The Colombian Christmas spirit begins when grandmas join in the kitchen to begin preparing all the delicious traditional plates and desserts for the holiday season.

One of the most popular dishes is buñuelos, originally from Jewish and Arabian culture. It came to Latin America during the Spanish colonization. These are cheese fritters made of cornstarch, butter and cheese. To prepare them, knead all the ingredients together and then form small balls. They are often served with natilla, a sweet dessert made out of milk, butter, panela, cinnamon, and lots of love.

The result is a milky jelly that can be eaten with berries, sauce or milk candy. At Christmas adults and kids love preparing this recipe and sharing it.

Another popular dish in Colombia is tamales. They are made of corn, wrapped in plaintain leaves, and boiled, although they vary according to the region.

For example, peanuts are used in the Cauca region, while tamales prepared in the Eastern valley used to have turtle meat. Some of them also have rice, peas, eggs, carrots, bacon and chicken.

While grandmothers cook, the rest of the family begins decorating the house, the streets, and the whole neighborhood. They decorate Christmas trees and the most important thing, the empty cradle where they place Baby Jesus on Dec. 24. The streets are normally decorated with plastic colorful flags and lights. On the streets, they do colorful drawings.

Many of the small houses are also carefully decorated. The government decorates streets, parks and buildings, and promotes contests to award the best block, home, neighborhood and mall, so everyone is encouraged to follow this custom.

Officially, Christmas begins on Dec. 7 when Colombian people celebrate Candle Day, an important festivity in which kids and adults join at night to light candles in the streets and windows. Offices and homes are decorated with lanterns and candles that welcome the holiday season. They are accompanied by fireworks.

The origin of this celebration was in 1854 when Pope Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. In anticipation of this event, people started lighting candles. This Catholic tradition continues to be important in Colombia. The image of the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus are important figures, rather than Santa Claus.

On Dec. 16 the novenas begin, a special moment of the day in which families, friends and neighbors join to pray on nine successive days, commemorating the birth of Jesus. The last is the evening of Dec. 24, when everyone remembers that Jesus came to earth. These traditions are still celebrated and help people to keep in mind the real meaning of Christmas. During these special celebrations people sing Christmas carols, and read Bible verses, among other activities.

One of the funniest traditions are the aguinaldos, which are games that adults and children play, like Tres Pies. Each player tries to put one foot in the middle of the feet of the other players without being noticed. Another funny game is Si y No, in which you are not able to say one of those two words.

On Christmas night, families share special dinners, depending on which region of Colombia they are in. Some eat turkey, lechona (pork filled with rice and peas), among other typical dishes. They also give everyone the presents that the Baby Jesus brought.

Finally on Dec. 28 in Colombia, we celebrate the Innocent Days, a date full of fun and jokes because people use to do jests, like giving others fake food, inventing stories, and so on. On TV channels, they transmit the funny mistakes people do, and even newspapers create funny news. These are some of the important celebrations and customs people do in Colombia to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Easter feels like summer. The sun shines strong in the skies, the breeze somehow fresh, somehow warm. It is definitely the middle of the dry season in El Salvador, the equivalent of summer in northern lands.

Everything around, from sale signs to music, talks about sun and sand. The opportunity to enjoy beaches that are just an hour away from San Salvador is almost here.

For a full week, students are out of school and have the opportunity to enjoy beaches, visit relatives and do nothing; it is almost the equivalent to spring break in the United States.

However, there is one unequivocal characteristic that reminds every Salvadoran that it is not just a break, and that there is more than just sun and fun waiting for us during that week in April.

In El Salvador, the week of Easter is “Holy Week,” and the festivities revolve around Roman Catholic tradition. Roman Catholics account for nearly 60 percent of the population. Protestant (also called evangelical) churches account for slightly more than 20 percent.

Even though El Salvador does not have an official religion, since the time of colonization Roman Catholic traditions have been the most common and most practiced in the country. Easter Week is the most important celebration for the Roman Catholic Church.

“It is slightly different for the Protestant Church” says Sister Wendy, wife of Pastor Rodolfo at the Baptist Tabernacle Church of Majucla. “For most of the children, Easter Week is an opportunity to spend time with their families. People take advantage of this time to go back to their homeland and spend time with their families.”

One of the most important Easter traditions in El Salvador is Lent. During this 40-day period before Easter, named “Cuaresma” in Spanish, people fast, pray and give alms. The last week of the 40 days is called “Bigger Week” or “Holy Week.”

