I have been incredibly blessed, dear God. I am tired physically after a long day with the children. But, oh, what a day! I do not think that I could jot it all down, so I will only touch on the highlights and omit a more detailed schedule of things. In a day of golden sunshine, there were several particularly bright, happy spots. Such as . . .
After two rather long 45-minute sessions with the children, we took a much-appreciated half-hour break. Amy and I wandered over to a nearby wooden bridge with the thought of dangling our feet over the edge. Little did we know that two white girls dangling their feet over a bridge is practically a celebrity event in the Rwandan mountains. Soon we had a silent, staring crowd, mostly children, forming a half-circle behind us. And that with us just sitting there! Thinking quickly, I began to collect a small handful of sticks, leaves, and other debris that happened to be within arm’s reach. When I had enough, I pelted the tiny missiles one-by-one into the very brown, rushing creek below. I would cheer when my projectiles actually hit the water, as the brook was quite narrow, and the children responded with some smiles. But something more was needed. Deftly, I dug into my camera case for the pen I always carry on me, found myself a rather large piece of wood (about an inch tall), and commenced with drawing a smiley face, complete with spiked hair. Handing it to a nearby child, I motioned to him to throw the thing overboard. That accomplished, I drew another smiley face on my hand. But then, of course, the children saw this and wondered if quite possibly they could have a smiling face on their hand too. You can imagine the results. Very soon I could see nothing at all but the dark skin of hands outstretched towards me as the owners of these hands waited patiently for the imprint of their very own little face. If you ever are in the mountains in Rwanda and happen to notice children running to and fro with smiley faces drawn on their hands, you will know why.
Later that afternoon, we had another artistic gathering as a face/arm/hand/leg painting party was underway. Amy, Lindsay, Charity, and I called up all our talent - which was quite extensive, let me tell you! - to draw with handy little watercolor pencils on the children waiting around us. As the children did not speak English and we spoke neither French (the official language in Rwanda) nor Kinyarwanda (the less-official but well-known language in Rwanda), we had some difficulty determining what exactly it was the frantically-gesturing children in front of us wanted drawn on their impatiently-upheld body parts. I did manage to learn and retain a grand total of one word. The Rwandan word for heart is “umatima” (pronounced oo-mah-TEE-mah).
After face painting, it was time for something a bit more active. Commanding the kids to form a circle - and then using hand gestures when words didn’t work - we eventually had them all standing still and listening. That’s when we started the Hokey Pokey. It was a big hit! I don’t mean to say that the children loved doing the actions . . . but they did find obvious joy in watching us do the actions! Asking our translator to explain the meaning of the words to the children also proved somewhat interesting.
So, those were the highlights of my first day at camp in Africa. Rwanda is a gorgeous country, and the children are beautiful. Lord, give me strength for tomorrow.
Celebrities.
Umatima.
The Very Un-African Hokey Pokey.
