Thank you for your prayers! Our primary retreat was a HUGE SUCCESS!!! 26 precious children. No major problems. No major fights. MANY smiling faces.
Monday, we focused on 1 John 3:1 “For how great is the love the Lord has lavished on us that we should be called children of God.” We talked about God loving us. We talked about being children of God. We talked about being part of God’s family. And how, no matter who is or isn’t in your family here on Earth, we all have a Father in Heaven. And we also have brothers and sisters in each other.
We did lots of crafts; we played lots of soccer; we played lots of games and sang lots of songs. I even got my hair fixed by several people (they were in awe of my long, “soft” hair.) It was a very full day!
Tuesday, they came back. I missed the first part because I had to go to the chemist (aka pharmacy) to prepare for the medical camp. But they started the day reading the story of Noah and the Ark – and acting it out. I had found these animal hats – and the kids were happy to volunteer to help be animals that got on the ark. We had ladybugs and horses and dogs and sharks and more. (We had a few strange animals join our ark – because I thought they were the cutest hats. You can be the judge. J )
Then, many more crafts. Lots of singing and dancing and playing. Then chicken and French fries for lunch – their FAVORITE meal (some things are universal apparently).
When I got my food, I went searching for the “Peptang” – which is their version of ketchup. I found two empty bottles on the tables. I was a little frustrated and confused as to how we could be out – but I ate my fries with salt and no peptang.
At the end of the day, David Omondi, one of the oldest sponsored students explained the story. One of the little boys, Domonic, is about 7 or 8 years old. During lunch, he discovered that this was the last day to come to eat and play with us. He went around and got the bottles and covered his plate in peptang – because he never gets to eat it at home. So that’s where all the peptang/ketchup went. I hope his stomach doesn’t hurt today – but he left happy yesterday.
Mid afternoon, the transporation arrived. The kids were disappointed to go home so soon – but we had a surprise for them. A trip to Impala Park (a little zoo here) to see the animals. They were so excited! So we transported 40 people to the zoo. The zoo is on the shores of Lake Victoria – so after the animals, we went to the shoreline to let the kids put their feet in the water. They were in awe. They all said that they had never seen so much water. And many of them were scared to even put their feet in the water. Rida, one of the youngest girls, was impressed by what she saw. She pulled at Allison’s arm and said, “Wow! It looks like a BIG RAIN!” That was her best description of the lake.
Once they were all brave enough to put their toes in the water, we had another surprise for them. We were going on a boat ride! So many of them were scared and said they wouldn’t go. But we explained little life jackets and gave plenty of encouragement and they were convinced. The college kids that were helping us were some of the most scared. But we convinced them to fake it – because the little kids would act as they acted. So we got 40 people on these little boats and took a 10 min boat ride. Highlight of the day! They were all so impressed and excited with the boat ride!
Thank you for your support! Your donations helped buy all the craft materials that we used for the retreat – which they LOVED. You also allowed us to pay the extra money to take the field trip to the zoo and to ride the boat. These little things have expanded their little minds. Their world is getting bigger and they are learning new things. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
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