ON-LINE NEWS
PRESENTATION CEREMONY OF THE STORY “THE LITTLE SOLDIER LU”
Publication date : October 30, 2016
The presentation of the story “THE LITTLE SOLDIER LU” took place on Saturday 29. It is a Buddhist fable against the war, written by the President of the Foundation DAF, Armando Menéndez, and all the money raised will be used for scholarships for the girls from the slums of Mumbai.
After a brief presentation made by the collaborator Naciu Varillas, the President of the Foundation DAF, Armando Menéndez, took the floor and explained in an amicable and relaxed way the philosophy of the foundation as well as the message he wants to convey with this Buddhist fable, especially to the smaller ones. For this, he used examples from our daily life and the latest news of major importance to society such as bullying. During his speech, mainly directed to children, there were moments of humour, where Armando and his collaborators, disguised themselves as aliens to explain from a comical point of view but no less important, the fight we all can carry out in our daily life, to make this society a place where peace and harmony prevail.
As we have already announced, in this presentation we counted with the participation of Covadonga García, finalist of Masterchef Junior3, appointed Ambassador of DAF who explained with a very clear message her thoughts after reading the story “THE LITTLE SOLDIER LU”, inviting everyone to buy the book and thus be participants of the work being carried out by the Foundation DAF.
My name is Covadonga and for those who do not know me, I participated in the last edition of MASTERCHEF JUNIOR. The program was an incredible experience for me and thanks to it I have been able to participate in many activities, but none as rewarding as the FUNDACIÓN DAF.
This foundation called me to present the story THE LITTLE SOLDIER LU, and I was very excited because the money raised from the sale of this book will be used to help the girls from India and Nepal, who often live in a poverty-stricken environment, without the possibility of studying and working every day in very harsh conditions.
The book tells the story of Lu, a child monk who wants to leave his monastery, to fight in the war with his father and brother. The Abbot makes him see that the important thing is not to confront great wars, but to work on the small daily battles that are waged near us, the everyday wars: children rejected at school by their school mates, mistreated by their environment, grandparents who are alone, children harassed by networks. Helping the people we have close by with small gestures, listening to their problems, is our battle.
I would love to go to Nepal with Armando and help those girls there and maybe one day I will do it. But until then, I will try to wage my little battles. And I can collaborate with the Foundation Daf by disseminating initiatives like the one we present today. My recipes, my smile, my jokes… help brighten the lives of these girls a bit.
Well, I don’t want to be a pain in the neck, so. Thank you for coming. Thank you to the Foundation for giving me the opportunity to do something to help these children. And by heart I ask you, let’s make a better world possible, just as Lu would like it. One only has to fight the daily battles.
Thank you and enjoy the event. Ahhh! BUY MANY BOOKS!!!
Then we heard the poem “THE SAME HANDS” (written by Armando Menéndez), thanks to the collaboration of the schoolchildren of the Jovellanos and San Lorenzo schools as well as the scout group Keltikhé 635, who jointly read the poem, and in gratitude for their collaboration they received from the hands of the Vice President of the foundation, Mariana Menéndez, two copies, in different languages, of the story “THE LITTLE SOLDIER LU.” She also gave Covadonga García the Diploma “EMBASSADOR OF DAF”.
From here we want to thank both the collaborators who participated in this presentation as all the people who attended the event, supporting our FOUNDATION DAF. Thanks to all of them and their solidarity, we can carry out our objectives and thus help the girls and boys of India, Nepal, or Bhutan to be a little happier and ensure that they have a more dignified life.
You can see more images of this event in the following link of our photo gallery
