Saturday, December 14, 2013

Arab Alabama Rotary Club, donation recognition


Roye and Alyce live part of the year in Merida Yucatan Mexico, and part of the union near Huntsville Alabama USA.  

In addition to helping with Nueva Vida of Merida, they are members of the Arab Alabama Rotary Club.

They identified a need at Nueva Vida and made a petition to their Rotary and received a lovely donation.

Alyce and Roye were taken aback by the amount of stuff that Trisha was able to purchase with the funds:

a brand new side by side fridge, 
and trust me, keeping food  and snacks for 20 girls requires massive storage. 




 Two new Lenovo desktop computers for the computer lab



and in addition several floor fans, numerous wooden chairs, umbrellas, a large chalk board, several sturdy benches, and a variety of books were also purchased.


Thank you so much Rotarians of Arab Alabama, 
and to Roye and Alyce.

And Santa Thanks You too.  As you can imagine Santa's heavy North Pole suit just is not meant for tropical Merida, so one of those lovely new floor fans was pointed right at him the whole evening of the girls' christmas party!



you can just see one of the fans cooling Santa
 to the left of the christmas tree

Christmas Party at Nueva Vida (2013)

A few weeks ago Janean, Trisha, and I spoke with a neighbor near Nueva Vida who makes and sells piñatas.  We struck a deal and placed an order for 20 medium sized piñatas.



Here you see Trisha as she and I carried the piñatas from the neighbor to Nueva Vida.  




We did this early before the girls arrived from school.  Thank goodness the office right next door was available for us to store and fill the piñatas.

Fortunately, for me, Deya and Brian happened to be visiting and I was able to get them to help me fill the 20 piñatas.
 lots of little gifts for the entire family, and a handful of coins in each one
 and candy, lots n lots of candy - I purchased about 15 kilos of candies
 Brian and I stuffed them, while Deya cut the holes in the tops for us!

here they are - full to the brim 
and waiting for distribution to the girls and their families!

So Friday afternoon was the girls' party. 

As we gathered,









the Marines have landed

 the girls played a game of loteria.  





















After loteria  the girls had prepared a couple of songs, and a dance for us!























and then came Santa














 even the staff received a little gift!




Then came dinner (cena), 

and later - when the families came to pick up their kids they were presented with their piñatas  








Thank you so much to all of you who donate 

time, energy, expertise, goods, services, and money.

It really does all make a difference.

May each of you have a fabulous Hoiday Season,

and a full and abundant New Year!



Thank you Santa



I've lifted this bit of history on the pinata tradition from http://gomexico.about.com/od/glossary/p/pinata.htm 
and pasted it below for your enjoyment!


History and Meaning of the Piñata:

The piñata is said to have originated at the same time as the Christmas posadas, in Acolman de Nezahualcoyotl, in the present state of Mexico, near the archaeological site of Teotihuacan. In 1586 the Augustinian friars in Acolman received authorization from Pope Sixtus V to hold what were called "misas de aguinaldo", which later became the posadas. It was at these masses that were held in the days leading up to Christmas that the friars introduced the piñata. They used the piñata as an allegory to help them in their efforts to evangelize the native people of the region.
The original piñata was shaped like a star with seven points. The points represented the seven deadly sins, and the bright colors of the piñata symbolize temptation. The blindfold represents faith and the stick is virtue or the will to overcome sin. The candies and other goodies inside the piñata are the riches of the kingdom of heaven. Thus teaching that with faith and virtue one could overcome sin and receive all the rewards of heaven.

The Piñata Today:

In Mexico piñatas are an important part of birthday parties and other parties for children. They also figure prominently in the celebration of posadas at Christmastime. Piñatas now come in a wide variety of designs, such as cartoon characters and animals.

The Piñata Song:

As the piñata is being hit, a song is sung:
Dale, dale dale
No pierdas el tino
Por que si lo pierdes,
Pierdes el camino
Ya le diste uno
Ya le diste dos
Ya le diste tres
Y tu tiempo se acabo
Translation:
Hit it, hit it, hit it
Don't lose your aim
Because if you lose it
You will lose your way
You hit it once
You hit it twice
You hit it three times
And your time is up

Friday, December 6, 2013

a fundraiser for Nueva Vida, Osteria Piccoli, Merida

Terry Tatje of the Merida Men´s Club has come up with a fundraising idea -



He plans to arrange a monthly dinner at various restaurants around town.  
Each month a different restaurant and a different local charity will be featured.


The first planned dinner was Wednesday December 4th at  Osteria Piccoli , with Nueva Vida selected as the first charity recipient.

For info on future events you can contact Terry at tatatje@yahoo.com.mx 
or by phone 943-3830.

Now, let's look at a few fotos from our event, and I do apologize I completely neglected to take food fotos, and the food was very good!

A BIG Thank You to everyone who attended, 
and especially to Terry and the Owners and Staff at Piccoli. 

 It was a lovely evening














just FYI -  Osteria Piccoli (Italian Restaurant)
 Is located on Prolongacion Montejo, 
   Calle 30 #112 x 23 y 25 Col Mexico,  Merida

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Current Nueva Vida Wish List

As often happens this time the generous benefactors of Nueva Vida (insert your name) ask how can I help with Nueva Vida.

Here is a current list of things that can be well used/utilized at Nueva Vida


*Pencils
*Crayons
*Colored pencils
*Erasers
*Pencil sharpeners


*Cooking oil.
*Sugar
*Spaghetti
*Tomato sauce

*"Fabuloso" cleaning solution
*Clorox
*Toothpaste
*Shampoo 
*Bath soap
*Dish soap--Axion solid or detergent

*Copy paper
*Norma notebooks (bound, not spiral)--50 or 100 sheets, cuadros grandes, estilo francés
*Markers
*"Cartulina" poster paper

*Spanish-language children's books, especially non-fiction for our library.

There is also the possibility of "sponsoring" a small group of girls (six girls) with a monthly donation that will go toward special outings, supplies and activities.

Cash donations are always welcome since our greatest expense is staff salaries.

Many thanks for everyone's generosity!!

you guys are all awesome!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

These girls are not singing the blues



Maintenance of these old cement and stone houses is quite a challenge.  Thank Goodness for the fabulous volunteers.  They are absolutely amazing, they come and scrape, and prep, and paint, and clean up.  

And just look how pretty 

The girls just love all the clean fresh new rooms.

This time it was dining room and kitchen.





Thank you so much!
You are all AWESOME!!!!!!