Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! This morning Melissa and I set off to the houses of some of the kids to deliver Christmas presents from their sponsors. We went to Rosemary's house, and Yaneli, Cristina, and Camili (sisters); they all loved their gifts. We stopped in at a few more houses just to say hello. After it was the Girls Club... I love little girls :) they are so much fun. We played and took a gazillion pictures and then did the same as what we did with the boys (talked about what Christmas means, importance of Christmas). After Club, we visited some more. We were in Sonia's house for awhile. Of course she got teary when I gave her her present; everything makes Sonia teary!! The kids were really excited too. For some reason Sonia thought I was going home on Tuesday, and she jumped up and started screaming and spinning me around when I told her I still had awhile to go! Yoandi and some of the kids decided to take me on a walk through Playa Oeste. I am not sure why they decided the garbage/sludge covered areas were the way to go, but that is what we ended up walking through!! Definitely makes me feel for the families who live in those conditions. I could walk past the houses and wash off my feet and be done with it, but for some people, their houses on right on top of this sewage sludge. It is hard to explain, but I will try... The houses are packed close together with little alleywayss between them to get around. The alleyways are either a big mound of garbage, or big puddles of sludge water filled with sewage. You hop from one rock to another (and often slip and get your foot stuck in this water). Definitely shows me what they go through every day. Anyways, hope everyone has a great Christmas tomorrow!