Spreading Cheer

In our area, various organizations come to give Christmas gifts to the children in the small towns.  Sometimes the gifts are supplied by an individual.  This year, one woman, a retired dentist from Chitré, was very generous.  She chose the small village of La Loma and gave food to each of the twelve families, and toys, sweets and clothing to each of the forty children in the village.  The date of January 6th was chosen for the event.  Unfortunately she could not attend, but Heather's counterpart Ormelis organized the event and assembled all the gifts to be distributed.  We went along to help out.

One challenge of getting everything to La Loma is that the road is too steep and eroded for cars or trucks.  There is a path which goes down a very steep hill to a stream, and then rises very steeply to the village.  There was far too much weight for us to carry, so we loaded up three horses and headed down the hill.  Daisy, the Peace Corps volunteer from La Loma, helped us.  She has her own horse.  We put the heavy food and clothing on the horses, and carried the toys by hand.

Steve, Ormelis and Daisy with the horses

This is the hill we came down

Heather leads a horse up the hill

We met this family on the way up the hill.

Once we got to La Loma, it was time to give out the gifts.  The event took place at Daisy's house.

Heather and Ormelis distribute clothing

These girls wait their turn to get clothing and toys

The girl on the left below, Yarixa, was in seventh grade and boarded at the Chepo school.  A locker fell over on her foot and broke it.  In order to get home to recuperate, she had to be carried by hammock down the steep hill and up the other side.

Yarixa, her sister and her brother

This is part of the group that received gifts.

We both took turns riding one of the horses on the return trip.  When the hill got really steep, it was faster to dismount and walk the horse.  

In Panama, men often use a wicker backpack called a motete to carry rice or corn that they have harvested.  Heather has wanted one for quite some time, and this past week we finally got one.  The men in the store laughed when they found out that Heather was going to use it for dirty laundry.

Heather shows off her new motete

 That's it for this week!

Steve and Heather