12 Days of Giving

Every year at our school, the “The 12 Days of Giving” celebrate the beginning of the holiday season. Similar to the angel trees in the States, the 12 Days of Giving asks students, teachers and staff to provide holiday gifts for children in our greater community. This year, an aboriginal school in the mountains is being sponsored.

Gingerbread men adorn the wall of the main building complete with tags ripe for the picking. Our plucked tag revealed that we are sponsoring a 1st grader who has requested a Barbie with clothes. Now, I am thinking this means a Barbie with some extra clothes-but I could be mistaken. Can you even buy a Barbie without clothes? hmmm. .. . 

On Sunday the girls, Frank and myself made the trek to the mall. UGH, not the place we choose to spend our time, but it was for a worthy cause. Now the malls in Taiwan are unlike any mall I have ever seen before-they are HUGE! Each floor has it’s own focus. So, there’s the sports floor, the women’s clothing floor and. . .the toy floor. (Bathrooms are also themed on various floors.)To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement. We quickly made our way to the first store on the floor and were lucky enough to find the Barbie section with relative ease. My first shock was at the lack of variety (every single one was Caucasian), the second was the price-50 USD for one doll! Seriously? We quickly chose one that seemed to have a glam, Taiwan fab motif and were off!

Now, we are aware that one Barbie doesn’t even begin to repay what we have been given, but it is a start and to that little girl, it may mean a lot. It also helps remind us that we have an excess of what we need and have been blessed over and over again. Our girls are going to grow up in an environment where hopefully, they will have very little struggles. As they do, we want them to keep in mind how lucky we are and do what we can to help out others wherever possible.