A Big Happy Day

mother and kidsSome days make all the hard work each and every one of us put into Empowerment International worthwhile. Saturday was one of those days.

In January we learned the value of having the children do the activities for their sponsors (letter, activity sheet etc) with their parent’s assistance as opposed to us assisting them. Saturday we did our mid year activity as well as mid year distribution of supplies. The success was unbelievable.

The parental involvement actually began on Thursday morning when 10 parents showed up at the office to help us pack the supplies. (we asked for 5!). Within a short time all supplies were packed.

mother helping childSaturday we had 160 of the kids show up and do their activities assisted by their parents. Many of them were donned in their best clothing and all seemed pleased to be there and a part of our organization and truly grateful. What really struck Anielka, Sam Jacoby, and myself who were in the classroom facilitating the parents was that there was one young boy there alone who was not part of our organization. He wanted to do the activity which was a drawing by connecting the dots and then coloring it in. He sat there patiently with a yearning look. My heart was touched. I mentioned to Anielka that perhaps we could give him a sheet later to take home. She too seemed touched and then shortly after gave him one. The grin that came from this small gift was worth a lot. He thrilled and started fervently
Sam J and the boy who wants to be in our program connecting dots and coloring. He really was not sure what we were all about but it was clear he wanted to be a part of us. I explained what we did and we took down his info. He lived close by and attended the school we were working in. 9 years old and in second grade. Sam Jacoby interviewed him (Sam is our resident journalist who is interning with Nica Times and writing for us frequently).

Later arrived 5 girls. They seemed to have caught on what was happening and wanted to join in as well. Anielka gave them 2 sheets and they were like animals grasping for them. Their case was a bit different though since they found out that sheet was their ticket to school supplies, or so they thought….yet only our program kids were to receive them. This was again one more time we were asked by many area kids for a notebook or two. It seemed so amazing as Sam said…it’s a ‘notebook’ and they have so much value for it.

classroom full of EI kids and parentsAt any rate I was proud of our families this day. They shone brightly. Helping each other and themselves plus they made the effort to take time out of their busy lives to invest in their children’s future. Everyday as a whole we are making progress and I am so proud of our team of staff, volunteers, parents and children. I can really see the day when the program can be run more and more by the parents and Nicaraguan volunteers.

All Aboard!After the event the volunteer team which included Karla, Aneilka, Milagros, Darcy, Samantha, Sam, and Karla’s 4 year old daughter Allison had lunch at Telepizza then decided to reconvene for a ‘launcha’ ride around the isletas for an hour.

Sunset on Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua)We had a lovely sunset ride and for the first time in my life I realized I would love a boat. J Riding around the lake is incredible with the 365 islands there is so much life both human and wild. Just fantastic!