A LITTLE girl with a blood disorder had her dream of a shopping spree come true thanks to Reach for a Dream and the Herald Greenacres Miss Port Elizabeth Di-Anne Qoto.

Last week Di-Anne, armed with shopping vouchers paid for through donations to Reach for a Dream, took nine-year-old Xabisa Manyashe and her mother Nomthandazo on a trip through Greenacres Shopping Centre where Xabisa could shop till she dropped.

Xabisa suffers from a blood disorder and spends much of her time receiving treatment at the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital. She lives in Uitenhage’s Langa Township with her two siblings and parents who have been unemployed and hence not able to afford to buy Xabisa any new clothes.

Xabisa says her parents are her heroes because they take care of her when she is sick, but although she appreciates what they do for her and understands her family’s financial situation, the shy girl has always dreamt of having new beautiful clothes like her friends at school.

Reach for a Dream collected money to make the dream come true, and to make the experience even more special they enlisted the help of Miss Port Elizabeth.

“It was a great experience and it was amazing seeing Xabisa’s face light up as we shopped; we really had a lot of fun,” said Di-Anne last week.

Di-Anne, who loves shopping, helped Xabisa pick out clothes but she already knew what she wanted. The most important things on her list were a pair of jeans, underwear and a summer dress.

Wherever the group went staff members were friendly, going out of their way to help and Xabisa even received a bracelet as a gift from one of the stores.

At the end of the day a teary -eyed Nomthandazo thanked Reach for a Dream for making her daughter’s wish come true, saying that they had done something she wanted to do but could not.

“Reach for a Dream does amazing work and I hope they have the strength to carry on,” said Nomthandazo.

Reach for a Dream branch manager Inge Human said Xabisa could not contain her excitement on her way back home.

“Her beautiful smile said it all and when I dropped them off at home she still had stars in her eyes. She even packed out all the clothes on the seats in the car to show us,” said Inge.