Dear Friends, Patrons and Colleagues,

At 12 years old, children like Manuel Mendes Tavares (Nee) has had his childhood robbed and his future is now in jeopardy. Nee is one of six siblings left parentless, as a result of the A.I.D.S. pandemic. The children all live in a shell of a house, without furniture and sleep on blankets. Today, neither Nee nor his siblings attend school, a situation that Nee told us is very common in Santa Cruz (Cape Verde). "First you must find a way to eat before you worry about education,” he said. When asked if he had a message for the emigrant community, Nee went into a deep silence, looked down on the ground with tears streaming down his glazed eyes, and found enough composure to say, "Tell them to help me go to school."

Nee represents an overwhelmingly number of Capeverdean children who live in poverty, with limited access to daily nourishment, adequate water supplies, health care, and education. We have founded the Cabo Verde Children Project to help alleviate the deprivation of Capeverdean children and to provide nutrition, education, and medical assistance. While there are a number of children in the database (500) and already being sponsored, there are numerous more who are not a part of the database, and therefore not being reached. We are now in the phase where the further success of the CVChildren Project involves expanding the database and increasing the capacity of our efforts. This will require a Program Coordinator, who will be based in Cabo Verde.

QuaVardis Gomes, of Capeverdean descent and an educator with elementary school children in Boston Public schools, has taken a year off her studies towards her Masters Degree to volunteer her time as an in-kind donation, to be Program Coordinator in Cabo Verde.

We are estimating that QuaVardis will need one year in Cabo Verde to obtain the additional data from each of the nine inhabited Islands. Her responsibility will be to acquire photos and data of children from each village and upload to our headquarters in Brockton, MA. In addition, she will oversee that families of sponsored children properly receive their funds and further develop the network of associates in Cape Verde, who are currently providing the CV Children Project with data. While the in kind donation of QuaVardis’ time offsets the majority of the salary this position would ordinarily require, we are estimating the need for $25,000 to $35,000 in grants and private donations, to bridge the gap of basic needs, transportation and upkeep of equipment, etc.

We are asking your support to help us further increase the capacity of our services to children in Cabo Verde. An amount of $500 or more will list you as a Partner of Cabo Verde Children and promote your organization on our website with a link to your organization’s website if you have one. An amount of $250, will list you as a Supporter, and $75 will list you as a Friend. All donation amounts will be acknowledged and welcomed.

We welcome your involvement and thank you in advance, for your support.


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