CHILEAN TIES

Summer 2010

Highlights

• Visiting people and places important in the life of your child
• Ties Program "Talk Times"
• Child Friendly and "Adoption Aware"

Chilean Ties is about celebrating  memories while creating new ones.  Santiago is a cosmopolitan city rich in history.   You’ll hear about the people who shaped Chilean history while visiting the Catedral and La Moneda Presidential Palace.  The group then travels north to La Serena, Chile’s second oldest city, and the neighboring Elqui Valley.  You’ll travel from one end of Chile to the other as you fly south to Puerto Montt, to experience the breathtaking beauty of the Lake District including a lake crossing by catamaran.  You’ll also be able to get your feet wet in the Pacific Ocean when spending a day in the port city of Valparaiso and the resort area of Vina del Mar.

Chilean Ties is so much more than the places seen – it is also the people your family meets.  An impromptu game of soccer with the children at the SOS Village or skipping rope at the Santiago Home for Girls adds a special richness to the journey.  You’ll talk to students at a school and learn about family life when visiting a home. Traveling with you throughout the journey is a Chilean national guide, whose insight, warmth and knowledge add greatly to the experience.  These encounters and others seem to instill a new sense of pride in the children for their heritage.  Plus the friendships that grow between families makes it that much more fun.

Most parents have vivid memories of traveling to Chile to bring home their son or daughter. Stories seem to come alive for your child about that special time as you visit a favorite restaurant or walk down a familiar street. You may also  remember Chileans who were important early in your chilld’s life.Visiting with a foster mother or translator may be possible while traveling with Chilean Ties.

Traveling as a family to your child’s country of birth fosters understanding, nurtures pride and creates memories.  We hope that after your participation in Chilean Ties you will smile when seeing the moon and say:  “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on another part of the world.”

READ WHAT FAMILIES HAVE TO SAY:

How would you describe Chilean Ties to a friend?  "Words can't describe how wonderful this has been for me."     ~Ashley Husby, age 16

"Exciting, unforgettable, fun and making friendships that will last a lifetime," is how I would describe Chilean Ties to a friend.  ~Natalie Wolf, age 15

The most meaningful part of the journey to me was "the discovery by our daughter that she has 'two homes' as she describes it."  ~Michele Sumara

For more information, contact Bea Evans.