Lorinda and I drove the boys in one van, which was an adventure in itself, and Sophie and Nomhle had all the girls in the other shelter van. At 9:30 we arrived at Topologo where we met up with about 50 kids from the Topologo school. Once there we were going to take buses the rest of the way to Sun City, but since we're on African time, the buses didn't arrive until about 10:30. We decided to just drive the kids in the shelter vans since we had so many 4-year-olds and only 4 of us to keep tabs on all the kids.
We arrived in Sun City and were welcomed by two clowns. Most of the kids were excited, but Sophie and I had to hold Lewis' hands because he was petrified. We walked through the park past the wave pool to a big outdoor amphitheater where there was a singing and dancing show going on. They handed out an ice cream bar to each of the kids as we walked in, which made them all much happier after all the waiting and driving. I would guess there were about 200 kids in the amphitheater, so it was a little stressful keeping track of all our Lighthouse kids.
After the show, we walked back to the wave pool area where several of the kids got their faces painted and the others jumped on a "Jumping Castle." I know the kids had a great time, but I felt like an overwhelmed parent...you know, the anxious feeling of being responsible for four 4-year olds who speak limited English and have selective hearing. It was worth it though to see the kids having so much fun.
At 1pm, all the kids met back in the amphitheater for a free lunch of hot dogs and "cool drinks" (sodas). South African hot dogs are a much softer consistency than those in the U.S., but I was starving by then, so I didn't really care. The singers did some more songs while we ate and made some inappropriate jokes that I really hope went over the kids' heads.
After lunch each of the kids received a goodie bag with a T-shirt, a frisbee, and lots of candy (which I'm pretty sure ended up all over the inside of the vans on the way back). At 2pm, our group made our way back to the parking lot to get in the vans. This was probably my favorite part of the day because we saw 3 monkeys running around the parking lot. The monkeys were sitting on top of cars and chasing each other around. It was so fun!
Tonight, after falling asleep on my couch for a little while, I joined the Betzer family for dinner with Delight and Wayne Peercy, who are also missionaries in South Africa. They've had two American college students, Sarah and Jessica, serving with them in Limpopo for the past month, so I really enjoyed talking to the two of them and hearing about their experiences here. They both head back to Indiana tomorrow and have mixed feelings about leaving. I'm really glad that I'm going to be here for another 6 weeks! I am loving my time here and am definitely not ready to leave yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment