Painting the common room

     Coming up with a solution was a difficult step for us. We had tons of ideas, but eventually had to divide them into four sections, which were to brighten the rooms, develop their facility, provide school supplies and interact with the girls. We wanted to give these girls the sense that they were worthy of a nice place to live, and we understood the impact that surroundings and color can have on a person, so we decided to brighten the rooms by painting them with vivid colors. We also thought about developing and improving the facility by providing some furniture that was badly needed. Donated chairs were fixed and varnished, and put in their study room. We also purchased a table to place near the cushioned bench, since they didn’t have enough sitting space for all the girls to eat without a lot of commotion. Finally, we installed shelves in their study room, helping them organize themselves better and giving them more space to work with. When we realized that school supplies were in short supply, we decided to meet this need in a playful and fun way. We scheduled a card day where we got the chance to interact with the girls, sharing different ideas and creating beautiful cards. For this, we bought supplies that could both be used during the card day, and then left behind for future use on school, projects or in their free time.  Surprisingly, when the card day was set for a specific date, we found out that one of the girls at the site was turning 14 and we were able to use this opportunity to help them celebrate it and make it a special day for her.