Megan's Thoughts on Day 6

Today we started at the Smithsonian. We got to see a lot of the marine biodiversity of Panama. I really enjoyed, like I always do, actually walking through and experiencing it first hand. The touching tanks were really cool, as was getting pretty close to a hungry turtle and an iguana who decided to pose for us. It really reminded me of how important ecology is, especially in Panama, where the Canal has disrupted the marine environment for a century. It also reminded me of the environmental problems Panama has, like deforestation and and erosion.
Then we went to Nutre Hogar for the first time. At first it was slow, since we went through the boxes of donated goods and counted them. However, we met the girl who needs to go to Shriners, and her personality made us want to spend her on our dime. When we got to tour the house, we saw all these children with so many problems. I was struck by this, because I didn't realize that they would be in such bad shape. The one that struck me the most were the 13 year old boy who was partially paralyzed. We got to play with the children then, and it was weird to me that there was such a difference in the maturity levels of the children. The first one I played with was very detatched and almost didn't know how to laugh. On the opposite side of the spectrum was this boy who followed me around, walked with his own purpose and then tried to give me his rattle when I left. I wasn't expecting to be touched so deeply, but that little gesture broke my heart. He has nothing, but he is giving to others and sharing. I was affected by today's work more than any other because babies just seem to get behind your defenses. It made me want to do more for them, and makes me feel that one more day with them is not enough at all.