Today we held a celebration in honor of all the men and women who help make our neighborhood in the slums safer, more beautiful, more joyous, and more welcoming. In attendance: all our community leaders and health workers, our women’s group and credit union members, senior Port Authority personnel, our partner NGOs, local fire brigades, police and army personnel, and hundreds of friends and neighbors in the slums. We presented certificates of honor to all our local heroes, danced, feasted, and most importantly, provided balloons galore and plenty of ice cream to the neighborhood children.