Feb 13, 2009

Gonzalo

My Bolivian homey... For the last couple of years, I have been sponsering this little guy in Bolivia through Christian Childrens Fund- a very reputible orginization, and one of the most organized outfits I´ve encountered in all of South America. From what I´ve been told meeting one´s sponsered child is somewhat of a rarity, so I felt extremely priveleged to have the opportunity to finaly meet Gonzalo. Gonzalo hails from a small pueblo in the countryside, where little spanish is spoken, and busses only run one day a week. In La paz I arranged for us to meet in Oruro the day before his eighth birthday, unplanned but very convienient, as I had been toy shopping for a few days for Gonzalo before I knew of his cumpleaños.


He was joined by his extremely humble father and Anita (a rep. from CCF), and the group of us spent the day in the town visiting churches, museums, and eating our fill of ice cream and pizza. We went to the big screen to see Madagascar (a first for him and his father too) and played soccer in the park. In between timid smiles, we briefly chatted about where he lives and goes to school. His understanding of spanish was up to par, but he was very shy to speak, thus conversations were kept fairly short, but the smiles were abundant for all throughout the day. The day ended with more pizza and ice cream and we said our good bye´s- Gonzalo´s dad claiming I will be always known as ¨tio¨(uncle) Soren. An incredible experience for all involved, such a blessing it was to meet Gonzalo. Gracias a Dios.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous13.2.09

    OMG Soren this is wonderful. WOW this is an awesome entry - KUDOS to you and WOW TIO Soren, the smile on Gonzalo's face here - priceless

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  2. Anonymous16.2.09

    hola tío,
    your entry reminds me of one saying:
    "el mundo en los ojos de los niños.."
    I´m glad you had the chance to make this experience and meet Gonzalo!
    Katrin

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