Happy Birthday Eliza

ELIZA IS
5!!!

It seems like you have been five for a long time. We can’t believe you are only turning five today, because you have been smart enough for five since you were three!!

We are sending you some pictures with a birthday wish from a girl who has your same name. Eliza. She is only turning 3, not five, but she too is smarter than her age. She is a girl who goes to church with us.

When we asked her Mom and Dad if we could come take her picture for your birthday email, they said yes and they dressed her in her fanciest dress so she would look her prettiest to wish you happy birthday,








Girls and boys here live in very small houses and they do not have hot water in their houses. If they want hot water for washing their dishes, they make a fire and put a pot of water over the fire and heat the water till it is hot. So, most children do not get warm showers. They stand in a bucket and their mom or dad pours water over their heads to rinse off the soap and shampoo.







Eliza's favorite toy is her Hello Kitty which is in the picture. It stays on a high shelf in her house and can only come down on special occasions, like today for your birthday.
Because her name is the same as yours, she reminds us of you, even though she looks very different. Her mom and Auntie call her Lyly for short, or Ely

Did you know that there are almost no horses on the island where we live? We only saw one horse and it was a little kind of horse and it was pulling a cart with a man in the cart and the man was earning money by taking people places in his pony cart. I wish we had a picture for you to see it. Other than that we never saw a horse here. The people here have cows (baca)—but their cows are different than ours—and they have caribou, which looks like a big bull with horns—even the girl ones have horns— and lots of goats (kanding), pigs (baboy), and chickens (manok), but no horses anywhere that’s why I never learned the word for horse here.

Kids here don’t have much time to play because their schools are very long and very strict, and when school and homework is done there is still not much time for play, because there is much work to be done, like feed the chickens and the pig, go buy the charcoal to cook dinner with, and then start the fire and cook the rice for dinner. Even little kids your age do important things to help their family, like buying food at the little store near their house.

But when they do play, they like to swim in the rivers, fly kites, go fishing, and play with toys. They don’t have hardly any toys, but some have dolls, stuffed animals, or trucks.

We are so happy when we hear about what you are doing—your riding lessons and everything, so, thank you for your letters when your mom writes us emails.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ELIZA!!!

From Grammy and Grampy