On Good Friday, there are two major processions. Early in the morning there is the “passion,” which is the representation or commemoration of the walk that Jesus took with the cross toward Golgotha. It is finished around noon.

Then in the afternoon, Roman Catholic churches and communities start making rugs on the streets with sawdust, which will later be part of the path where the “holy funeral procession” will pass, carrying the symbolic dead body of Christ.

The making of these rugs represents one of the greatest traditions for the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador, since entire streets and main avenues in many places of the country are completely closed. The rugs cover entire streets.

Appreciation of the rugs goes beyond religion. For Salvadorians, it is about appreciating the art and about appreciating the effort the people put into making the rugs. For Salvadorians, it is a gift, an offering they are making for Jesus.

Catholic or not, Salvadorians go out into the streets on Good Friday to see the rugs. Apart from this tradition for Good Friday, Holy Week develops differently for Protestants.

For the Evangelical Church in El Salvador, Holy Week is an opportunity to spread the Gospel to as many people as possible. If there is the opportunity to preach the Gospel and carry more people to the feet of our Lord, the church takes advantage of it and tells El Salvador the true meaning of Holy Week.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Our child development centers are distributed in different types of settings in Mexico; the biggest difference is between urban and suburban areas.

In the context of this blog post, the term “suburban” is defined a bit differently than in the developed world:

Suburban areas are smaller cities or towns, normally located on the outskirts of main cities, with at least 5,000 inhabitants, but with few services.

Suburban settlements are always in constant growth. Houses are dispersed, and many lack basic community services. Roofs are basically made of thin layers of either metal, plastic or even cardboard materials.

Typical homes are made with brick and sometimes local materials such as mud, wood and other things typical to the area. The homes usually have  improvised rooms made3 with construction materials on the relative’s property, or have rented rooms with shared facilities.

Partially paved roads and streets are also common in these areas.

The settlements are normally gray and dusty, on the outskirts of the bigger cities or main towns. Each family has an average of three to five children, and it is very common to see either single or abandoned mothers working to support their children or clustering with their relatives to share the expenses and chid care.

The communities start with a group of squatters who settle in open spaces near the main cities. The people from these places often work in the cities, so they depend economically and commercially on urban regions. The communities struggle to get good services and communications; they have little infrastructure.

Productive activities in these areas include commerce, labor and domestic employment, brick layers, blacksmithing, selling in the small markets or small corner stores, factory workers, and industry laborers .

The families are normally paid by day, and so they live on a very small budget, unable to plan much into the future. Children often receive their clothes from older brothers or cousins; mothers fix and reuse the clothes to make them last for the next generation. New clothes are bought from the market and from relatives as well. Clothes and gifts the children receive from the child development centers are highly valued.

Many children come from Roman Catholic backgrounds since the country’s population is 88 percent Roman Catholic, according to the last census from INEGI (National Institute for Statistics and Geography).

Educational services in these areas are underdeveloped. Many schools are still under construction or have provisional classrooms that parents helped build and remodel with their few resources. The average education level is six years of elementary school.

The diet of families in suburban areas mostly depends on their income. Most families prepare rice and beans, noodle soup, chilaquiles and other tortilla-based dishes.

Examples of child development centers found in areas like this include:

ME-709, 730, 731, 733, 735, 737, 738, 744, 750, 751, 764, 774, 775, 777 – 784, 786, 787, 790, 791, 792, 801, 802, 807, 811, 814, 815, 816, 819, 824, 826, 829, 831, 837, 840, 852, 857 – 862, 870, 881, 882, 885 – 889, 891, 895, 896, 900, 901, 910, 915 – 918, 921, 923, 924, 927, 928, 937, 941, 942, 944, 947 and 948.

Sopa de Pasta Recipe

In Mexico, it is very common to find small bags of pasta in different shapes like tiny stars. Families cook this often to feed the children. Some cook it with chicken to make it a full meal. Many times they add a few chicken bones for flavor.

To prepare a similar dish, break regular noodles into short pieces.

Heat oil in a large pot, and fry noodles until lightly browned.

In a blender, add a few tomatoes, onion and garlic, and puree until smooth.

Pour the tomato mixture into the pot with the noodles and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add water or chicken stock and cook covered until the noodles are tender, 5 to 10 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, and stir.

Serve in a bowl while still hot.

Chilaquiles Recipe

You can make either green or red chilaquiles, depending on the tomatoes used. Green tomatoes are very popular in some places, but red tomatoes are good, too. In some restaurants, chilaquiles are also served with chicken breast strips, but in the Compassion communities they are normally served as they come out of the pan.

