we have our first day of vbs yesterday. holy crap were we tired. africa definitely runs on a different time table, that's for sure. the day was supposed to last from 9-2. needless to say, we ended up leaving at 4:30.
our day at camp looked a little somthing like this: when we arrived, the kids were singing songs. it sounded amazing! my heart literally jumped inside my chest. they sounded like a choir with harmony, clapping and a drum echoing from the rustic building that is home to many birds perched in the beams. after songs, steve spoke a little message (we're teaching the fruits of the spirit). getting used to have things translated was a little funny, but he did an awesome job. next we seperated the kids, older and younger. the older kids went with steve and they worked on english for awhile. when asked if they knew any words in english that they wanted him so spell so they could know what it looks like, one kids cleverly said "arnold schwartzenegger" ...don't judge me...i don't know how to spell it ok?! another word was "punctual"...oh the irony.
lindsey and i worked with the little kids. we did coloring and glueing crafts. the kids loved it. they did very well at writing their names on their papers. they were very eager to communicate with us in anyway possible.
next we played outside. there was game of soccer, jump rope, dancing...yeah...i took one for the team and joined in...and kids climbing all over us. at any given time, there were at least 3 kids feeling our arms, trying to understand why we're so white, no doubt and stroking our hair.
at one point, poor lindsey was being kicked and hit by a little girl while holding a sleeping baby. the kids are so starved for attention and touch and just to be hugged and held, it's overwhelming with just three of us and heart breaking. lindsey called over to me to help her get the girl to stop. i had a shining moment. you see it seems i'd confused yes (ndiyo) with no (hapana)in swahili. innocent mistake right? i kept telling her "yes" to which she delightedly continued going nuts on lindsey. it took a few kids and a teacher to get it all straightened out, but then things were fine. sorry lindsey. needless to say, lindsey and i reviewed terms in swahili when we got home. crazy mzungu, ha!
that about wraps it up for today. i've gotta run and get things ready for the day.
later.
- hi! i'm abbie.
- coeur d' alene, idaho, United States
- i like to travel. i like photography. i like tattoos. i like doing hair. i like art. i like music. i like airstream trailers. i like vintage pin-up girls. i like volleyball. i like all things urban. i like fashion. i like the feeling i get when i smell good mens cologne. i like proper grammar. i like writing in lower case letters. i like quarters...they're my favorite.
2 comments:
Ha ha...that's a great story Abbie! I love it! I remember using "hapana" often! You can also try "basi!" Which i think means STOP! It means something else too, but I remember they responded well to that.
And oh the joys of the kids hanging on you! I remember! Do you have any "favorites" yet? I know I know, you aren't supposed to have favorites, but I feel that everyone has at least one or two kids that they connect with on a deeper level.
Oh I'm thinking of all of them right now and how precious they are! Oh how I miss them all!
Thanks for the updates. Good luck with VBS. It is tiring. And that sounds about right, we were always supposed to be done around 2 but it went until 4 ish. Random thing...as a fun song, the watoto really liked to do the chicken (kuku) dance!
In your phone's, you should have Mussa's number. Dave may have told you about him. I know that he might be the guy you try and get with to go on the safari as your guide. Anyway, I was talking to him the other day and he wanted to make sure you all had his number. I think he is taking a group up kilimanjaro soon for a week...but if you get the chance I would text him. He is a really awesome guy to just chill and hang out with or have him take you around and show you things. He speaks English very well and he is around our age. He is sorta Muslim...I can't say how strong he is in that, but at any rate I talk to him still on a weekly basis. We hung out at the coffee shop and played card games with him often. He also took us on the walking safari and the one to ngorangora crater. So if you are bored (yeah right) or ever want to hang out with a local I highly recommend sending him a text and meeting up with him.
nice! that's funny, we totally recorded the chicken dance yesterday on the video camera. it was pretty funny.
so far our phones haven't worked. the battery's were bad on all of them we've got a new battery for one, then the sim was bad. we now have a new sim card, but have no numbers on it. we would love to hook up with him for sure! maybe you can give him my email address mills.abbie@gmail.com and he can send his number or you can send it if you happen to have it? or he can always stop my umoja and if we're not here leave a note on 1 and we can hook up with him.
we've just started to venture out some, which has been fun. we ate dinner at deli chez last night and found the coffee shop, but didn't hang out there. i'm excited to go back though. we only have 2 more days of vbs, so we should get a little more time after that to really check things out. i can't wait!
i'm still working on my "favorites". one little girl has picked me, but for the life of me, i've blanked on her name right now. they really are great little kids. i haven't seen meleni yet. she hasn't been coming cause technically they are on holiday, but they called them back for us. the kids have all gone through the list of muzungu that have come to see if i knew any of them, and your name was right near the top. you made quite an impact.
shannon (from so. cal) and another lady named carmen got it last night, so they will be heading to vbs with us today so that should be fun. keep praying for wisdom for us. we are really wanting to do the best possible thing with our funds and so far we're still unsure of what that is.
p.s.
happy independence day!
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