Each morning we were out of the hotel by 8:30. Today, Sunday, we arrived to find all the kids scrubbed and in clean uniforms. They were preparing for their Sunday church service. It was held in one of the classrooms--all the resident students, some teachers and the seventeen of us.
The kids enthusiastically participated in each part of the service and when they sang their faces lit up. They love music and singing.
Sunday is unstructured and eventually many of the day students return to spend the day.
We engaged the group in a variety of activities such as reading from some of the books that were donated.........
playing ball in the courtyard......
and more puzzles. The kids are like sponges and absorb anything new.
Additionally, a class was held for the teachers to instruct them on how to use some of educational materials and teaching tools that were brought.
At mid-day the lunch bell rang. At this time on previous days each of us would go to the little storeroom that had been set aside for us and grab our granola bars, almonds, dried fruit, etc. Today however the chef switched his Sunday menu and served pinto beans and rice for lunch instead of dinner.
He wanted us to try them.
They were quite good and afterwards I stopped by the kitchen to return my bowl and compliment him on his tasty beans.
After lunch it was time to distribute the donated clothing. The kids patiently lined up to await their turns while this young man shows off his new orange cargo pants.
Gerda Fink, who organized this trip and is the primary supporter of Kisima sponsors this boy who is excited about his ROCK pinball t-shirt.
Too many choices.
Don't even think about it!
Happy little girls with their new dresses.
Tomorrow, Monday is our last day. It is bitter sweet because a great deal has been accomplished yet, everyone is tired and feels like they will never get the red-clay dirt out of their clothes, shoes and hair.
In an earlier blog post I mentioned that we had to wash our clothes every night. Well here is a photo of our bathroom at the Mid-Africa Hotel. We washed our clothes each night in a tub just like the kids at Kisima did. A side note about the photo-- the bathroom was "all-in-one"and everything was washed in cold water including our bodies--not by choice, it's just that, well--it is what it is!
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