Last night I volunteered at the Homeless Shelter - an amazing experience. It is dark by 6:00 pm here so I did the one thing I have been advised not to do which is walk at night, I hoofed it down there and was met by Jorge who walked me to the shelter, a pretty rough part of town near the bus station. I helped dish out and serve a meal of rice, meat and beet and carrot salad to about 60 people - mostly men but some women and children as well. At 8:00 pm Jorge walked me back to get a tuk-tuk (small cab- a buck for anywhere in town) but I had forgotten to bring my address so getting home was interesting but got there eventually - gave him $2 for the trouble. Met Dora's daughter who is a 26 year old lawyer who speaks english so enjoyed that.
Today I spent the morning at the centre helping w the Christmas Party for about 800 kids- overwhelming. They had several pinatas and I did a mad scramble to retrieve some candy for the little guys who would have been out of luck, then helped serve lunch to a long line of hungry boys - pizzas, cake, coke, and frozen bananas. It took over an hour and before the line was finished the cake was gone but fortunately there was enough pizza and pop. Each of the children received a present, some bigger than they were.
Love the pictures! Must have been an interesting ride in the cab without the address!
ReplyDeleteLOL. Glad that things are going so well.
Take care.