Blogs :: Christmas (Just a Little Late)
So the days leading up to Christmas were weird. Every year that I spend away from my family puts me into a sort of funk. I come from one of those very close knit families that it is an unwritten law that you just don't miss Christmas. I have missed three.
In Guatemala, we decided that we would make our way down to San Juan del Sur and spend the Christmas season with the Powell family. You have all heard of them. We said that we were going to do something good for all of us for Christmas. Originally the intention was that we were going to spend the day at an orphanage in Jinotepe, but that really didn't work out (The kids go home over the holidays). Fortunately, we met Bill.
Bill is a Canadian. He is the local talent for an organization that provides help to the communities surrounding San Juan. They build roads, schools, libraries, and infrastructure for the communities that have absolutely nothing. Generally being a better person than people like myself could ever imagine.
One of the things that he does once a year is go to Managua and buy upwards of 500 Christmas presents for the children of these communities. When you are talking about people that spend their whole life with nothing, no electricity, running water, or access to any services, a simple tiara or Tonka toy goes a long way. He was nice enough to invite us to the festivities and to take part in them. And of course while the kids may not realize it, the Christmas presents are just the icing on the cake for a community in need.
When we got there we got the opportunity to meet the mayor of San Juan who came out for the festivities and was the one that did all the actual giving of presents. He showed up with two pinatas and the days events went from exciting to insane. I am not totally convinced that there are dangerous animals compared to 150 Latin American kids under a pinata. Chaos does not even begin to explain it. Finally, the adults of the group decided that the two or three pieces of candy falling out of the pinata at a time were not sufficient enough to keep the kids at bay so they started throwing it into the crowd by the handful. More chaos ensued, but injuries were fortunately kept to a minimum. It was obvious that everybody was having a great time.
In the end it was a wonderful day for me personally. I got to meet the incoming mayor of the city, watch the fights for candy, the adults truly enjoying the entertainment, and in the end I got to see a hundred and fifty kids with the purest of smiles. That one that kids get when they just got the impossible.
Nicaragua, San Juan del Sur, children, holidays, Christmas
Posted By:
Jason
1/19/2009