I'll share Maria's first. It was a very short letter, but she wrote in BIG handwriting on the paper. I think she was trying to make it seem like she was filling up the whole page. Maria has written me long letters in the past, but she also seems like the type of girl that likes to be in the center of activity. From what I've heard, my Compassion projects sit the children down to write letters and when the letters are complete, they get to go play/join a group activity. I can see Maria scratching out a few sentences and then running off to play.
Maria is 10 years old and lives in Brazil. She wrote this letter on September 29th, 2014. It certainly took a long time to get to me!
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Dear Sponsor Kayla,
How are you? My family and I are okay. Thank you for the letter that you gave me and I'm happy receiving and reading your letters. At the project I have many friends and here we take a lot of buses to get to another place, or by car and motorcycle. I enjoyed knowing the kids that you take care of.
Hugs from your sponsored child,
Maria Eduarda
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Next, a letter from Alexander. I was so excited in this letter to hear that Alexander has a new baby brother, who was born in June. Alexander is 13 years old and his brother are 12, so there was definitely a long wait before this 3rd baby.
Alexander is from Honduras and he wrote this letter on December 20th, 2014.
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Hello Dear Sponsor Kayla,
I hope you are in good health. It always makes me happy to write to you. My siblings from oldest to youngest are: Cesar, 12 and Walter Julian, who's 6 months old. I spend most of the time with my brothers and grandmother. My family lives in the urban area. My mom prepares the food. What I like to do with my family is go play. I like to help my family by cleaning my room. Thank you for the Christmas gift they are going to give me in the CDC. I ask you to pay for me so God keeps me this Christmas. How do you celebrate Christmas? Let me tell you I did well in school. I say goodbye with kisses and hugs.
Carlos Alexander
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I can picture Maria writing huge to fill up the paper and be free to play! I always write bigger when I know I need to write but don't have the time for a long note... How exciting about Alexander's baby brother!!! Our 13-year-old from Colombia shared she's going to have a baby sibling and this will be her first sibling. They are such big age gaps.
ReplyDeleteMaria's letter actually reminded me of something that happened to me in 6th grade. I wrote a paper on lined notebook paper and wrote REALLY big so it would take up a full page, which is what it had to be when it was completed. Though, when I typed it, it ended up not even being half a page. Oops!
DeleteI sometimes wonder about big age gaps in siblings and if it has something to do with the parents being really young when the first child or two were born, like maybe even teenagers. Like, if Alexander's parents had him when they were 17, they'd only be 30 now and maybe ready for another baby. But, that's just a guess, of course.