To Dissa, From José

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Te mando esta carta y este corazon.
"I send you this letter and this heart"

It was sunny and hot in Pantanal, the neighborhood where our school is, and the kids were having their English class with Francis, the beloved teacher. Like other volunteers, I was helping some of the kids finishing their exercise. We went to some tables to sit down and help them if they have some questions. We were doing numbers in English. Francis wrote down some number and the kids had to write it in English. Some kids did know what they were doing, so they came to us to confirm their answers, which mostly were correct. However, some weren't that fortunate. They didn't know how to say the numbers in English, let alone write them down. And José Lopez was one of them.

This cute 10 years old boy can write well and understand the what he needed to do to finish the exercise. He can spell 1-10 in english, he can say 100, 200 and other big numbers, but when we mix it, e.g 432 or 215, he gets confused. Instead of writing "two hundred fifteen", he wrote "twenty one five". So to finish his exercise, I tried to explain (with my broken spanish, of course) to him what to write and how to say "215".

There were 10 questions and although it was a bit slow, we managed to finish all. He looked very happy and I was too! Not only because I get to help him finish, but also because I get to learn how to say these numbers in Spanish, win win indeed! ;)

Anyway, what I didnt expect was at the end of the class, he came to me and gave me a folded paper. He didn't say anything and left straight away after I took the paper. I read it and this is what he wrote:


Te mando esta carta y este corazon
(I send you this letter and this heart)

Te amo Dissa mucho mas
(I love you Dissa so much)

Jose y Dissa 
(Jose and Dissa)

Te mando esta carta porque te quiero mucho mas.
(I sent you this letter because I love you very much)

Te amo mucho mas y te mando esta estrellas.
(I love you very much and I send you these stars)

Te amo mucho
(I love you so much)

Guess what? It's a love letter! Yay! Hahaha I got my first love letter from José :)
He drew a heart, lots of stars, and our name in every available space.

He is such a sweetheart and his letter made my day. I didn't know why our simple tutoring session can make him write this cute letter. This is the most "te amo"s I got in a letter, haha.

And that is why, I love these children. José's love letter is just one of many thank you notes we, the volunteers, receive every week. Some of them draw very well and made us cards on Friday fun day. One girl made me a drawing of a princess wearing a tiara and beautiful dress, she wrote "You are beautiful" on it.

:')

We got some talented artists in the house, and I'm keeping these.

Although it is just in a simple letter, their sweet words really give me power to go through the day. I am keeping each one of letters, drawings and cards they gave me to remind me that this thing I do, although I don't think it's big, gives them smiles. The hugs and love we give make them laugh. Those little things are what keeping us strong, even during stormy days in Granada ;)


So with this job, with these children, in every beginning of the week I can proudly say "Thank God it's Monday"!

Meet José Lopez, this cutie wrote the sweetest letter I have ever received :)

besos xx

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