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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Salvation Army Children’s Home Comes To Dance For Us

At this time of year with Christmas fast approaching the Salvation Army orphans are busy performing all over town.   If you look back at my Dec. 11, 2014 blog you will find additional information about this orphanage and all of it bears repeating.  The orphanage which is privately funded collects 60% of it’s operational budjet over the Christmas season from the children’s hard work dancing.  A little different than it is in the USA and Canada where we can’t find anything to buy our grandchildren for Christmas that they don’t already have or even want.  A different situation here. 

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The children arrived just before 4pm in full dress and are now waiting for the audience to show up so that they can perform.  Many of us have seen these dances before but that isn’t the point for attending.  It gives us an opportunity to applaud their efforts and also to donate to a worthy cause.

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This beautiful young lady saw me pointing my camera at her and gave me the most beautiful smile.  I remember her from years past and she is now 14 and will celebrate her “ Quinceañera (Spanish pronunciation: [kinseaˈɲeɾa]; feminine form of "fifteen-year-old"), also called fiesta de quince años, fiesta de quinceañera, quince años, quinceañero or simply quince, is a celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday with cultural roots of Latin America but celebrated throughout the Americas.” in January.  It will not be the elaborate affair that some are but I’m sure she’ll have a party.

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The young men start us off with a dance.

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The legs are flying and they are laughing.  Well done!

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Intense concentration by this dancer.

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These sweet young girls are ready to take the floor.

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We are given some background on the home by this fellow.  He applauds the children’s willingness to help, their good nature and manners.  He told us about the structure of the home’s financial network and about the selfless people both North American and Mexican who work with the children.  There is a Monday morning work bee to do maintenance and also a Wednesday afternoon games program to help the children learn English.  Just keeping the children clothed, bathed and fed is a major undertaking and the children are involved in all of it. 

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This dance was by the mid aged girls who are around 11 years.

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The costumes are much better and so is the dancing than in years past.  These children have a full schedule at this time of year with school, chores and dancing so practising takes all their spare time.

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Another future beauty!

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There was one caballero with the girls in this dance.

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That’s quite the caballo he’s got there.

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The older dancers were very accomplished and the skirts were really twirling.

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The sun is low at this time of day and the bright light made picture taking difficult but also created some great lighting.

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Time for….¡Feliz Navidad y próspero Año Nuevo!  

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The children really pour their hearts out in this song!

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What a cutey!

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This little three year old was having a whale of a time. 

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Now it was time for them to say their name and their age in ….English!

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This just cracked her up!  Especially when we were informed she was turning 15 in January.

At this point the children came around with collection baskets and people donated to a worthy cause.

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The dance of the “Machetes.”

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Here the young men were removing their blindfolds from covering their eyes.  The machetes had been flying while they couldn’t see.  No blood was spilled!

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The final dance and it was very beautifully done.

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At this point the dance paused and…..

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Men in the crowd were corralled to dance with young ladies.  Not the worst thing in the world!

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And then….the macarena!

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A reasonable crowd assembled but…..there could have been more. 

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The final dance contained a….break dancer.

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He’s working hard here.

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The children were done dancing and came out to greet the crowd and give us all hugs.  However, there was a young Mexican couple with two large dogs watching and the dogs were the hit of the day.  The Boxer was patted by all the children and typical of most quiet Mexican dogs he didn’t mind a bit. 

At this point the children were loaded into their van…I don’t know how they all fit….and headed home.  I hope they received enough donations to make it worth their while. 

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It’s now later in the day and I’m sitting outside watching the last of the sun and having a cerveza.  Another good day!

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