July 19th: First Day of Camp

Today was a very big day, the first day of camp! The day started with handing out new shoes to both boys and girls. Unfortunately, the company that sponsored the shoes sent the wrong sizes but fortunately they had also promised to provide these children with shoes for life so they will send the correct sizes later. Small kink, no big deal, the few kids that didn't receive shoes today had old shoes they could play in for the week. We then said goodbye to the boys as they went off to their soccer camp and started our camp by dividing into groups that we'd stay with all week. My group of four girls named themselves the "hens" and are pretty shy. Then we taught the girls the first part of the dance. I'm pretty sure they were 10Xs better at learning it than I was.

The smallest girl that everyone kept calling here and there is named "Day-on-eh." Since this is so close to my name, I obviously immediately declared her my twin and was turning my head every 5 seconds as I thought people were constantly calling to me when they were actually trying to get her attention.

Then we played a game where we all joined back into a big group and had to go around in the circle making an animal sound and then remembering all the animal noises made by the people that came before us. This took awhile and I think I connected with my girls as we drew in the sand while waiting for our turn. At first we did simple shapes but then we wrote our names and I wrote the numbers and reminded them of what each number is in English.

Their lunch was ready a bit late so we spent some time playing "hen, hen, lion" (because they don't know what ducks or geese are.) They seemed to really enjoy that, with lively chases around the yard.

One of the highlights of my day was spotting a simple box of chalk in the caretaker's office. I had hoped that I would spot something from the supplies I had brought last year and there it was, just sitting on the shelf, blending into the background. It's so silly how much that meant to me.

After a quick lunch, the girls met some local women that had come to speak to them about staying on a good path. They were both successful, professional women, one a banker and one an accomplished professional in the Rwanda textiles industry. The banker was actually an orphan herself. The conversation seemed to be very engaging, (although I couldn't understand a word,) and the girls listened and cooperated intently.

Our next activity was yarn-and-material-scraps doll making. I was so impressed how creative they were with their dolls, making entire outfits from the leftover scraps of material. They really seemed to enjoy this activity and were quite proud of their creations.

Throughout the day they sang to us and sometimes performed dances. While we were waiting for our rides to arrive, they started singing and dancing in front of us. I don't know where it came from, but I completely jumped out of my box and into their dance, trying to dance with them. They loved this and pulled me in and then started grabbing all the other volunteers! It was quite a scene as we all danced around with the girls, trying to sing along in a language we didn't understand. But what fun. And what an uplifting way to end the first day of our camp!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a local market and picked up some food and then it was back to the hotel.

We had a lovely dinner and then time for bed. Exhausted!!