Friday, December 11, 2009

A Sweet Despedida


ANTIGUA, Guatemala -- My lovely Common Hope library colleague Lynn organized a little surprise going-away party, or despedida, for me. It was nothing fancy -- sweet bread from local bakery Dona Luisa's, shared with a handful of other volunteers and about a dozen of the regular kids.

I'm a long-time fan of Dona Luisa's banana bread, but now I'm a convert to the orange-chocolate bread, too. (Bread is a misnomer; it really is more like pound cake.)

The kids seemed to appreciate it, too. With no wiggling, the occasional giggle and very little talk, they settled in to devour three or four slices each.

Every now and then, I will read an article that ponderously tries to debunk the belief that sugar makes young  kids hyper. Parents always find this laughable, and I am reminded why. Our usually mild-mannered, shy little girls were all on turbo-drive half an hour after they finished the cake. It was like having a flock of a dozen hummingbirds working on jigsaw puzzles.

(Because the party was a surprise, I didn't have my camera with me. The photo here is one that I took in the library last week. Note how all the kids in it are sitting still.)

2 comments:

  1. This is a great photo of the library, Maryann! We'd love to have any of these shots you've taken of the library or other CH related activities and places, if you're willing to share. You could send them to katel @ us. commonhope. org (spaces to try to avoid SPAM. You don't need to post this comment, if you preview first.) I hope you had a great time volunteering!

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  2. I posted it on CH's blog. :) http://commonhope.org/blog/?p=988

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