This morning's festivities began with a visit to a different batey close by. We ventured to Altagracia to give out more ProVector flowers. Because we had some extra flowers left over from yesterday's dispersion in Algodon, we gave some of the extra's to needed families in Altagracia. When we got there they had a class going on in the school. We heard lots of kids screaming and having a good time. Their laughter was extremely infectious, and it was a blast watching them play outside in their courtyard. Later in the morning we went back to Algodon to play with the kids there. Each of the Gathering's sponsored kids received a brand new San Diego Padres baseball glove thanks to a connection Barb had in SD. You should have seen those faces light up when they got to unwrap them and start to play catch with their friends who also received one. The other kids got to play with some bubbles. A few of us team members held the bubble container and wand, and then held the want to the kids mouthes to blow the bubbles. The anticipation for each of their next turn was priceless! We wish we had brought more, and I am sure they do too! While this was all going on, the big manly-men were out in front of the batey pouring more concrete to fill the ditch we've been working on.
In the second part of the day we broke up again in 2 groups. One group stayed in the front of they batey to work on a new gate for the school. It required lots of digging, welding and cementing. Tomorrow we should have the gate painted and installed. The second group went to play again with the kids! Yvette got a large group of kids together and she read them a book in Spanish that she brought with her. The whole time reading she kept her (teacher voice), it was quite adorable. Soon after that we had a baseball game with all the boys in the batey. Jessi was the captain of one team, and Noma was the captain of the other. Jessi's team won by a landslide 7-2. The girls went to do relay races in a field close to the baseball field. There they split the girls in two groups and had the girls to a relay race to Sue and Kim on the other side. We also had a good time snacking on some sugar cane. The sugar cane here grows everywhere and everyone in the village chews on it at any given time. A few kids took Deron and Lis into the field and showed us how to cut it down and peel it to suck on the sweet sections of the stock.
As we are wrapping up the evening, we had a presentation done to show us the importance of child sponsorships. We learned a better idea of what exactly happens when you sponsor a child and what they receive because of their sponsors. Child sponsorships are such a life changing experience for these kids, and extremely necessary. Our team is just so incredibly grateful for the amazing work that COTN does, and are truly blessed to be apart of it. So, Gathering family ... we are all coming home with profiles, pictures and stories of these kids. When we get home we are going to be looking for sponsors to hook up with these amazing kids!
In the second part of the day we broke up again in 2 groups. One group stayed in the front of they batey to work on a new gate for the school. It required lots of digging, welding and cementing. Tomorrow we should have the gate painted and installed. The second group went to play again with the kids! Yvette got a large group of kids together and she read them a book in Spanish that she brought with her. The whole time reading she kept her (teacher voice), it was quite adorable. Soon after that we had a baseball game with all the boys in the batey. Jessi was the captain of one team, and Noma was the captain of the other. Jessi's team won by a landslide 7-2. The girls went to do relay races in a field close to the baseball field. There they split the girls in two groups and had the girls to a relay race to Sue and Kim on the other side. We also had a good time snacking on some sugar cane. The sugar cane here grows everywhere and everyone in the village chews on it at any given time. A few kids took Deron and Lis into the field and showed us how to cut it down and peel it to suck on the sweet sections of the stock.
As we are wrapping up the evening, we had a presentation done to show us the importance of child sponsorships. We learned a better idea of what exactly happens when you sponsor a child and what they receive because of their sponsors. Child sponsorships are such a life changing experience for these kids, and extremely necessary. Our team is just so incredibly grateful for the amazing work that COTN does, and are truly blessed to be apart of it. So, Gathering family ... we are all coming home with profiles, pictures and stories of these kids. When we get home we are going to be looking for sponsors to hook up with these amazing kids!
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