Friday 18 July 2014

Happy 6th Anniversary HOOP!

Happy birthday HOOP! You’ve been “Helping to Overcome Obstacles in Peru” for six years. This is an important moment for HOOP as well as for the families of the community of Flora Tristan. For the past 6 years HOOP has been providing programs in areas such as education, personal finance, health, and self-confidence, all free of charge. Such a special date required a proper celebration and Hoop’s anniversary party took place last Sunday at the cancha near the school!

The event was planned with the help of HOOP staff and volunteers and even the kids helped out by making decorations for the big party. When the volunteers told the children that HOOP would be celebrating its anniversary they were so excited and just couldn`t stop smiling in anticipation!


The volunteers and the families started to prepare the cancha for the party early in the morning. They brought tables, chairs, several pieces of decoration, materials for games, and even set up a huge tent to protect people from the sun.

The party started at 9.00am and the HOOP volunteers divided the kids into four groups for different games. There was a sack race, a hula hoop relay race, a cup tower race, and an exciting balloon popping competition! Simultaneously, the babies and toddlers were with other volunteers having fun with face painting and drawing activities. 
 

To entertain all of the external guests that came up to Flora Tristan especially for this day the kids and volunteers performed four different songs, and the closing performances was a special remix of  the song “Whoomp, there it is!” which was promptly renamed to “HOOP, there it is”. The performance included rapping, singing, dancing and acrobatics and kept the whole audience on their feet.
 
After all these fun activities it was time for the highlight of the day when two of HOOP`s former volunteers, Vicky and Eddy, who met while volunteering for HOOP, renewed their vows in front of the whole Flora Tristan community! It was very special to be able to share this moment with Vicky and Eddy. The whole HOOP team would like to congratulate them once again. May you two have a life filled with happiness and love!
To finish off this remarkable Sunday morning, the moms served a typical Peruvian lunch and the newly married couple served a delicious cake. Yummy! Thanks to all the people that have contributed to HOOP in its 6 years of history, you have been helping making the dream of a better life in Flora Tristan come true!
 

 Written by HOOP Peru Volunteer Cayruã Fonseca