Little Reading Budha project

A quick update to all . Thank you to tecnicil and Atmos (Vila Verde) for the support and help re storage as we were late on distributing things.... and you have been amazing.! Thank you to Carlos from Carlos Cruz Tours - Your friend in Sal, Ann Lovell for being there all the time supporting me and Gustavo Lima Cardoso! duarte from centro noz Kasa (ICCA) for the trust and help and to Discovery tours, Frank transport for the support with trasport for the distribution! We are now almost done witht the distribution we gave away things to individual families in need located at Norte de Sao Paulo and Casa para todos in Santa Maria, we gifted things to ICCA and Noz Kasa project, also distributed toys with the help of Matchu to Palha verde families, and other informal settlements where children felt amazed with the presents. The church of Nazareno and the Adventist church received many clothe items to be distributed to the most vulnerables and also CODE CV that supports 29 children through their projects were blessed with clothe, materials, toys . Thank you all so much for your help!!!!! BLESS YOU ALL! I am posting today´s pictures shortly

A segunda parte da carga chegou.... de momento tenho um armazem cedido pela Agua Hotels, Vila Verde e Tecnicil onde guardo com carinho tudo o que voces ajudaram a trazer para esta ilha. A logistica tem sido mais dificil do que eu pensava a nivel de distribuiçao mas sempre a aprender :-) em breve espero conseguir transformar Janeiro num novo periodo de Natal para muitos salenses e cabo verdeanos. Um bem haja a todos pela ajuda e por toda a confiança e generosidade. Grata em nome de todos. Feliz Natal

Livros, livros e mais livros ! Obrigada a todos !!!!!!! Ja temos conteudo para a biblioteca! Se vierem de ferias ao Sal ja sabem :-) tragam uns quantos na mala ou doaçoes ! Serao bem vindos ! Gratidao

Today i have started sharing the clothe and shoes for so many families. YOU have HELPED already 6 families which have had no work for almost two years and have many children to look after. For alto de santa cruz clothe and shoes were taken for 10 children, two of them orfans, for santa maria a family with 6 children whose parents have been unemployed for more then a year, a family with two newborn twins and a 4 year old and a 14 which parents also been unemployed for almost 2 years. We've also helped a pregnant mum with newborn clothe and three single mums from norte de sao paulo in santa maria with 3 children and a new born baby. BLESS YOU ALL. THANK YOU

Today the 2nd 10m3 of donations from Portugal arrived to the island just on time to get the donations ready for Xmas ! I am still looking for volunteers to help out but I am sure all will be well. Regarding the fundraising of money will update tomorrow but I am almost sure that we managed or got pretty close !
Thank you all

Primeiros 10m3

In between emotions
From day one as always I did not think. Or better saying I just thought all was possible if we want and work together ... hence I just did it and trusted. I spoke with so many of you.n I got so many of you involved in my craziness and we got so many things shipped thanks to your heart and soul, trust and believe. We all want to impact the world, to make it a better place and sometimes we don´t know how to go about it. and I humbly say that this maybe is not the best way of doing it , but at least is one attempt. A way of doing something. I hope in the end, despite of disappointments, that come along, that my heart shouts happiness ... that we did our part ... even if is a grain of sand in the ocean ... I have learned so much ... I have learned I need also to set limits as I am not the super woman (and on that I thank you all for being part of this lesson). I also learned that many say they want to do things for others ... but in the end they don´t ... it doesn´t come out of words... but I learned also that there are so many willing to give ... their time, their skills, their things and even their money. We made mistakes, and maybe we are still doing those, but we are TRYING TO GET IT RIGHT . So thank you for trusting the intentions and helping with achieving the results. Thank you for wanting to brainstorm for better solutions. Thank you for creating the platform for change ... even if takes long am GRATEFUL for each and one of you not just in my live but also on the missions of projects! I am exhausted, happy, learning and wanting to be better. Love to all of you

Seventeenth phase
So we got the cargo , half of it, money to pay the transport company thanks to may of you guys ( UK, Alexandre Lopes; Alma foundation; Escuteiros do Porto, and many friends we made it !) and is now time to take it out of the port! We were blessed to have the support from Camara Municipal do Sal with the transport, from the diretor of the Ports, from Noz Kasa staff. Thanks to Atmos and Agua Hotel together with Tecnicil we got a warehouse to store, list, organize and distribut! And thanks to Lovel and we got volunteers to help opening the boxes and spread the donations to see what to give to the families. This was the first step of a process that is still on going to date! We now are waiting for the next 10m3......

