Bears Bags and Children

Well. Its been, what...ten whole days. Crazy. Time is ticking along quite steadily and I am begining to think about my return home. When we get home it will be almost Christmas, which will certainly be a shock with the hot weather we have here. The last thing on my mind is Christmas. Here, there are no lights, no stores playing Christmas music, no advertisments on TV, cause, well....no TV. We did celebrate the first Sunday of Advent with waffles and lighting the Hope Candle. But, yep, still seem like summer to me:)
This past Friday Heather and I held a special kids club. We made up some gift bags for all the kids. Compassion International, who helped us fill our container with some used clothes, and hospital beds and other items sent all these knit stuffed bears, inside fabric drawstring bags. We took those, added some crayons, candy, notebook and a colouring book that Heather designed. Tada..gift bag. The bears were very cute, all with different expressions, and outfits. Anyhow, the night before I was making carmel corn for our festive event, and then stuffing bags with the goodies. Our colouring books were taken to the printers, but still we didn’t have them back. Club starts 9 am. Yep, I was a little worried. The sheets for the books arrived at 8:30, so we were frantically (okay, perhaps I was the only frantic person) collating, folding and stapling the books together. Oh, and the printers did the pages on two sizes of paper, some on 8.5 by 11 and some A4. Arg. So we had to trim down the A4 to the right size. Anyhow....I say to Heather, why do I come up with these ideas.....it always happens, crunch time and I am worrying about how it will all turn out, and feeling like nothing will work out. The night before we counted the bags. There were 59 bags. The week previous at club, there were 59 children. I was thinking, if they know it is a special club, there may be way more kids....so I start worrying. Heather tells me, don’t worry, God will have it all figured out. I stlil worry. So 59 bags. I had extra candy and crayons, so we took those, and one extra notebook and a few extra colouring books. We arrive, only 15 mintues late. I say Heather, can you count the kids...She counted, I don’t know how many times. Maybe six times. Problem with kids....they move around. She came up with a few different numbers. Finally, she comes to 59. The end comes, they have had their snack, we have taken a group photo (very challenging let me tell you. There were several carmel corn related altercations that broke out) Then we get the kids to sit down. I pray, and Kathleen and the Ngenda children bring out the boxes full of gift bags. I tell them. Stay in your seats, you can look in the bags, but don’t take anything out now, wait till you get home....As we pull out the first few bags...their voices start to chatter excitedly. We go down several rows. By this time some of the kids have looked in the bags to find the teddy bears and other items. The excitement grows. It gets louder and louder... it grows to a virtual roar. They were soooo happy and so excited to get a teddy bear for each one, and a bag. I turn around and one is putting the bag over his shoulders. I look in the front row at the smaller ones, and not surprisingly they have ignored my stern directions, and have their bears out, dancing on the tables. Everyone of those children was so happy and appreciative. Even the older boys, who I was worried would be “too cool” for the bears. The last row. Everyone has a bag, except one boy. I go back, there is one bag left. Wow. Talk about the perfect number. I had prayed to God all morning, please dear God, let there be 59 children or less. And He answered our prayers. Zechariah, one of the older boys, he came forward, and on behalf of all the children said thankyou. I could tell he was very happy, and moved. He kept saying, we have nothing to give to you, but we want to say thank you. I tell them, that is was our joy to give them the gifts, and it made us so happy to see them happy. That is a special memory.
On our way out, there was one boy who couldn’t be at school, because he was sick. I gave him the extra notebook and candy and crayons and colouring book. Unfortunately we had no bear and bag for him. There are several other children hanging around, that aren’t part of our group, so I give them all the rest of the extra candy and colouring books. I am reminded, there are so many children here. So many needs. The children who were walking by, probably about 10 years old were working, carring loads on their head to sell at market. They don’t go to school. So many needs. I am happy and sad all at the same time.

Menus and Spellcheck

Since Heather has been here, for 5 weeks now, oh, and three, no four days she says (not that she is counting or anything) we have been out twice to a restaurant to have a special treat. The first was when we went down to immigration to get her passport stamped. Kathleen took us. Its funny (well to me anyhow) we go to immigration, and the officer looks at her passport and says, oh you have just arrived. The date of entry was 10-11-06, and so he thought it was November 10th, 2006, when really it was October 11, 2006. In which case, she would have just entered the country that very day. We explained, no, she had been in the country one month. She is now good to stay until January 11th. So, we carry on to do a little shopping, and then to lunch, at a restaurant, the Beirut, for some Lebanese food (big Lebanese population here). Heather puruses the menu, she is looking at hamburgers, she hasn’t had one in over a month. She gets to one, and it lists all the condiments, and finishes, “on at toasted bum”. We all had a really good laugh about that. I wonder if they sell alot of toasted bum. Anyhow. She was going to take a photo, but the waiter came and took the menus before she could. Today, we went for pizza at the Mona LIza. We ordered the four cheese pizza. The first ingredient listed was pecoroni. Of course, we think, another unfortunate typo, it should be pepperoni and so, we enjoy a good laugh. We get the pizza, no pepperoni. Heather and I discuss it, should we say anything, Heather says, perhaps its a type of cheese. I say, there is no way it is a type of cheese. It doesn’t sound like a cheese name. When the waiter returns, I ask, he grabs a menu, and we look, he says, yes, there should be pepperoni. One of the manager comes out, and tells us, that pecoroni, is a type of cheese. OOps. Bec was wrong. Yes. I admit, it happens from time to time. Well, it did provide us with a good laugh.
In other totally unrelated news, this next week we will spend painting black boards that we will be donating to some local schools. I will keep you updated.
OH, and I went to the World Cheese Index. The cheese is really called Pecorino, and is an Italian cheese made from sheeps milk with 25 - 35% Milk Fat. Good to know.

