It’s My Party…..

If you grew up in the ’60’s, then you know the rest of the the title. The song sung by Lesly Gore, continues with…”and I’ll cry if I want to.” It was an instant hit with the melodramatic teenagers of that period, of which I was one.
Today is my 56th birthday, and while I’m not having a party I am going to write about what I want in the way of birthday gifts. In a dream world, I would like:
 For women everywhere to have minimally safe housing to raise their children in, houses that have doors that lock, screens to keep out malaria spreading mosquitoes, and concrete floors to stop the spread of parasites.
If I could wrap it up in a nice box, with a pretty bow, I would ensure that every child in the world have enough to eat, with meals of protein and essential vitamins. What an amazing planet this would be if the next generation had healthy brains from adequate nutrition during their formative years. That would be my request for gift number two.

Sebastian and Pablo are now in school

So that I wasn’t considered too greedy, I would stop at gift number three, and ask that every child in the world would no longer have to work instead of going to school. 
 When I was a teenager, the words of It’s My Party song repeated themselves in my head many times. Adolescent hormones made the song attractive; when I wasn’t crying over puppy love or friendship issues, I found something sad to imagine myself upset about. These days, while the song brings me back to funny memories, I’m not crying during my birthday. Each year that passes is a celebration of our accomplishments as an organization. 
Our gifts haven’t changed the world for very many people in Guatemala, but for each one of our recipients of food, shelter or education, I have a new song running through my head. It is What a wonderful world,by Louis Armstrong. It is a wonderful world when caring and competent people combine talent and desire for change with donors who wish to make significant difference. 
We all have gifts to share. 

Dorca, (L) with food donations from FFF