Day 5: Watching Through Patient Eyes

Today we decided to give the remaining 38 Christmas gift bags to children. The choir group decided the best avenue of approach would be to personally hand deliver these gift bags to specific families around Sibinal that they knew needed it the most. The group mostly chose single parent homes. 

The first family we visited was in the Sibinal mountains. They lived on top of a steep hill in an aluminum house. The father came out to meet us and was a pleasant man. After consenting to have his picture taken with his children he asked where the toys and food came from. I explained to him they were from donations in the US. He became very quiet for a couple of seconds and then looked up with such gratitude in his eyes. He said he wished he could afford to buy things for his children but that life was difficult and that he was grateful for these gifts. It wasn't what he said, it was the way he said it that made my eyes swell with tears. Below are some pictures of this man with our driver Anthony and others of his children. 

On our way to the next house we stopped by one of the choir members home. Her mother owns a small shop. She said she knew of several children who had not received a Christmas gift. Minutes later the children arrived to the store. The left with big smiles. 

The next family was further out into the mountains where there was no water or electricity readily available. We had to walk up a hill to get to their home. Once there, we had miscalculated the amount of balls and were one short. We played rock, paper, scissors to see who would have to walk all the way back down to the car to grab an extra ball. Guess who ended up with that task? This guy!! 

The next several families were up higher into the mountains where there weren't any roads. So we unloaded the toys and food out of the car and placed them inside potato sacks. I've learned that when I ask someone from Sibinal how far some place is they always say 10 minutes away. I've also learned to multiply that number by at least three. In a few words, I knew we would be doing some serious up hill walking. Below you'll see pictures of the determination and dedication the choir group had to get these gift bags to children in the most remote areas. 

We arrived to the first home. I saw a little boy getting a fire started by gently blowing on the base of the sticks. His face was covered in dark ash as if he'd been working on that fire all day. Next to him was one of the most adorable little girls I have ever seen. She hardly moved and I felt as if she almost didn't see us or the toys. Her face brought out such tenderness in my heart. I felt overwhelmed. I wanted to hug her but didn't. Below are the little boy and girl. 

We continued our journey deeper into the mountain trail. Soon after, we arrived to the next home. There were a lot of children. One of the children had Downs Syndrome but boy was he friendly. He waved on almost every picture and when I showed him his own picture on my iPhone he would laugh and smile. When we gave him a ball he was just bursting with joy. Below you will see him and his family. 

As we made our way back to the car we saw several children sitting outside of their house. So we approached them and asked them if they'd like a Christmas gift.

Below are pictures of those children. 

As we got to the car a small swarm of children began to run toward us. They started asking for gifts (word spreads quickly even in the mountains) and as a team we decided we would hand out the remaining gifts. Below is a picture of the last Chritmas gift bags being handed to happy and very energetic children. 

Last comment of the day. Because of the monetary donations made to me in the US over 250 children were able to receive gifts and food this Christmas. For that I'm grateful. But I'm also eternally indebted to the people here in Sibinal that volunteered their time and energy to make this Christmas gift bag project a success. Thank you all so very much. Below is a picture of the Catholic Church choir. They all went above and beyond to make things happen.