Poverty in reality

Living in the centre of Siguatepeque it is very easy to forget we are in a 3rd world country. It is very influenced by the States in some ways and walking around you don't see such stark poverty, even though you can see it around you. Our school is a bilingual school and so runs on a different calendar system to the local Honduran ones. They have finished for the year as their school year runs from Feb to Nov. Being a bilingual school, our kids pay much higher fees and therefore come from more influential families. What has meant the most this Christmas is discovering that we have a link with a very poor, rural school in the hills about 15 mins from here. As an Elementary school (as opposed to the High school here who do something diff) all our kids had to bring in a bag of toys and clothes to donate to the children in this other school. Our kids bought in loads, it was lovely to see.
So...yesterday we piled 70 children in a 40-seater bus and went off to deliver our presents. It was very moving because our kids gave the presents to the other children. These children came down from the hills when the saw us arrive and filled the church. Our school children looked so posh and well dressed in their school uniform. It was just moving to see a different side to Honduras and to see how much it meant to these rural kids to get presents.
So...some photos....

Getting ready to go:


All of us piled in the bus singing Spanish songs as we go!



Everyone sat together:



Queuing for clothes:




Here are lots of the children from the community and then when they were receiving clothes etc (they really do have the most beautiful eyes!):










Going home with all their new things: