Today we traveled to Ciudad de la Alegria, the city of joy. Here, facilities and resources are provided for women and their families who have no home. Also, the city has a school as well as a home for the elderly. To begin our adventure in the city of joy, we toured the entire facility. First, we took a tour of the building where they receive and sort donations to be given to anyone in need. Donations received include clothing of any sort, furniture, toys, etc. The place reminded me of a Goodwill, except with no price tags and the donations were given to people who absolutely need them.
Next we toured the school. We stopped in to visit the primary school children. As we entered the courtyard of the primary school, the children just completely surrounded us and started giving us high-fives us and hugging us, and speaking to us in cute, little Spanish voices. I was immediately overwhelmed with love and joy from these children. It was exhilarating and we just wanted to stay and play with the children.
Our next stop was Casa de la Alegria, the home for the elderly. As soon as we arrived, we immediately got to work. We had the opportunity to chat, color pictures, or play cards and dominoes with some of the residents. I had the pleasure of playing a few rounds of dominoes with a couple of delightful gentlemen. It was an experience I will honestly never forget. After playtime, we assisted the residents with lunch as well as doing other tasks like cleaning tables and hanging laundry. We were definitely exposed to a lot of Spanish but I think we all handled it fairly well. I’m excited to continue our experience at Casa de la Alegria tomorrow and I’m excited to learn more of the Mexican culture.
I will end today with this quote by our spectacular tour guide at Ciudad de la Alegria talking about why they do what they do at the city: “When you receive love and give love, your life makes sense.”
Buenas noches.
-Hadassah, Senior
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