On Saturday morning December 23, several of us missionaries went to the Remar orphanage in Quito, which is home to about 119 children. About 50% of the kids are actually available for adoption while the rest are there because their parents can’t or won’t take care of them. We had the party outside in a courtyard. We set up tables to do face painting, tattoos, decorate paper ornaments (which we then taped to the wall on “Christmas trees” outlined with green garland), and made baby Jesuses. We brought sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, and beach balls so kids could play if they didn’t want to take part in the activities. The sun was so intense that day that the crayons on the ornament table literally melted into a pool of wax, even though the temperature was only about 80 degrees.
The children seemed to have fun and after a few hours of the activities we fed them hot dogs, chips, and soda. Then Santa (aka Derrick Amsler, Missionary Associate from Kentucky) came and gave them presents. These are probably the only presents the children will receive for Christmas and probably the only time Santa has come for them. They were each given a gift and we took pictures of each kid with Santa. The ages were from less than a year to 17. Many of the older boys and girls were not at the party because they were selling items on the streets (the girls sell cleaning detergent made on the premises, but we don’t know what the boys sell). How strange does that sound, “She isn’t here to get her gift because she is out selling on the streets.” It’s a different world here. The children had a grand time.
The best thing about that day for Karen was that the whole family participated and enjoyed themselves. Joe was the still photographer and he shot 680 photos. Overall, it was a great but exhausting day.
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