In Argentina, Children's Day is celebrated annually on the second Sunday of August. This is a very important day here. LIFE has been hosting an event for the kids they support over the past 10 years or so. LIFE supports this event solely via private donation, companies willing to donate their time and services and volunteers. There is no government support whatsoever. Sadly, this year LIFE has had to drop their invitations by about 500 kids due to the economy.
We began the day by meeting at the LIFE office at 7:30am. I would estimate there was 60 or so volunteers that showed up. We loaded up the double decker bus with all the supplies and headed to the park.
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| Loading up |
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| Lots of presents for the kids! |
We arrived at Parque Roca around 9:30am to cold temps (low 40's) and a lot of fog! Thankfully the sun started to break through around 11am just as the kids started to arrive.
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| Unloading the bus |
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| Sara (UK), Sara (Denmark) and Ruth (UK) trying to stay warm |
Thankfully we got to choose what area we wanted to work in. It was either the kitchen or play area. Of course I chose to work in the play area...duh! We had things like hula hoops, paddle ball, frog toss, jump rope etc. Me, Alice, Sarah and Helen felt like we were 10 yrs old again.
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Getting ready to play!
Margaret (USA), Sara (Denmark), me, Alice (France) and Helen (UK) |
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| Blowing up balloons to decorate the park |
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| Thank goodness I wasn't on kitchen duty! |
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| Why do men always gravitate around the grill? |
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| Face-painting area completely full! |
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| The kids loved all the toys...they didn't know where to start first! |
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| Animal balloons were another big hit. We were swarmed the entire day. |
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| Sara painting Spiderman. A crowd favorite. |
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| Even for the little girls... |
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Kim and Darren (USA) working the coloring section.
They too quit their jobs and are traveling through So America. |
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| Mask painting. |
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| Finally...time for presents for all the kids. So fun to give them out!! |
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| Makes me smile! |
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| The princess! |
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| He loved his little green car! |
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Happy but exhausted volunteers! Ciao until next year!
Sara, Alo, Alice and me |
