Mar 02: Children’s Finale

Today was our last free evening so we decided to have a little going away celebration with the kids that often drop by our home. We knew that pancakes was an easy meal to put together and to prepare large quantities. So for the last two days we had been telling the kids to be sure to come over on Monday evening. We weren’t really sure what to expect for numbers though because information does seem to get around the barrio pretty quickly, especially related to giveaways.

That reminds me of some of the pre Christmas activities. As part of the celebrations many churches, schools, and government offices would give out small gifts and/or candy to kids. When we were playing with them, in our house or in the field, all of the sudden they would all jump up and run off. An hour later they would return with some new little item. For better or for worse these were often re-gifted to our children.

In the end Monday came and only a handful (maybe 8-10 kids) ended up coming. We were actually a little disappointed although they cleaned up all the food we had prepared with no trouble at all. We even played a Spanish kids movie for them -  Madagascar 2. I think the kids have realized that, at least at our house, the supplies are not infinite and they aren’t as eager to share the information as with other giveaway opportunities. We’ve also found that some of the boys can be quite rude/mean to the girls (imagine that!) and seem to scare them away sometimes. But for those that came it was a fun time and I think it helped prepare the kids, ours and the locals, for our departure.