Place tomatoes in a saucepan and cover with water.

Add one jalapeno, or even half if preferred, and salt, onion and garlic.

Cook for 5 minutes until tomatoes have changed color and are cooked through. Blend until completely done. Add salt to taste and finish cooking.

Deep-fry corn tortillas cut into smaller strips until golden brown. When they are crisp, remove and place them on sheets of paper towels to remove excess oil. Add the fried tortillas to the salsa.

Serve chilaquiles with either sour cream, fresh cheese or onion.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Our child development centers are distributed in different types of settings in Mexico; the biggest difference is between urban and suburban areas.

In the context of this blog post, the terms “urban” is defined a bit differently than in the big cities of the developed world:

An urban area corresponds to small communities concentrated in cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, with the majority of public services at hand.

The main difference between an urban and suburban area is in the communication and roads that provide all the supplies and raw materials needed for life.

The main cities are important areas of influence where the major cultural, political and government events take place. Great infrastructure, equipment and services are distinct. Drainage, water, pavement, electricity, schools, hospitals, parks and amusement parks are all found in cities. The main administrative and government offices are located here.

Organized commerce and industry provide most of the job opportunities, but there is a segment of the population that works providing services to the offices, homes and factories.

It is very common for these cities to have groups of such service providers establish their own colonies, our “urban” setting, which lack the same level of comfort or community services as the rest of the city. These communities grow and develop without much planning, and do not have services like parks or clinics. They are greatly affected by political turmoil, high food costs, and lack appropriate medical and school services and security. This is where we serve.

Drugs, gangs and a high rate of violence are terrible problems in these communities. Single mothers are also common, and children spend many afternoons wandering the streets.

Not many families own property. Rented homes are the common denominator here. Many times three or more related families crowd into small, rented homes.

Homes built and owned by families house a long line of working-class grandparents, parents and children who all have contributed with their labor to be able to share a small room. Homes are usually built, with small rooms, around a common patio, and have common facilities or restrooms. Families are very close, and the grandparents hold a high rank in the family hierarchy.

In many cases the common room serves as the kitchen with a big table, and other rooms are designated for each son and his family. Men usually stay home and bring their new families to live with the parents, and females normally leave their homes to live with their husbands and their husbands’ families.

Parents usually have two to four children. Many times women are abandoned and either raise their children by themselves or continue building their family with a new husband.

Depending on the location of these urban communities, dress and attire vary just a little, but clothing is mostly informal, and there is a huge market of used clothes sold at very cheap prices at the street markets.

The communities are normally built around a big Roman Catholic church and a local market that supplies all the goods and supplies for families. It’s an open market, with fruits and vegetables, grains, meat and many small stands that sell everything the community could ever need.

Most families base their nutrition on grains like beans, rice or lentils, soup and sometimes eggs or chicken.

Transportation is usually provided by either buses or smaller vans modified to carry up to 15 people, and they are usually very crowded, especially in the mornings when adults and youths go to work in the cities nearby or to pursue higher education.

Examples of child development centers found in areas like this include:

ME-703, 708, 711, 741, 770, 785, 788, 789, 825, 839, 880, 912, 919, 922, 934, 935 and 936.

Lentils Recipe

Place rinsed and inspected lentils in a large pot with chicken broth and let it boil.

Once boiling, add onion, garlic and cilantro, to taste.

Reduce heat to medium until lentils are soft, about 12-15 minutes,  depending on type of lentil used.

If necessary, add more water or chicken broth to attain the consistency you prefer.

Salt to taste.

Serve hot with garnish of chopped cilantro, onion and small tomato cubes.

In the southern part of Mexico lentils are first boiled with salt, and then after frying tomato cubes, onion and garlic, they are added into the pot. In this case, they are also served with slices of banana.

Mexican Rice Recipe

For one cup of rice, heat the oil in a medium saucepan and fry the rice, stirring, until it starts to brown.

Add the garlic when the rice is nearly browned.

Add the water, then the mix of tomato, onion, salt and garlic. Mix well. Cover partially and turn the heat down to medium low.

Cook the rice for 20 to 30 minutes, but check after 20 minutes to see if it is ready. You do not need to stir the rice or lift the lid while it cooks. It is ready when the rice is fluffy and all the water is gone. If it is still sauce-like rather than dry, cook a few minutes more.

Adjust the spices to taste, and serve hot as a side dish.

Grandmothers say to usually use about twice the amount of water to rice. So in this case, one cup of rice cooks well with two cups of water.

