Fun with Kids!

Now I know you are all probably thinking "I thought she went to Africa to volunteer...."  I KNOW that's what my family has been thinking because they've recently been questioning me about it!!  Well, after over three weeks of traveling and adventures, I finally got to spend some time with the kids at Good Hope School and Orphanage!  And, of course, we had a wonderful time with them.  Traveling is so much fun, but the kids are the real reason that I came back here.

On Saturday, there was a party at Good Hope to celebrate the opening of a new clinic on the grounds.  The school children all performed songs, there was a live band, and lots of food!  We were lucky to be able to attend to see the children and to celebrate their new clinic!

Dancing at the party.

Sunday, Sally and I headed over to the orphanage to spend the afternoon playing with/entertaining the orphans.  Sally brought water balloons, and we filled up over 200 as the kids had a huge water balloon fight in the front yard of the orphanage!  I mostly filled balloons and avoided being hit by any, but Sally was definitely the target of a few kids!  After the water balloon fight, I passed out a few of the donations that I brought, including bubbles from my grandparents and pajamas from my mom.  I am trying to pass out the donations slowly since I will be here for a long time, and it is better not to overwhelm the kids with too many presents at once!

Bubbles!



Water Balloon fight!

Filling over 200 balloons!!

Yesterday and today, Sally and I spent time at school working with both the orphans and the school children on their studies.  My mom's students from Wisconsin had written letters to the kids at Good Hope School, so we spent a lot of time reading the letters and helping the kids write back to their new penpals.


Finally, thanks to the generous donations from our friends/co-workers Catherine, Nora, and Carmen and also my own former 6th grade teacher Mrs. Woodworth, Sally and I were able to take the girls from the orphanage shopping and out for pizza yesterday!  (The boys will go on Thursday with Sally while I am climbing Kilimanjaro.)  The girls had such a blast at the store picking out their own present.  I want to personally thank the ladies who donated money because Sally and I had so much fun watching them!  They each changed their mind about what they should choose at least 4 times!  The excitement in the car on the ride home was something that I can't describe in words, but I am smiling right now thinking about it!  The kids also loved going out for pizza, and my goodness, can these little girls eat!!!!  Sally and I were shocked!

Picking out presents!

Waiting patiently for our pizza

Tomorrow, I leave to begin my seven day trek up Kilimanjaro, which is my last adventure for awhile!  After that, it's four straight weeks of volunteering.  If anyone is interesting in donating to the children at Good Hope School or Orphanage, I am going to create a paypal account once I get home from Kili which you will be able to donate to by credit card.  More information on that to come!