Expats.cz Angel Tree 2008

This year the Expats.cz Angel Tree project is for an under funded orphanage in Belarus to get some decent toys/equipment to the children.

The organizers of the group, Masha and Ira are gathering up donated children´s clothing, washing and ironing everything, then shipping it off to places in Belarus and the Ukraine where it is very badly needed.

I encourage anyone with too much outgrown clothes on their hands to do the same. The pictures you can see later are evidence that the item meets its mark, and seeing the children in outfits once worn by your own child warms the heart and (if you´re mushy like me) brings a tear. It´s a very well run project, from the heart – and the never big enough homes of the founders.

The children in this particular orphanage are, for one thing, very young (many are babies) and many don´t have the exposure to the kind of TV/shopping/commercialism that could enable them to make informed choices. So we asked the people who run the house what they recommend we do and they came back to us with their wish list. These are toys that all the children can play with, together.

We offered them an Ikea catalogue and they were impressed (they don´t have that there) and chose the items listed below.

The basic idea is to avoid electronic toys that consume expensive batteries, “violent” toys like guns and military paraphernalia or toys with many small bits  that can get lost or end up in the babies’ mouths. That isn´t to say that all the toys have to be for the 3 and under set, as the babies won´t be playing unsupervised with the older kids – just try to avoid things like puzzles with 1000 pieces and board games that are unplayable if certain small bits get lost.

Christmas is a very religious holiday where they live, and falls on January 7th. Given the later date, the limited amount of time we all have during this season and the late start we´re getting this year, we are going to our best to get things by then, but transport in the past has fallen to friendly bus drivers or truckers with space to spare and that is rarely the case during the holidays so we may have to wait until after the Christmas crush to get the entire load of goodies to the destination. If someone out here is able to help us out in the form of ground transport, that would be better still. Maybe we´ll get lucky.

Here is the wish list – please, if you would like to contribute to our project by providing one of these items let me know at the email address below.

If you wish to donate something from your home that you think would be better appreciated there, that´s also ok. 

Please do not wrap the gifts (but you may, leave a note or card of course!). Thank you for your support!