When we were all settled in I told Dorcas I had a bag with some nice goodies for her, I asked her if I could show her these goodies, I brought out the goodie bag from under the table and I pulled out a dolly, a pink necklace, a pink band for her head and a little Hannah Montanna pencil bag with pens, pencils etc with a notepad and a Barbie book. She quickly opened up her arms with such delight when she saw the dolly and she hugged it close to her, I then showed her the Barbie book and she grabbed it and flicked through the pages grinning from ear to ear. Our waiter then came to take our food order and he asked the girls if they would like to make their own pizzas… WOW!!! All three of them got very excited.

Mom and Dad kept thanking me for the wonderful lunch and the goodies that were given to Dorcas. Once our food had settled a bit, I asked the waiter to bring out the BARBIE cake that RFAD had organized for Dorcas.

Dorcas’ eyes were so big and her mom just kept saying ‘wow, she has never had a cake like this’. Once we had wrapped up lunch, we were to make our way to Sandton City to spoil this little princess rotten and fulfill her DREAM!  RFAD organized a real Barbie to surprise Dorcas at Toys R us and to help her experience a once in a lifetime Barbie shopping spree. After a 5 minute walk to Toys R Us, we reached the entrance and I asked Mom and Dad to distract Dorcas for a few seconds outside the shop as I quietly slipped away. I quickly went to the manager and asked her to signal to Barbie who was in a back room that we had arrived and that she could slowly start making her way to the entrance.

 

I went back out to the family, we entered the shop and as we entered I knelt down to Dorcas and said to her ‘So Dorcas you have told us how much you LOVE Barbie, just IMAGINE how cool it would be if the real Barbie came here especially for you to help you shop for your favorite Toys’. As I finished talking to her, out came BARBIE, she wasn’t quite sure what to do when Barbie approached her, Barbie knelt down to say hello and Dorcas was studying this Ladies face right down to her finest eye lash with a shy grin on her face. Once she felt comfortable she then took a hold of Barbie’s Hand skipping down the aisle and off they went shopping. When I returned to Dorcas after about 10 minutes, she was already shopping up a storm, this child had a look on her face that was priceless, she was so overwhelmed by all these toys that she just wanted everything… we had two little trolleys and she was just putting item after item into them… ha ha just too cute!

After we made the purchase, we put a princess crown on her with some clip on earrings which made her feel SO special and look absolutely gorgeous. We put her on a table with all her gifts around her which made her feel like she was on top of the world!

This was my first Dream, and it was so special and AWESOME to see this little girl getting her dream fulfilled. I am sure she will never forget it and I hope it was everything she dreamed it to be

Love,
Shirley Rees
Reach for a Dream Volunteer