COLOMBIA | TOM SAWYER HOUSE

Many children have touched our hearts during our travels, and there are children in other countries that play a big part in Kalalou's giving back policy. One trip to Colombia was the closest we had ever come to bringing a child home with us, but fate had a different idea. He was a nine year old boy selling fossils on the side of the road. His light hair, green eyes, and freckles were an anomaly in Colombia; and he wore a floppy hat that put the finishing touch on our nickname for him... Tom Sawyer.

That day an omen hovered in the air waiting for us to recognize it and make it reality. It didn't turn out exactly like we thought, but omens often have their own agendas.

Our thoughts kept going back to Tom Sawyer; and after receiving a phone call from our agent's wife who had a vision about the little boy that captured our hearts, we decided to research his situation.

We learned that Tom Sawyer, whose real name is Adres Filipe, was not an orphan and was certainly not alone with seven brothers and sisters, a grandfather, and most importantly a mother who loved him. All ten lived in a two room mud floor house with no plumbing. It was located in a tiny village where jobs were all but non-existent. There was no money for even the barest of necessities, and the children did not go to school because of a $10 fee. Their clothes were tattered and their diet consisted mainly of potatoes. The omen was beginning to reveal it's purpose.

Further investigation proved the mother was an expert crocheter. The job was immediately given to her to make as many purses as she could, and Kalalou would buy all of her production. By purchasing the bags, her customers are not only supporting a tiny business, but giving a mother of eight a sense of self worth and the means to support her family. The project now includes the sister-in-law and other needy mothers.

Today the kids are in school, there are new clothes for all and plenty of nutritious food. And, 2005 saw the completion of a brand new three bedroom house with running water (a first for them) constructed near the old mud house. Tom Sawyer did not come home with us, so we brought the home to Tom Sawyer. Life works in strange ways. You don't always get what you what... sometimes you get even more.

UPDATESummer 2011
Andres (Tom Sawyer) graduated high school this year with honors. He will be attending university through the Doug and Susan's Kids Foundation and majoring in Petroleum Engineering.