Today was a big day! After a long-awaited group reunion we all (hesitantly) ate breakfast at the hotel. After a rough couple of days of sick kids and chaperones, it felt good to have everyone running on full cylinders again. With breakfast ended, and the gang back together, we headed off to Mizigo--the main Maranatha school.
Seeing Jonathan and Stephen happy and giggling was a sight that many of us will never forget. These two kids lost their mother a week prior to our arrival and their father is a blind alcoholic whose lack of care brought Jonnie-boy and Stevie to the new boys’ dorm. These two wouldn’t even crack a smirk on day one of Jack and Colleen’s desperate attempts to make them happy. Now, when the brothers see their new Mzungu friends they run and laugh ready to give hugs and tell us what we’ve missed.
The day on the schedule was called “Environmental Day” but we think that may have been a little bit of a misnomer. The environmental side of the day consisted of a talk given by the school head master, about preserving and rebuilding the habitat and landscape they have so generously been given. It taught the kids to care about where they live and try to build on the trees that were scattered as is, due to the constant need for fire wood. The speech was then followed by a tutorial on burning weeds and mixing the ash with some homemade glue type substance. While there was some general confusion spreading amongst the 16 of us about what we were actually doing for the environment, we followed along and got ready to play more games with the now restless kids.
The rest of the day consisted of fun games and songs at the school. Whether it was Dan and Paul’s Limbo chant that ended up as a rainbow chant, or Matthew’s much anticipated singing and dancing to various acapello versions of Mulan and Christmas songs. These songs, while they seem ill-fitting for the time and place, ended up being such a hit that Caitlin and Emma began to help out.
Playing with the older kids was much different but just as fun. We taught them (or attempted to teach them) bingo and they got the hang of it after awhile. Twister ended up being a huge hit as well. Colleen taught her old friend Bridget how to play the “cup song” and after while had the whole room trying it out.
With the games mentioned and plethora of other games that seemed to drain the energy from us, we had some of the most fun we’ll ever have. The 5th day of our African Adventure was a success.
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