gift for a Dominican child

Hello! My name's Shiloh and I'm from the United States. I've been sponsoring a 14 year old girl named Yusmery from the Dominican Republic (she lives in Santiago with her family) for three years now, and just yesterday I found out that Children International (the sponsorship organization) has changed their policies and I can actually send Yusmery a gift for Christmas and her birthday. Up until now, I've just sent flat things like packets of stickers, postcards, photographs, drawings, a bookmark, a bracelet I wove, a little Advent calendar when I lived in Austria, etc. I know that she loves art and drawing and she likes to read. I'm going to send her the series The Chronicles of Narnia (in Spanish, of course) because those are some of my favorite books (loved them when I was little and now that I'm an adult), she's old enough to read them by herself, I think she'd enjoy the story, and she could read them to her younger brothers and sister. There are six books in the series so I'd send them one or two at a time. Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what a Dominican girl would like to have, for future reference? Some ideas I have are a sketch book and colored pencils and a little paint kit since she likes art, an origami kit with paper (you can make origami without having to read any instructions so I wouldn't need to find a Spanish origami book, and I liked origami when I was little, plus she could share with her friends), a T-shirt, a blank journal so she can write her thoughts down every day, a teddy bear, a solar calculator because she likes math... Does anyone have any ideas (preferably for things she can share with her siblings and friends), and how do these possibilities sound? Thank you very much!
-Shiloh

Jimmydr said:

I sponser two kids and I actually took one and her mother shopping in Santo Domingo in December 2002.

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Hi there! I sponsor two also, the other little girl is from India and it's with a different organization. What kind of things did the girl and her mother choose? Maybe that would give me an idea. I'd love to go to the Dominican Republic someday, it sounds like a beautiful place. I've been to 8 countries in Europe, including Austria for a year (was a foreign exchange student), as well as Greece, but never to South or Central America (or any of the islands). Back when I was choosing which country to go to for the year, my first choice was actually Venezuela. I'd like to go to the Dominican Republic sometime and it would be great to visit Yusmery. Do you live in the Dominican Republic? I'm 19 and was 13 when I started sponsoring and chose the Dominican Republic after doing a bit of research. The family of the girl I was originally sponsoring, her name was Yanet, moved away and I've been Yusmery's sponsor since then.