Sunny November

November 9, 2006

Thursday night. We forgot to drink our papaya leaf tea last night. Oops. Instead of taking pills for malaria prophylaxis the fam and I drink papaya leaf tea twice a week. Kathleen dries the leaf, then pounds it in a mortar into a powder. It is very bitter, but we add lots of sugar. It sure beats taking a pill. So far, I have not gotten malaria, so, so far so good. I told Kathleen we should market it in Canada. Perhaps it is good for some other disease:)
This evening, before dinner Heather and I took the kids to the beach for a nice dip in the ocean. We stayed almost long enough to watch the sun set. Me be the super cautious aunty wanted to be sure we got home before dark. The water was great, the ocean is always warm here, and the waves weren’t too big, so we could swim around quite well. Then the children attempted to dam the lagoon, unfortunately for them the water was washing away the sand as fast as they could pile it up. I guess it never hurts to try though.
Tomorrow morning we will have kids club. A few weeks ago I got Heather to teach every one how to make paper airplanes. There are 50 children regularly now. It was chaos. Fun, but chaos. It is shocking to me, that children have to be, number one, taught to make a paper airplane, and number two, have difficulty folding a piece of paper in a straight line, and number three, follow fairly basic instructions, like fold the left corner into the middle. It is really hard to imagine, but these kids don’t have the opportunities to do things like make paper airplanes, or use sissors, or colour, and paint. For me it is such a small thing, to go up there, and spend a few hours on my Friday, but I do hope, that they don’t just remember the crazy white lady, singing silly songs, or the colouring, but that they can see love and care of our Heavenly Father through me. Last week there was one small boy, must not be older than 2 years old. “Teacher, Teacher,” he calls me, “I want a pencil”. He sees all the other kids have gotten pencils, now he wants one. This tiny child, in amongs the 5 year olds, and 8 and 10 year olds. Every time I go, I am surprised. At how much fun I have, at how much fun they have, and how, we never have enough time for them to colour.
Last week I had a couple firsts. Got pulled over by the police, for a registration check. That was fine, till the man looks in then tells me it is against the law to drive in flip flops. Oops. How was I to know?? I claimed complete ignorance. He told me, I am going to have to charge you. I say, really?? He tells me I have to go the the station, I tell him I have 3 other children at home who I need to go back to. We were at a bit of an impass when my nephew Josh came to my rescue. He says. She’s sorry, she won’t do it again. He let me go. I tell Josh. “Boy I am glad you came and not Heather, can you imagine how it would have gone if there had been two of us foreigners in the vehical?” Okay, I actually said white women. We like to think colour doesn’t make a difference, but it does. It generally makes the price go up.
I also watched James gut a chicken for the first time. I am pretty sure I could do it in a pinch. I’m ready for survivor:) Well I hope everyone is enjoying November thus far. Here, it is hot, and humid, nothing like November that I know.

Sunny November

November 9, 2006

Thursday night. We forgot to drink our papaya leaf tea last night. Oops. Instead of taking pills for malaria prophylaxis the fam and I drink papaya leaf tea twice a week. Kathleen dries the leaf, then pounds it in a mortar into a powder. It is very bitter, but we add lots of sugar. It sure beats taking a pill. So far, I have not gotten malaria, so, so far so good. I told Kathleen we should market it in Canada. Perhaps it is good for some other disease:)
This evening, before dinner Heather and I took the kids to the beach for a nice dip in the ocean. We stayed almost long enough to watch the sun set. Me be the super cautious aunty wanted to be sure we got home before dark. The water was great, the ocean is always warm here, and the waves weren’t too big, so we could swim around quite well. Then the children attempted to dam the lagoon, unfortunately for them the water was washing away the sand as fast as they could pile it up. I guess it never hurts to try though.
Tomorrow morning we will have kids club. A few weeks ago I got Heather to teach every one how to make paper airplanes. There are 50 children regularly now. It was chaos. Fun, but chaos. It is shocking to me, that children have to be, number one, taught to make a paper airplane, and number two, have difficulty folding a piece of paper in a straight line, and number three, follow fairly basic instructions, like fold the left corner into the middle. It is really hard to imagine, but these kids don’t have the opportunities to do things like make paper airplanes, or use sissors, or colour, and paint. For me it is such a small thing, to go up there, and spend a few hours on my Friday, but I do hope, that they don’t just remember the crazy white lady, singing silly songs, or the colouring, but that they can see love and care of our Heavenly Father through me. Last week there was one small boy, must not be older than 2 years old. “Teacher, Teacher,” he calls me, “I want a pencil”. He sees all the other kids have gotten pencils, now he wants one. This tiny child, in amongs the 5 year olds, and 8 and 10 year olds. Every time I go, I am surprised. At how much fun I have, at how much fun they have, and how, we never have enough time for them to colour.
Last week I had a couple firsts. Got pulled over by the police, for a registration check. That was fine, till the man looks in then tells me it is against the law to drive in flip flops. Oops. How was I to know?? I claimed complete ignorance. He told me, I am going to have to charge you. I say, really?? He tells me I have to go the the station, I tell him I have 3 other children at home who I need to go back to. We were at a bit of an impass when my nephew Josh came to my rescue. He says. She’s sorry, she won’t do it again. He let me go. I tell Josh. “Boy I am glad you came and not Heather, can you imagine how it would have gone if there had been two of us foreigners in the vehical?” Okay, I actually said white women. We like to think colour doesn’t make a difference, but it does. It generally makes the price go up.
I also watched James gut a chicken for the first time. I am pretty sure I could do it in a pinch. I’m ready for survivor:) Well I hope everyone is enjoying November thus far. Here, it is hot, and humid, nothing like November that I know.