A Brief Update

Hello sponsors,

Here is a brief update concerning Francisco's education at this point. It was
received from the SR Assistant, dated 7/30/13.

"We contacted Francisco's mother and she told us that she had taken into account
the advices of the agency's field staff and recently enrolled him in a public
school, by the time the family record was updated at late May.

Francisco is currently doing fair in class (second grade) and his mother was
told that the child needs to be checked by the agency's doctor in order to be
referred to a specialist to assess Francisco's learning disabilities.

Up to date, the mother hasn't taken Francisco to the doctor and she claims that
she keeps busy taking care of her children in spite of the field staff
recommendations.

The field SR Assistant will be visiting the mother again if the she doesn't take
the child to the doctor within the next two weeks.

There has been a lull in activity on the blog because we are waiting to hear whether or not Francisco is still in the sponsorship program. Events have taken place which place his sponsorship in jeopardy and as soon as we hear something, I will post it. God bless.

New Clothes!

Francisco and his family received a very generous donation from Sponsor Renee*! :)

Cartagena Trip

Hi everyone, I am planning to visit Francisco, hopefully during July of 2013. We are waiting to hear if there are changes in his family living situation. I will keep you posted. God bless.

Room Completion/SNG

I had forgotten that I had not posted the final photos of Francisco's  home repairs fundraiser. Francisco is on top of the new bunk bed and his sister Evelyn is in the photo that shows the new bathroom and commode as well as the front of the home. A big thank you to everyone who donated to help improve the living conditions of Francisco, Evelyn and their family!

Annual Photo

Francisco's annual photo came today. It is so cute! :)

This past week, Francisco received his DP from Barbara. He looks very happy and received some very nice gifts. His aunt Julia writes:




Dear Ms. Barbara,



Thank you very much for thinking about my nephew Francisco, and even more for remembering his birthday. He shared the day with his friends and he did not have a party. We all over here wish you have had a great birthday in union of your friends, as you told us. Thanks for sending us the

Christmascard, photos, and the photo of you in Africa and the one of the autumn. Thanks also for the drawing book, face wipes, binoculars, candies and pill case. Francisco is very grateful to you because he lives now in better conditions and (is) really glad since he feels more protected at

home. Thanks also because Francisco received a pair of shoes as Christmas gift. Aunt Julia says good-bye.

DP Report

This week we received new photos, a letter, and the DP Report Follow Up for Francisco's Home Improvements project. It looks that fundraiser was a success and will make a difference in the life of Francisco and his family. I will post the photos a little later. Here is the report.

This photo is of Francisco with a small birthday DP. He looks like he may not be feeling well in this photo and he has his hair dyed. His auntie Julie wrote for him.



 Dear Shana, Thanks for sending my nephew this present. He received crayons, stickers, binoculars, (a) card, and (a) letter. Everything is nice and we give thanks to God since you are well. Francisco feels comfortable in the room where he sleeps because he feels more protected now. We hope you visit us and that you realize how things here have changed. About the school, let me tell you he is doing fair, but he is receiving support from the program to make him improve his behavior and grades. He also enjoyed Halloween, and he wore a Ninja costume. Thanks a lot for the bed sheets which is appropriate to use for his new bed. Thank you very much. Julia (aunt) says good-bye

Francisco's DP from Emily! :)

Francisco recently received another wonderful birthday DP and it was from Emily. The DP photos arrived and here they are along with the thank you letter! Francisco should be a happy young man!

:

Hello Emilce,

Thanks for wishing a happy birthday to my son and thank you for thinking and remembering him and for all the textbooks and toys. You look beautiful in your picture you sent us. He will wear the shoes on Oct. 31, for Halloween, along with the Ninja costume he received from one of his sponsors. (That's Barbara) Francisco celebrated his birthday along with all of his friends drinking corn starch and they had a lot of fun. I tell you that today he got a medical appointment and the doctor found him healthy.



Francisco's mother says goodbye

Francisco's Birthday Gifts

Francisco received a cool birthday package from sponsor Barbara. He looks very happy with everything. His photo and letter written by his mother are posted below. It's great to hear that he received a good medical report too. Francisco received: 
A Batman birthday card
- A vuvuvila (sp?) from South Africa - maybe you recall from them from the World Soccer Cup in S.A. a couple of years ago. I am not sure if it makes the same awful noise?
- A plastic mouse and bat for Halloween
- An airbus plane set
- A car racing pencil case from England.
- 3 small green skeletons
- An Halloween candy bag.
- A boxing light up skeleton pen
Plus 2 book marks from my book "Our Friend Joe"
6 photos of the lions Barbara walked with in Zambia.

Emily's Letter

Emily sent a letter to Francisco in Spanish and it was delivered to him last week. Hope he enjoyed his gifts and his letter!

Francisco's Home Repairs

Those photos are of Francisco and Evelyn's home repairs, sent Sept. 2012. It looks like the family can now enjoy and safe and sturdy structure to live in thanks to all of the support provided by sponsors and friends.

