Chiriquí Chatter

Today was the day for Club Soroptimista International de David to host their party for the children of Parroquia de San Felix – Las Lajas. Around 8:00 am this morning the members of Club Soroptimista International de David met at Café Ejecutivo in David.

Four vehicles headed out for San Felix. This pickup was loaded with gifts and the four piñatas.

I was extremely impressed with the parroquia. The grounds were clean and well kept. The building that that was to hold the party was also clean and ready for a party. Several people were all ready waiting in the building. This was obviously a big day for them.

Even a dog was here hoping for a gift or some food.

It took a fair amount of time to unload the cars and setup. When everything was ready, the Párroco (P. Adonai Cortes Elisha, s.j.) announced to all in attendance that today’s festivities were provided by the Club Soroptimista International de David.

There were two opening games for the kids. The first was a simplified game of thread the spoon. Ten boys and ten girls competed. The version I am familiar with has a spoon with a long string on it given to each team. The idea is to put the spoon down the top of the shirt and through the pants until the entire team is connected. Today, the string was omitted. Here are a couple photos of the kids in action.

The second game again was the boys vs. the girls in eat the cookie. The object of this game was for each child to eat a half a cookie. When it was eaten, then the next person was to take a half a cookie and eat it. When all the members of a team had eaten its cookie in order then the game was over.

While the kids and the people watching the contests had a great time, the members of Club Soroptimista had the best time. You just can’t keep from having fun when you know you are bringing happiness into these young people’s lives.

Following the games, all the kids lined up for their treats. Each of the 200+ children received a hotdog, a carton of juice, a cupcake, and a bag of candy. It was a reasonably orderly procession.

After they had had time to eat, then everyone made their way to the areas that had been setup with the piñatas. The areas were organized by age so that all got an opportunity to take their swings at the piñatas. I have heard and read about this activity before, but this was my first time to actually get to watch it.

This was a lot of fun for the kids and of course for all that watched. When the piñatas were finally broken, the kids went for the candy that had been stored inside.

Next everyone returned to the main building and by age the kids each received one toy. It is amazing how such a simple thing can bring the smile to a child’s eyes.

I feel comfortable in saying that for many of these children, this may be the only real gift they received all year. This was a special day and I am glad I got to be there. I captured 106 photos of today. The Chiriqui Chatter photo album has more photos of today’s event.

In closing, I will display the Párroco’s business card, which has his phone number and email address. If you want to see what you can do to help this parroquia, I am sure you can email the párroco and work something out

Tags: Holidays