Guaimaca "Note"

I can't write about Guaimaca better than Gracie did. She posted a note on facebook. It was a long note about several of our events. Here is part of the portion about Guaimaca:

"We received the shock of our lives when we arrived in Guaimaca for the 2pm event. The town hall was filled with more than 400 people. Word got out we were coming and they showed up in droves. Dr Chavez the mayor was there. He provided cakes and cokes and we started the event with the list of 100 children. What happened after that could only be labeled as chaos.

Let me interject something here. The poverty in Honduras is so profound there is no explaining it. You can only understand it by being here. And even then there are no words. Christmas for these children, even just a bag with candy, balloon, cookie and a matchbox car is like gold. These children have nothing. There are no toys in their homes, no big tree decorated, no big dinner being cooked. many will only eat beans and tortillas for Christmas dinner in the shack made of wood or adobe in which they live. When Americans do distribution events, we have seen many times sad faces because the Americans ran out and many went home empty handed. That's why we always plan for extra. So no one leaves empty handed.

But we were not prepared for what happened in Guaimaca. After doing the list, more than two hundred children were pushing toward the stage hoping for a gift, not wanting to be left out. We had to abandon listing their names and just count heads. They coming out everywhere. the mayor was trying to maintain control and hold them back as they shoved forward hands raised, voices shouting, "Gracie please give me a gift!" Even mothers begging for their children. "gracie you know me please give me a gift for my baby!" I was broken hearted as I watched the number of gifts in the boxes dwindle and there were more and more children. At the end I had four bags of gifts in my hands and more than twenty people were left."

I (Bridget) will post some pics in the next few days. I just looked at the pictures. None accurately depict what happened in Guaimaca. It was insanity. At one point or another we were all standing at the edge of the stage trying to hold kids back. They (and some parents) were piled on top of each other trying to push one another onto the stage. Most of the time, it was the parents being pushy and sometimes even rude. Due to the poverty, it was understandable, yet a little sad and stressful at the same time.