Birthday Gifts-Emily

Emily has sent gifts to the Cartagena office for Francisco's birthday. Francisco should be very happy with all of his gifts from Barbara and Emily. Emily sent:

                                             

Birthday Gifts-Barbara

Francisco's birthday is in October and some of his sponsors have sent or are sending him gifts. Barbara has sent:


- A trumpet that starts with a V something like Vivuvala from South Africa to be used at football games.
- Plastic Halloween black mouse and bat.
- A book where a blank face can be changed with funny stickers.
- An airbus plane set
- A car racing tin with cover
- 3 small green skeletons
- A boxing skeleton whose eyes light up when pressing the arms.
- An orange Halloween bag to collect candy.
 -African photos.

I know that he will love everything and this should keep him very busy!!

A New Letter from Francisco! :)

Last week we received a letter from Julia, who is writing on behalf of  Francisco. I think that she is a relative or a friend of the family. Francisco drew a cute picture on the back of the letter :) Julia writes:


Dear Shana,

I hope this letter finds you well. We are happy with your letter. We are doing well and so is his family, thank God. He is doing his best in school and he does his homework and he is learning to read and he is in vacation and he goes to the beach with his mom and siblings. We go out with the kids and we go to the pool. I'm grateful for your concern. The room was built and it is nice. I'm going to send you pictures so you can see how it was set up. He will write to you soon. Thanks for remembering my family. His mom, grandmother and siblings say hello,

We love you,

Francisco and Julia

Glitch

There seem to be some glitches on Blogger and so I am unable to add the correct Link feature on the blog but sent a request for help. Hopefully that will be fixed soon!

In addition to this I cannot fix the huge gap between the Sponsor text and the Labels feature on the blog. I don't know why but I will keep trying.

We have additional sponsors who have joined Francisco's group and we are happy to have them. Thank you Robert, Lisa, Renee and Paul!

Francisco Needs More Sponsors

Hi, hope everyone is doing well. Unfortunately has lost some of his sponsors and we are now down to six sponsors and need more sponsors to keep Francisco's group sponsorship going. We would like to welcome Emelisa who has joined the group. If you can, please spread the word and encourage others who may be interested to join. Francisco needs a lot of support and friendship and we would like to continue to help him. Thank you and God bless.

Francisco received a cute Easter package from sponsor Barbara. His siblings also received gifts. His mom writes:

"Dear Sponsor:

How are you doing. This is Francisco's mother (spelt Fransicis!). Thank you very much for everything you sent him. He is very happy for the toys, crayons, the stuffed bunny (it was a duck!) and clothes. We loved the card and photos a lot. Thanks also for the coloring book.

May God bless you. Francisco's (this time spelt Franscisco's) mother."

Actual contents were a T-shirt for Briany, the duck for Valentina, the chicken-head flower for Evelyn, the Easter egg telescope for Samy, and colouring book for Francisco.

Many of you supported and contributed to a recent fundraiser to build a new sturdy room for Francisco, Evelyn, and their family, who live in Cartagena, Colombia. These contributions were added to the repairs that their grandmother initiated. Here are recent photos of what has been done so far. They still plan to renovate the bathroom, install windows and a door, provide a bunk bed and a single bed with matresses. The current home improvements included connections of electical installation, construction of a cement floor, cement plaster to the bathroom walls.

We want to give all you who contributed to this fundraiser a big thank you and hugs. We could not have done it without all of your help. God bless you.

The living area before  ne room construction began is below.

Room Construction Update

Hi Sponsors!

This is the most recent update on the status of the room construction forFrancisco's Home sent to Steve who is the sponsor of Francisco's sister:

Repairs to the home of Evelyn (871891) and Francisco (1150571)
The proposal for home reparation has been approved! The purchasing department sent the construction materials order to the provider, who in turn gets it to the family's home. The whole family was present when the goods were delivered. Construction is underway. The expectation is to be finished mid-June' The family will continue to live in the same home since portions of it are sound. Any costs for pending purchases will be sent in the next report. (There are no photos with this report, but I could request it for the next report, if you like.)

*Steve is requesting photos of the room construction

Photos from Steve's Visit, Dec. 2011

This past Dec. Steve was able to visit Francisco and his family. Steve sponsors Evelyn, Francisco's sister, and took the children out on an outing which included swimming and shopping. We also learned that Francisco's mom was expecting with another child at this time. She now has a new baby girl named Briany. Hopefully with guidance and support she can make future decisions which will be the best for her family.

Franciso, Evelyn and little Sammy with Steve, Dec. 2011

Here is the letter for Barbara written by one of the members of the CI staff, on behalf of Francisco :)

DP Report from Barbara's Package

Francisco received lots of goodies from Barbara for Christmas. These gifts are from a Christmas package. It looks like he likes everything. He is also growing tall! I love his hair in these photos :)