Hacienda El Refugio


Sunday, December 30, 2007

Dios le Paga

Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador December 2007

Usually the first weekend of December we get all the Christmas decorations out and put the tree up. This year proved to be very different for our family here in Ecuador. We volunteered to help out with the annual dump Christmas party at Zambiza. The party is hosted by Extreme Response and I was struck by how well organized the day went. They we expecting around 3000 people and more like 3400 showed up.


To give you an idea of how the day went the people arrived and were given a wrist band with a color and a large zip lock bag with a string attached to hang around their neck.


They entered the dump site and they first got in line to have their picture taken with Santa. They then could play games, do a craft, or have their face painted. The zip lock bags were to put all their prizes in, like candy or small toys.


Then as the party concluded there were four buses and the people would get in line for the bus with the color of their wristband. They were then given a full bag of food which included staples for the Ecuadorian diet, the smaller kids were given a gift bag and everyone left with a sack lunch.


I can not tell you what a privilege it was to participate in handing out gift bags. The people were given the choice of a food bag or a toy bag. Children as young as 8 or 9 would choose the food. The significance of this choice affected my entire Christmas season, and helped keep perspective in my life.

As God is our Refuge, Mary for the Scholl family

2 comments:

Unknown said...

That was nice! Do you have more pictures, if so, you could place them on a photo site (e.g., flickr)

d

Mary said...

Hi! It's Mary Bartlett. I finally opened a blog. Now I can post comments on yours. Your account of this day really touched me. I wish I could have been there! America has been given so much. Sadly, our culture worships our blessings instead of the one who has blessed us. *Hugs*