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Still absorbing

I tend to be quick to post an update from the weekend, especially when I visit one of the missions, but this week started sort of bumpy. I go through pictures, movies, files, lists, emails and projects and try to make sure I forget nothing of what my head likes to think when I do not have a notepad handy.
But mostly I am still in the process of absorbing the weekend. For two reasons: one because I was curious to know what Bernardo thought of all this, two because the weekend was indeed tough.

On one, I guess I can now breathe deeply because I know now that he understands. He always helped me out with the NGO, but he helped because it was me. Now, he has seen it, he has lived it, he helps me because he wants to, not necessarily cause I am on it. Which is a good thing, which is the great benefit of people coming to visit. You realize that little things do make a difference and you can’t help but trying, even if you think it is a long shot. He know sponsors Paulo and got a friend to sponsor his older brother!

The second piece of the weekend that makes it still hard to absorb is to see how long the shot is. We visited the Chongoene children for the first time and clearly it was not filled with the usual joy. Don’t get me wrong, I loved meeting them and seeing what we were doing. But they are in the beginning of the project, barely 3 months of aid, and when you see the 5 bags you are giving them to last an entire month, you cant help but thinking whether it will lead anywhere. The tree full of lemons that could be sold next to the grandmother too weak to go to the fields and get food for the two little girls she takes care off hit us all… It can get frustrating and really sad if you loose focus.

I guess our Sunday helped us all refocus in what the purpose is. We visited the Orphanage, played with the kids, taught them how to paint their own work. Here, the differences are noticeable. I found a new smile today, Inarencia’s smile, this beautiful little girl that gave me a smile as I updated the pictures for our files. We are not done yet, Pedro’s eyes still hurt my heart with the amount of sadness in them, but we do not loose hope, because we know now, that it’s worth a shot!
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