angelina, 31/12/2008 12:52, Views: 481

Visiting those less fortunate than ourselves is a good reminder of how blessed we are throughout the year and how thankful we can be for the simple things we so often take for granted like having family and good health. 

Fundaninos is one of the three orphanages that we've worked with regularly in 2008. It's located in the hills on the outskirts of Guatemala city, a rather picturesque and ideal place for the orphanage. They had about 8 children under 2 years of age, the youngest being only 3 months old along with the other 40+ children they house and take care of. It was touching to see the love the caretakers have for the children unlike other orphanages I've visted in other parts of the world. Another youth group joined us for this particular visit and the kids enjoyed pinatas, a variety of toys as Christmas presents, a friendly clown and McDonald Happy Meals for all the children. It truly was a time to be remembered as we sang the well known and popular Christmas carols like "Con Mi Burrito" and others that are known so well on this side of the world.

This Christmas we were able to bring Adrian along to learn the gift of giving love to others at this special time of year by his accompanying us to a couple of the orphanages we visited. 

Sharing a smile with a child at the Rafael Ayau orphanage

Rafael Ayau is another orphanage we had the privilege of visiting. It's in the heart of the city in Zone 1, but is well taken care of, clean as a whistle and run by Orthodox nuns. A good friend and supporter of ours helped us acquire 200 tamales (which are the traditional Christmas meal here) which we served. The kids had fun joining in on the songs sung like "Jesus our Saviour" which is about the animals that were present at Jesus' birth as they held up the caricatures of each of the animals and made their appropriate sounds. Adrian (1 yr) and Jaime (2yr) even happily got up to dance together to the Christmas carols we sang in front of the crowd much to the amusement of everyone watching.

Rachel giving out sponsored puzzles to the Children

On Christmas Eve we made the trip across town to Hospital Roosavelt - UNOP which is the section for children with cancer. We joined a group of women who make weekly visits as volunteers to do our puppet show of the Christmas story and share some love, songs and time with the sweet children who were able to smile and enjoy our time together even with catheters attached and IV drips trailing behind them.

Happily with his coloring book "Laminas y Lemas"

Later on that night we joined the city's labor class in celebrating Christmas Eve by performing at the annual Benefit Meal and gathering organized by the municipality in Zone 1. Although only about 1000 people showed up of the usual 4000, everyone seemed to enjoy the songs we sang and even prayed with us to receive Jesus into their hearts - the best Christmas present one can get!

Volunteers eagerly passed out our leaflets reminding all of the real meaning of Christmas.

For more photos of our Christmas activities click here.

Performing at Christmas Eve event organized by the city municipality - Zone 1

Comments

Jacinta  (Norway, 18/01/2009 03:24)

Thank you so much for writing about how you work, it's really inspiring!! And it's amazing to read that some 1000 people prayed to receive Jesus! Amen!!