Yesterday was spent in huge preparation. I was up until midnight filling up garbage bags full of donations. We have accepted over 50 boys and girls to be a part of the new club. Since some are siblings, this equals to about 25 families. We have had a ton of donations come in lately (thanks Todd!) and thought that the new club opening would be a great opportunity to give them away. Because Liz can’t get into the new building until next month, we are using Hilda’s school until then to hold the club on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. We had a big meeting today with all the kids and their mothers at Hilda’s school. They all showed up early and were SO excited. I spent until midnight last night stuffing a garbage bag full of donations for each family with clothes, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toys, soap, underwear, etc. We also had either a bed mat or mosquito net for each family. Today at the meeting we arrived and were greeted with much excitement as they were already sitting and waiting for us to go. The kids are so sweet and were all calling our names to get our attention to say hello. Yohani put a container full of fruit together and gave it to me. She wrote on the Styrofoam container (in Spanish)- To Niqui. I hope you like the plate. With a lot of love, From Yohani. I love you a lot. She is so sweet! Her best friend Loraina made one for Liz…. aka Lici. So anyways, Cathy began talking in the meeting and explained what the club is going to be about. We had the kids raise their hands and tell us what some of the club rules should be, and we wrote them on a big piece of paper (things like showing respect, listen to the teacher, don’t push or hit, etc.) At one point, Cathy was talking about how she understands their situations and that the mothers work so hard and do such an amazing job of raising their children. She is a single mother herself, so was explaining that she (like many of them) is also a single mother but because she was born into different circumstances (in Canada) she doesn’t have all the hardships that they do. As she was talking about how amazing they are, she got a little choked up and paused for a moment to collect herself. Jose Antonio’s mother was just beaming with pride, and started clapping, and it turned into the entire room bursting into applause- it was really touching, and as I looked around I could see the pride and happiness in their faces… for once having people who understand and who are recognizing the good they do. Cathy and Liz wanted to explain the food voucher programs (how we will be giving them a food voucher each month) and give out the bags of donations I had put together, so we took all 50 kids into the next room to keep them out of the way so Cathy could speak with only the adults. We had planned to play outside with them on the basketball court, so had brought lots of outdoor toys to entertain them with, but it turned out the court was in use, and we had to entertain fifty children with some markers and little activity books. It started out okay, but after we ran out of markers and papers and the kids started getting antsy, wanting to see what was in their donation bag in the other room, it got difficult! Plus, we had to keep them silent as the mothers were having trouble hearing what Cathy was saying. Imagine trying to keep fifty children (many with a ton of discipline issues) absolutely silent with nothing to entertain them with! It was difficult, but we managed to get through it and the meeting was a huge success. By the time Cathy and Liz were done with the mothers, Melissa and I were definitely breathing huge sighs of relief though, as we weren’t quite sure how we could keep them quiet for much longer! 
Melissa and I were standing at the door as the families left, and I have never felt so loved and appreciated as I did in that moment. Cathy had mentioned in the meeting all the work Melissa and I have been doing these past weeks to get the club off the ground, and the mothers were so appreciative. I have mentioned before that this work has been frustrating at times, but seeing the faces today on the mothers and kids made all the hours of typing up applications and organizing files and printing off info and photos worth it. I got hugged and kissed more in those five minutes of them leaving than I do in a month at home. Grandmothers raising their grandchildren came out of the room, their eyes shining with tears, clutching onto my hands and kissing my cheeks over and over again. The little kids were running out of the room, a new stuffed animal atop their head, with bright eyes, raising up their arms for a big hug. And just to make an amazing day even better, we got to spend time with the boys, and just being in their presence is enough to turn any bad day into an amazing one, so getting to see them on an already awesome day was just the icing on the cake. And let me tell you, they are VERY excited for my birthday next week, and they reminded me (about 20 times) that my birthday is on the 24th and that they remembered. Tonight there was a huge thunderstorm and we just sat on the porch watching it and talking about the day’s events. It is moments like those that I witnessed today that remind me how much I love this country and why I love being here and doing this work. But today it wasn’t only the work of Liz, Cathy, Melissa, and I that made this possible. It was the sponsors who are allowing us to provide the families with food vouchers. It was the people who donated the items for us to fill their bags with… Todd, who came a few weeks ago, and whose piles of clothes filled many of the bags. My Nana, who bought me several containers of children’s vitamins. Today, 4 year old Mickey who was born at three quarters of a pound and is still very malnourished and lethargic, was able to get vitamins that hopefully will help him thrive. So many people came together to make this new club happen, and I wish all of them could have seen the looks on the family’s faces today. I know for me, it is something I will remember forever.
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