Sixteenth phase
A facebook post, a fundraising page, many private messages to my network and suddenly things started unfolding. People understood, trusted and believe in me and the project. People still wanted to help even the ones that never met me ! Graça Lobo a special thank you to you and to José Santana - my mum´s good friend- who in 2 hours saved me and secured with his own money a great part of the transport cost, allowing me to breath, not give up and keep going. I even have goose pumps and tears in my eyes when I remember your heart, your generosity and help. My personal friends contributed with little (as they put it ) but that it was so much for me ! If I was already thankful for the generosity of Francisco Quitéria and my family, gratitude was all that kept coming to my mind when I started receiving the donations (which to date are still arriving from people that love me and do not want me to have a financial loss with this project). So GRATEFUL!

Fifteenth phase
So deep breath and go go go ! That was my moto. Plus believe and trust (as a friend of mine always says the caos will organize itself for what needs to happen).
We took the things to the warehouse where the Arnaud team were amazing ! They helped us unload, they helped us cover the boxes, they allowed us to use their space in the warehouse to organize the pallets. They helped us do and redo the pallets to ensure they had the right shape, size and weight. Bless them one more time for always being there with an open heart even when they are so busy !
We made it ! all paletts sorted and done ! Now time for page, fundraise, thanks and letting people know that ... I need help for the transport cost.....

Thirteenth phase
Time to take things to Arnaud and once again partner with them to bring things to Sal. Theoretically we had the transport costs covered through a mecenas... but suddenly we didn´t. So what do you do ? In Lisbon with a rented truck full of things, three days before my plane to Sal.... it was time to take a leap of faith ... and I did. I will ship and post fundraise to minimize my cost. My thought was it was my idea, despite of promises not being filled, I was the one triggering all of this so I will take responsibility if I cant cover the cost ... but my heart was hopeful...

Twelfth phase
70 days after and I had a truck with around 18m3 to take from Lagos to Lisbon! And still had to collect things along the way in Lisbon and surrounding areas. So many toys, books, clothing, school material, shoes, household goods, and others... all over the country people believed in the project. And that gave me the fuel I needed to keep going, driving at night to pick up things after working hours from some people, from garages, from houses. As much as I wanted to fill a boat with things I finally accepted I needed to say no ... to more donations. We were with 20m3 already ...

Eleventh phase
When calls started arriving my time stopped and the next 90 days in Portugal became absorbed by this little fundraising that I thought I was doing. A friend (the amazing soul from Cabo Verde that has been helping with the refurbishment) borrowed me his car for this time, free of charge which allowed me to collect items from everywhere and still do bits of my personal life (which in the beginning were my first goal when I went to Portugal :-) lol); My mum and my father and my brother became the angels who supported me through. My mum´s garage becaeme a warehouse, her living room the office space to run through donations and list them every night whilst watching tv, my dad and my brother helped with the boxes, their network allowed me to bring things from Lagos to Lisbon with no cost (due to the donation of the transport by Francisco Quitéria company and the good will of the Junta de Freguesia de Lagos). We spent days boxing things and my dad became my driver and my assistant on carrying the boxes and making sure the packages arrived safely to Arnaud in Lisbon. I ran from town to town in the algarve , Lagos, Portimao and even Martinlongo a small village in the Algarve wanted to help and I couldnt say no). Even my 91 grandmother donated some things ! I felt really that we are all one.

Tenth phase
A couple of days later from my post I had already received dozens of answers from my personal network and community. Youth and childhood friends mobilized, people from Lagos which I didn't know, Lisbon and all around the country (Viseu even), my parents, my parents friends just started arriving with bags and bags full of amazing things to be shared in Sal Island through the vulnerable communities. This was in August and I am still receiving enquiries about when am I doing another collection . It´s heart warming to see how many of us wish to make the world better and are willing to help those in another part of the world. Bless and Namaste Sat Nam to all of you. My heart was full (and it is) of gratitude and hope.

