Yesterday we were in an ice cream shop, una heladeria, when a little girl with dirty clothes and a smudged face walked up to the group of Penn State students I was with and asked one of them to buy her ice cream.  I began to talk to la nina and learned that her name is Gaby and she is 7 years old.  Gaby does not have a house and when I asked her about her parents she did not respond.  I asked Gaby what her favorite flavor of ice cream was and she said chocolate so I bought her a chocolate ice cream.  Children like Gaby just break my heart.  I feel so helpless when I see them because there is not a whole lot that I can physically do for them besides buy them ice cream or I bought a different little boy fruit one time after arguing with him that I was not going to buy him a toy.  But, the fact is, is that there are thousands and possibly millions of children without a home or without parents to care for them that rely on begging for food in order to survive. I am sure that they see that I am an American and think, “oh, I am sure she will give me something” and come up to me and I am also sure that some of them do have families and their families send them out to the streets to ask people if they want to buy gum in order to bring some money home.  I know that that pouty face with dirt all over it is sometimes an act to make me feel for them, but there are also others who are honestly homeless and know nothing else. I just wish there was something more that I could do for them. I have been praying for them and will continue to pray for them because that is really all that I can do at this point in time.  It has just been crazy what my eyes have been opened to thus far on this trip and how I have been pushed out of my comfort zone and seen things that I would not have seen within the safe vecinity of Pennsylvania.

Location: Heladeria-Guanajuato, Mexico