We have received a number of requests from friends of the organisation to assist them with our knowledge, network and resources to run projects in their home countries or when travelling abroad. To kickoff our “Ambassador program”, we have decided to support up to 3 projects per year. The first project in 2013 was given to a group of friends from Switzerland who were planning to visit a good friend in Mexico. They came up with a unique idea of working with children in Mexico over the “semana santa” celebrations to handcraft e.g. palm fronds. Below is a description of the events in their own words. Thanks to Nadya Frischknecht, Simone Frischknecht, Sandra Wüthrich for pulling off a fun filled event. A special shout out to Rodrigo Salas whose personal dedication and local knowledge made this event possible.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The upcoming “sacred week” (semana santa) – Easter holidays over here – are often used in Mexico to organize special events for people in need. This is why we also used the opportunity to join one of these projects and help in the name of Bringing Smiles. After a joint event at a fair we split into different groups and ran various activities with the children. We handcrafted palm fronds on which the kids could write their hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. The material we brought was heavily used for the event and can now also be used for future activities of the organisation.
It was amazing to see how much fun the kids had doing handicrafts. The smiles on the children’s faces were even bigger when in the end we gave them some pens as gifts.
This was one of these occasions when we realized again that if we put in a small effort, we can achieve a huge effect.
All in all it was an overwhelming experience for all of us to bring smiles to so many children’s faces and we are convinced that they will remember this special day for a long, long time.
Nadya Fischknecht
April 2013,
Cuernavaca, Mexico
[img_gallery id=”6170″ type=”colorbox” layout=”grid” orderby=”asc” order=”asc” description=”” placement=”below”]