Ninth phase
Summer 2021 hit and I went to Portugal. Facing the reality that we have so much in the west which we don´t value and do not know what to do with ... the idea (from many years) of getting donated items to equip the space and the library came and very quickly came to live. A facebook post and a couple of shares asking for donations for children and families in Cabo Verde, Sal Island got an involvement from the Portuguese community which was overwhelming....

Eight Phase
Further to so many contacts we secured the construction of a bathroom with showers for the children, a kitchen storage all fitted by a local constructor. We also managed to secure the tiles for the 60m2 room, and labour for the refurbishment of the space! This was step one of MAKING IT REAL! We are still creating the conditions for these teams to start the work but we are getting there!

Seventh phase
So ... we had the idea, the space, the target and the network to find ways of taking the project out of paper. We needed things and money. From our previous projects we had met a lot of amazing souls, from my private live I was also blessed with being surrounded with so many amazing and giving souls that care (or give a sh**t as sometimes is said). One of them had been working during the pandemic with us, wanting to make an impact on the community and bring the youth and children of his country to a level of integral development. Through our networks we are managing to slowly get the resources to bring the project to live!

Sixth phase
Further to the conception of the idea we started brainstorming about space and how to make the dream real. Due to the lack of social infrastructures with the characteristics that the project required we thought out of the box and decided that we could create a multi functional room where there would be a library (also on the Nos Kaza bucket list for a couple of years). The space was found within the existing Kim Barbosa community centre in the centre of Santa Maria and the idea started to materialize.

Fifth Phase
It had been more then 3 years of my first cooperation with the Nos Kasa center and one day in a friendly conversation with the project responsible Aldir Duarte, we came up with the idea of creating a holistic room for the children where they could have a safe space, a nest, a place where they could zone out of the buzz of their lives and also feel loved, cared and taken care of by people that wish to help them develop as the future of not just this country but of the world, providing them with tool and opportunities. This was the first seed for the project that we are now implementing

Fourth phase
Further to the success of the yoga with children other initiatives of yoga for the community arose. Further to my certification as a Baptiste Yoga - Power Yoga teacher with Africa Yoga Project I partnered with Carlos from Carlos Cruz Tours - Your friend in Sal, who is a cape verdean born in Santa Maria and that also did the training as a yoga teacher with the same project, becoming the first certified Power Yoga teacher of Cape Verde. Together we guided yoga classes in the community (basketball teams, running groups, ladies sports group) and created the Sal Yoginis project. This project aimed to bring yoga to young women that live in the most disadvantaged areas of Santa Maria. For 6 months we taught, laughed, loved and connected, spreading the benefits of Yoga and understanding more and more the vulnerable community.

Third phase
Covid hit the world and an amazing group of individual souls got together for one and a half years to support the family of these children. The "No Ta Junt Santa Maria" project was born and the team from the non profit Nos Kaza UK, Sal and Code got together with a bunch of residents of the Santa Maria community for together with local and international businesses and individuals support the 86 families (more then 400 people) with monthly food baskets which helped them to feel loved and support through the hard times of the pandemic and absence of tourism.

Second phase
The yoga classes increased the connection between my self, the Nos Kasa children and leadership as well as with the local community. Weekly yoga classes were challenging with children that have so much within that struggle to contain the energy and share it in a peaceful and connected way. The classes were held at Kim Barbosa School, where the children go to to get educational support, meals, play and where they feel loved and safe away from the streets. Namaste was said in the morning by the children as a way of connection with me, the practice and with each other. OM mantra was sang in the end of every class and relaxation was a victory when the children finally managed to be still and in silence. The all project was a challenge and also a bless.

First Phase
The cooperation between me and Nos Kaza project and center started a couple of years ago when I arrived to Santa Maria, Sal Island, Cape Verde. Further to my yoga path I felt the will to share this passion and make it accessible to the children at risk being taken care by Nos Kaza. This was the start of not only a uninterested partnership but also a friendship with all that cooperate and lead the amazing Nos Kasa project.