Thank you for the Christmas presents

One of my favorite things to do: Lying down on my office sofa (great piece of furniture) and looking through the hundreds of "thank you"-letters that are now beginning to trickle in from our orphanages and day care centers to the children's sponsors.

Most of all, I enjoy the photos, with their great variety in style and content. Children big and small, smiling or frowning at the photographer pestering them when they'd rather just enjoy their new belongings. Here we can only present a tiny selection of the hundreds we receive, but I hope you'll enjoy them too.





(Click for larger images)

This, dear sponsors and others, is work more fulfilling than any other. What a privilege!

Best regards
Frode Fanebust

Christmas celebration for poor children

Here are some photos from the Christmas celebration for more than 350 poor children in Tiquipaya, outside Cochabamba. Money for presents, cookies and milk were provided by sponsors of the Bolivia Family, including Round Table Sandnes.

Click for larger photos:

Creative contributions

It is Christmas time, and a lot of our sponsors are sending us contributions for which we are very thankful. However, at this time, we wanted to point out some of the more creative ways these contributions are being collected.

One involves the young gentlemen at Round Table in Sandnes. For those not in the know, Round Table is a large international association of men between the ages of 20 and 40, somewhat like (and quite different from) Rotary, Lions etc. With the adage "adopt, adapt, improve" this club has done exactly that with their former Christmas bingo. Now a Casino Royale with rulette and poker play - black suit and tie, of course - not only was all bets finally given to The Bolivia Family, but the club also matched this amount from their own kitty.

And here is another one: The company EB Marine has over numerous years had a practise of the company matching the bar tab at their Christmas party and giving this to The Bolivia Family! How is that for raising the bar..? :-)

There is also Sjøboden Pub in Mandal, where the tip is collected on behalf of our Bolivian children. Throughout the year, this adds up enough to run a kindergarten in La Paz, the Refugio del Amor!