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    COVID-19, cancer can't stop Mrs Santa Claus in Brazil

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    Saturday, June 25, 2022
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    COVID-19, cancer can't stop Mrs Santa Claus in Brazil

    Fatima Sanson has spent nearly five decades doing charitable work in impoverished areas


    Published:  December 11, 2020 13:10 AFP  and  Compiled by Christian Borbon, Senior Web Editor

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    Copy of 157609-01-02-1607589049217
    Despite the coronavirus pandemic and her recent battle with cancer, Fatima Sanson was determined to keep her Christmas tradition of dressing up as Mrs Claus and giving out toys and hugs to impoverished kids. Image Credit: AFP
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    Copy of 157610-01-02-1607589052024
    So the 61-year-old made herself a plastic "hug curtain," found an assistant to disinfect it between embraces, dressed up in her bright red suit, and set up her annual toy and food giveaway in a poor neighborhood in Belo Horizonte, in southeastern Brazil. Image Credit: AFP
    3 of 9
    Copy of 157626-01-02-1607589060282
    "It felt so good to be able to give hugs again during the pandemic," said Sanson, who has spent nearly five decades doing charitable work in impoverished areas. She was all too aware of the risk involved this year. Image Credit: AFP
    4 of 9
    Copy of 159586-01-02-1607589038134
    Not only does her age put her in the high-risk group for COVID-19, but the pandemic began just as she was coming off a fight with breast cancer. Image Credit: AFP
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    20201211 mrs santa claus
    Brazil has the second-highest COVID-19 death toll worldwide, after the United States, with more than 178,000 people killed. Image Credit: AFP
    6 of 9
    Copy of 159588-01-02-1607589041078
    But neither the virus nor the protective layer of plastic got in the way as Sanson spread her Christmas cheer to her young public. "I really liked getting a nice, warm hug from Mrs Claus," said one of the children, Daphne Victoria. Image Credit: AFP
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    Copy of 160038-01-02-1607589043484
    Parents for their part took home baskets full of food - especially welcome this year, given that low-income workers have been hit hard by the economic fallout of the pandemic. Image Credit: AFP
    8 of 9
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    "I hope better days are coming and that next year we'll be able to give real hugs, be able to feel that human warmth that everyone's been missing," said one mother at the charitable event, house cleaner Valmira Pereira. Image Credit: AFP
    9 of 9
    Copy of 157608-01-02-1607589046366
    Sanson was happy to be able to give hugs at all. "It's so good to hug and be hugged. We're 'infecting' each other with our hugs, our affection, our love," she said. Image Credit: AFP

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