Thursday, April 18, 2024
Everybody’s Birthday Party is one of our regular events in Nica. It’s a big-time birthday party with clowns, a trampoline, a bounce house, gifts, food, candy cake, popcorn, cotton candy, and toys, but we celebrate 70-80 kids’ birthdays simultaneously. Given their poverty, it’s undoubtedly a bigger birthday party than they will ever get on their actual birthday. It’s a great event, and the kids love it.
After the party, I had a few leftover gifts, and the next day, I drove into a random poor community to give them out. I started passing out gift bags to 3 kids in front of a house, and more neighborhood kids showed up. Parents were running up with their kids, and people were taking pictures of me in the car as I handed out the gifts. I was close to running out, but luckily, every kid got a gift. I only had one left over. As I left, the gratitude from adults and children was evident. I had burst into their mundane Thursday morning with unexpected joy, like Santa arriving in April. Everyone was smiling and shouting gracias as I left. They were happy, and I felt good.
There are two valid options for giving. One is long-term funding exemplified in education, job training, and self-sufficiency projects. Train the individual to obtain a job or create a small business and break the cycle of poverty. The other is reckless, inconsistent, and sometimes unfair giving that brings sudden, unexpected joy into someone’s life. There is something very significant about that moment, and we all have the power to do it.
