July 21st: Third Day of Camp

I swear each morning we wake up more tired than the day before!

When we arrived at camp this morning, there were a lot of armed men in uniform near the gate of the orphanage, (that continued to circle the grounds all day.) Apparently First Lady Cecile de Jongh of the Virgin Islands was feeling better, (she had suffered from vertigo the day before,) and was on her way. She arrived with her entourage and was kind and appeared down to earth in a t-shirt and jeans, ready to get down and dirty to paint with the students she had brought with her. The dancers were back and gave another amazing performance before speeches were made and lavish introductions were given.

Benita wasn't there. I was told she was taken to the hospital today and that the orphanage was paying for it. I hope she will be better soon. And am very glad she's receiving treatment.

We had a late start because of all the ceremony surrounding the First Lady, but after a quick photo op, we finally started our day. We reviewed the dance with the girls, taught them the new part and played more "hen, hen, lion" and by then, it was time for lunch.

After lunch, the girls were each handed twenty pieces of construction and scrapbooking paper we had cut for them. They created "money" out of these pieces of paper, numbering them 1-20. After they were done making the money, we played store and each girl came up to the "counter" one at a time to "buy" a bag. The bags were donated from The Cartoon Network and were filled with lots of exciting things for the girls that had been donated from various people: plastic jewelry, stuffed animals, purses, hats, jacks, etc. Each bag contained something different but we tried as hard as we could to make them appear equal. We also included underwear, washcloths, and soap in every bag. The girls were so excited!! They were so happy looking through what they got and showing each other. And they traded with each other a bit and actually shared what they had got! One of the girls that had received the jacks was distributing the jacks to her friends. I tried to demonstrate how to play the game but she still shared with the other girls. When the boys returned from soccer camp, we had them reach into a bag and pick two prizes, mostly coloring books and balls and they seemed very happy too. One girl named "Mami" wouldn't let go of me, very cute.

Before we knew it, it was time to head out but our driver was nowhere to be found: apparently he had forgotten to pick us up. No worries, we called him and he was on his way and the second car arrived about twenty minutes later. We went back to the hotel to relax a bit and then headed over to the hotel where the soccer organization was staying for dinner. I had a nice conversation with the girl in their group who is starting her own organization called "Football to Freedom" which will teach life skills through soccer camps. She's heading to Guatemala in a few months to run the first camp and is very driven and excited.

Then it was back to the hotel for our nightly maleria pills and a well-deserved rest.