Around the World with CFCA

The Happy Truck

December 22, 2009 at 12:09 pm Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) Leave a comment

Photos and story by the Cali project team in Colombia

Juan Pablo is an 8-year-old sponsored boy from the Cali project in Colombia. He attends a public school near his house.

Juan and his family live in a difficult financial situation in which they lack of many things, and one of them is toys. He is a very creative child who, with the help of his creative and handy mother, builds some improvised toys with recycled materials. Juan spends lots of time making toys and playing with them.

For his father, who is unemployed at the moment, Juan’s creativity has been a blessing, because when he wants toys and his father can’t afford them, they both find creative ways to make them.

We found Juan making a new cardboard toy truck, which he calls his “Happy Truck.” This is the process he uses to make this Happy Truck.

He finds cardboard of different sizes, colors and textures, usually these are used cardboard boxes he finds at the local dairy stores.

Here we present, step-by-step, the process to build a “Happy Truck.”

He uses a disposable plastic cup to draw the tires of the truck which will be painted black later in the process.

He cuts other pieces that will be used as the body of the truck. Once he finishes that, he paints the pieces red.

The tires he drew and cut earlier are now being painted – black, of course!

Another little box is needed to build the cabin of the truck, then all the pieces are glued together.

Windows are very important in his truck. Square pieces of white paper are used as windows.

Truck is ready and the fun begins.

The coloring material, glue and scissors are part of the school supplies that CFCA offers them every year, at the same time. Juan’s neighbors also give him material for his toys. This truck will last for a couple of weeks, so Juan already has more boxes to make another one of his Happy Creations.

Entry filed under: Around the World with CFCA, South America. Tags: aging, cfca, CFCA toys, children, christian, Colombia, poverty, South America, sponsor, sponsor a child, sponsorship, toys.