excitement and gratitude that you might be mistaken for thinking that these girls had just been given the equivalent to a brand new wardrobe, including shoes make up and an outing! Once all of the gifts had been presented the girls opened their parcel paying careful attention to ensure the paper was not damaged (it was Disney wrapping paper which they have books of so they were excited by it and I know will be kept by them for some time to come). Each girl who is also a mother opened their child's present first, portraying classic maternal behaviour, given their age and circumstances it really was a joy to see that despite everything they have been through the girls love for their babies is unconditional. When the girls wre opening their presents the gasps of excitement and excitable behaviour is something that words cannot capture I wish you could have all seen how much happiness your generosity brought to these girls. Each and every one of the girls gave me the biggest hug you can imagine and the phrase `gracious senorita` still brings tears to my eyes as I think back to that moment, needless to say I struggled to hold back the tears when I was around the girls and the more the girls consoled me the more upset I became; these beautiful young girls are truly amazing and I am so pleased, proud and thankful to you all for giving them the opportunity to experience some happiness that they so truly deserve.
I am very pleased to say that the fun did not stop after all of the gifts had been distributed as there was still the giving of the communal gifts which consisted of toys for the toddlers i.e. abacus, pull along train, world globe etc, baby / toddler equipment i.e. a baby walker and a multi purpose cot and finally a computer!
All of the gifts were received with many, many thanks and even more hugs. I know that each and every gift will be looked after and appreciated for a very long time.
I truly hope that I have successfully managed to describe to you why this was one of the most amazing days that I have had the honour and pleasure of experiencing and also to try and give to you an indication of the happiness that you have helped to provide because it truly was a day to remember and one that I hope the girls will look back on in years to come and see as a happy fun day where they were the centre of attention and enjoyed an element of normality in their lives.
On behalf of all of the girls at the safe house I would like to say a very big thank you to you all for your kindness and generosity, you know who you are.
Personally I would like to thank you dearly and sincerely for taking the time to read my blog and thanks to your generosity were able to help me to create some happy memories for all of the girls.
Love and best wishes
Mina
XXX
I cannot begin to describe what an amazing little boy he was, I will say however, no amount of words can ever do him justice. He had the most affectionate little smile and laugh, was always so bubbly and energetic and what he loved doing the most was cuddling and hugging all those around him, especially all the other children. I often had to prise him apart from the other children because he was holding on to them so tight, but he was just so excitable when he was able to physically shower the other children with affection i.e. when he was out of his wheelchair. 
