Hello
I´m Pandora, the author of Not Just A Day In Paraguay. I have always wanted to share my adoption story simply because it´s a beautiful and happy story to tell. Documenting my return to rural Paraguay and, against all the odds, finding my biological family - my story is where the everyday meets the extraordinary. But in making this book it became even more than that. It became not just my story, my background and my photographs from Paraguay; but my way of giving back to my family and to the world.
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At first, my mission began with seeking to improve representation of a place otherwise often unseen, next, it lead me to questioning some of the rigid ideas around identity, and then onto digging deeper into the interconnectedness of what it means to be human. I hope that you will find your own sparks of connection with my story and join me with supporting the people at it´s heart.
Making of the book
I wrote and created most of this book between 2017 and 2019. Then, after moving countries, changing my career from physiotherapy to being a software engineer in Healthcare Tech, getting married and having 2 children, I only return to finish and publish it in 2025.
This pause allowed me to bring an analytical perspective to the deeply personal journey and it was fascinating to observe the rapid changes in social media and technology since the time of writing my first drafts.
There was so much I originally wanted to pack into this book, and therefore so much that was left out, like my volunteer healthcare work with indigenous communities and in the city, travels across the border and life in general outside of my direct family´s house. So many stories that I will have to save for another day!​​
Fundraising
My goal for this 1st edition of the book has always been clear; to publish my story as both a hardcover photobook and free e-reader. And I want my family to benefit from this project, as it is their pictures and their lives that have made the story so captivating, and because they need it the most - they need support now more than ever.
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How will I use the proceeds raised?
The two campaigns (EUR and GBP) will run side by side until Christmas 2025, when I am next travelling to Paraguay. I will put the campaign money together with the profits from the hardcopy books (6€ per book). After covering the costs of the project, 100% of the profits will go directly to my family to be spent on building a proper brick toilet, a cow, chickens, and fishing gear for long-term self-sufficiency, food, clothes, and essentials for the children, medication for my brother´s epilepsy, a fridge and other basics ammenities that will significantly improve daily life and even seed money to set up a family-run business. I will use some funds to continue the legacy of this project, with a Spanish version, keeping the website up, and potential extended creative projects. After that, if the campaigns surpass their target goals, I will increase the targets to be able to give even more back to my family, and work towards the dream of helping my mother build her first ever house made of bricks.