Saturday, December 17, 2011

Christmas at the Guardería

Christmas at the Guardería began long before our celebration took place. One of the presents that the children receive for Christmas is a new pair of shoes. Shoes are a necessity for the children if they are to attend school. In order buy shoes, the women of the Guardería spent an afternoon measuring the feet of the children. In the following weeks, the women of the Guardería purchased shoes and presents for all of the children. One week before our celebration, Carmen and several volunteers of Pop Wuj packed up all of the shoes and brought them to the Guardería in order to ensure that they fit properly. 

The Christmas celebration itself was a fun and exciting time for the children and the volunteers. On the 15th of December, Carmen and the volunteers of Pop Wuj packed up all of the presents for the children and drove out to the Guardería. After assembling all of the presents under the Christmas tree, the children and the volunteers participated in a game. Our Guardería coordinator had created a Christmas version of “pin the tail on the donkey”. The children spent about hours playing pin the carrot on the snowman, laughing whenever the carrot was placed incorrectly. Even the volunteers had trouble getting the carrot on the snowman!


After the game, several volunteers led the children in singing Christmas songs with the accompaniment of a flute and a guitar. Shortly after singing, Carmen and the women of the Guardería began handing out Christmas presents to all of the children. It was a special moment to see all of the excited faces of our Guardería children!


At the end of the evening, everyone settled down for dinner and the volunteers and Carmen handed out the food for the families to use for a Christmas dinner. After a delicious meal and a full afternoon of activities, the children left for home, their arms full of Christmas presents. Of course, every child wanted to take home the snowman to continue playing at home.


Additionally, Pop Wuj was able to buy basic, essential holiday food for the families of the Guardería. At the close of our lovely celebration, Carmen and the student volunteers passed out bags with these food items to all of the mothers of the children of the Guardería.

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