In some places they eat rice topped with a fried egg, with bananas or avocado.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

In Peru, that religion, Roman Catholicism, is still important:

• for many traditional families who live in Lima City
• in faraway towns in the country
• among the migrants who have come into Lima City from the Andes Highlands, the Amazon Rainforest or the many small valleys scattered along the coast

But among this last group, the migrants, are our young friends, our sponsored children.

In Peru, Easter is a solemn celebration. Holy Week begins the Sunday before Easter; therefore, schools are closed for the entire week so that the children and teenagers may participate in the special celebrations together with their parents – either in Lima or visiting relatives away from the capital city.

The evangelical churches initiate a special week of celebrations with evangelistic campaigns and camping programs for the youth and also for the entire family to have a special retreat.

The churches give their children the opportunity to participate actively in the celebration at church or at the camping site, according to their age. The younger children learn that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, but that also He is risen, while the older children participate at special programs at church to present to the community during the evangelistic campaign on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

The young university students who belong to evangelical churches prepare programs intended to present the plan of salvation to the youth who have never been to church. The students prepare something special, such as Christian concerts and dramas, which will draw the attention of that specific group. The programs are presented in an open place, such as a big park.

Some of these university students organize special trips to visit faraway churches in order to present dramas or to sing during the special church services previously organized by local churches.

Other students have the gift to visit people in jail to preach and give counseling. For example, some may visit those who have been caught taking drugs from the country; many of these are foreigners and do not have relatives or friends in Peru.

These students go together with their pastors taking gifts and doing Christian concerts. They give testimony of their past life and bring those prisoners hope and a new joy. These young university students take seriously Matthew 25:36 (NIV).

“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Talking about Easter gifts, if the family belongs to a high social class, their children receive chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday. They even participate in contests about painting an egg organized at their school or by a local supermarket.

But a child who belongs to a traditional family, who is part of a low social class, or who lives in extreme poverty, as our sponsored children do, isn’t aware of Easter gifts.

When the children at one of our child development centers were asked about “Easter eggs,” the majority were surprised with the question. Some have seen ads on TV about chocolate eggs, but since they aren’t sold in their community, they just do not care much about it.

The children just enjoy their time being out of school and eating some traditional dishes. They gather at somebody’s home who has a TV set, together with their siblings and friends, to watch the special TV programs that are shown on Easter, old films such as Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Jesus, and many other religious movies.

All the people who live in small cities and towns close to colonial Lima City become part of a big celebration. A grand procession takes place. Statues of Jesus carrying His cross and the Virgin dressed all in black are carried on large platforms through the streets.

In some parts of Lima City, local transportation is diverted by the policemen who try their best to alleviate the chaos. They whistle to give directions to the drivers who go through the old and narrow colonial streets bursting with the activity of hundreds of devoted people following the procession.

The people walk slowly and pray while passing through the narrow streets. People who live there gather on their homes’ balconies to salute the statues. They throw rose petals on both statues as a special offering.

Meanwhile the street vendors take advantage of the occasion to offer their goods, such as traditional foods, sodas, candies, etc. Therefore, there is not only devotion, but also noisy crowds and different kinds of smells coming from the great variety of dishes being prepared to be offered to the devoted people.

In this procession, not so many children are seen because of the big crowds and the long distances to walk that become endless because of the procession’s slow pace. Usually children get tired and bored because they are not much aware of the situation.

The statues carried in the procession are of high value since they were brought from Spain four to five centuries ago. Besides being a work of art, the statue of the Virgin is unusual because the statue’s hair is real, donated by some young lady who has given it as a special gift. The statue wears an expensive silk dress and lots of jewelry that has been donated by rich people throughout the centuries.

The platforms the statues are carried on are quite heavy, and each one requires at least a dozen men to carry it. The group is replaced by different groups of men after carrying it for some distance. The procession is accompanied by a band of musicians and many ladies who walk singing and carrying incense in special gold containers.

During Holy Week there is always something going on, such as the “Feet Washing Ceremony” that takes place at the cathedral in Lima City as well as in all Roman Catholic churches in the country. There the priest washes the feet of 12 men who are just common citizens.

On Good Friday, many people prepare “The Seven Dishes,” but it is traditional to cook different recipes using only fish.

In the afternoon, the Roman Catholic Cardinal preaches at the main cathedral of Lima. He speaks about “The Last Seven Words of Jesus.” This is transmitted across the country through the media.

There are many more traditions to be told, although many more have been already forgotten with the passing of the years and can be found only in history books.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates