Breaks here are relaxing... a combination between work and rest... but the children spend more time playing and resting than working. Last week felt like a break although we did not close the school until Friday, but the primary children were only in class Monday and not even for real lessons(I kept busy taking the children out for impromptu PE to play), then Tuesday they were given their marks, but most of the week spent mornings working on the farm and cleaning their dorms and afternoons playing. This coming week is the proper break though with both secondary and primary free and most of the teachers gone home to see their families. I'm not sure if after this week it is back to classes or what, and am still not sure how I took a break when nobody else did(although they were supposed to... maybe) but am honestly happy to be here for the break, and to have had my break, so will not ask too many questions.
This past week I even helped on the farm a little bit. There are never enough tools, so the children take it in shifts, which keeps anyone from getting too tired so is a good plan anyways. They use jembes to break the ground, tools rather like a short handled hoe although the head is bigger. I tried to describe a pitchfork and they found that amusing, as they did my attempts at using the jembe. They told me I did a good job though, and I told them I was a farmer in America, which while a true fact, I am not sure they believed... They are convinced all farms in America are completely run by machines...
The other top activity of this past week was mancala. The children here go through game fashions. The first month I was here it was a stone game that I have not seen since, but all the little girls played it everyday. Then over December it was a dodging game played with a sock ball and then for a week the games all had to do with rolling four old tires. In the beginning of march they created a village out of building stones left over from the school, and now it is mancala on the sewer grates by the kitchen. They use the grates because in mancala, a game I think that comes from Africa but I play with my sisters, you have two rows of pockets(in our case four pockets for each player) and two banks for each persons stones. Then you move the stones in each pocket around, and if you land where there are already rocks, you pick up that pile and keep moving, depositing in your bank as you circle the board. Whoever has the most rocks in their bank at the end when all the rocks are taken wins. It is a simple game, but very fun and easy to join. I have had to explain it to some of the workers though and to two of the secondary teachers who always seem a little amused that the white women(myself and the young woman from England) are happy to play for ages on the grates with the little children... The children meanwhile were amused to hear I play the same game in America...
Meanwhile, the big event recently was this past Saturday's celebration for our Pastor's graduation. He graduated a few weeks ago from his seminary school(after finishing classes and being here since November) but this was the family celebration. It was lovely. He was Madam's first child, and has grown up in this ministry, achieved his dreams, and now returned, so all the children can look to him as a sign of the possibility for their own futures. We had a nice commisioning service with my MCC reps as special guests, and then a feast of chicken, bananas, rice and beans, maandazi buns... Apparently the boys had started cooking at 4am to finish all the food in time.
So all in all, life continues on in its fullness and challenges. It all feels a little unreal sometimes, but at others I realize this is also as real as it gets. Still, as I read headlines from around the world of chaos and absurdity and how the US government almost shut down over the budget, the fact that my life is a smattering of playing with rocks on grates and holding little babies(who now smile and laugh) and doing my best to live my days here on purpose and for the children, it can all feel a little unreal... My country reps asked if I had a countdown yet, and I confess I do, but it is more to make the most of each day than because I am homesick. What if we lived like each day really mattered? What if we lived on purpose? What if we lived without taking the people around us for granted? Those are the reasons I have a countdown, so I remember how precious each day is and that even when a day is hard, life is beautiful and I will not be here forever and to get up, go out, and live!
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