Giving Back to the Community

Since we started our adventures we’ve met so many wonderful positive generous people – it has been such a joy!  We have been welcomed by everyone we have met – especially the people from Pipa. and this past weekend we attended a wedding of a wonderful multi national couple – Marcia from Brazil and Frank from the Netherlands.

We met these two beautiful people a couple of weeks after we got to Pipa, and within a few days they had invited us to their wedding!  We were obviously delighted to be included in their special day, however we were at a loss to know what to get them for a wedding gift.

We asked them if they had a gift list and they said no…they had an arrangement with the largest supermarket in Praia da Pipa to make packages of non perishable food stuffs so they could give them to the less fortunate people in a village called Umari – located in between Tibau do Sol and Goaninha.  The village is on the border of the two districts and as a result of it’s location it is forgotten by the authorities.  Many people in the village are living well below the poverty line and life is an ongoing battle for these residents.

The guests at Marcia & Frank’s wedding were invited to purchase food hampers – 50 Reais (about $30 AUD) – worth of non perishable food products that will be delivered to the village when Marcia & Frank return from their honeymoon.

Marcia created 85 cards to the supermarket to give to guests when they purchased the goods – and the supermarket ended up printing their own version of the cards as the 85 were sold a couple of days before the wedding.

This wonderful gesture by these two beautiful people, which will have a massive positive impact on the lives of the people of Umari, inspired a 9 year old boy from the Netherlands to do something equally generous and inspiring.   Frank’s nephew, when told of the plight of the village, decided to save all his pocket money so that he could give the children something too!  With the money he saved he bought soccer balls for the kids in the village.

More than 100 families will receive a food hamper and soccer balls will be kicked in the streets by kids who are used to creating soccer balls from crumpled paper, thanks to Frank & Marcia’s generosity and their willingness to give back to their community.

I am so grateful that we came to Praia da Pipa and had the good fortune to meet so many wonderful giving people.  To be part of Marcia & Frank’s wedding and seeing the love they share was fantastic.

For more photo’s of Marcia & Franks wedding check our Facebook page – Ray & Deb’s Excellent Adventures (‘like’ it if you like it! )

I would love to hear your thoughts about this gesture – has anyone you know done anything like this for their wedding??

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