When Tuesday came, I was really nervous about this camp. I had this idea on my heart for almost 3 months, we had done a ton of planning for it, and we had done all the shopping for it. Of course, the devil loves to discourage, place doubt and fears in our hearts and minds, and take away our zeal when something good is going to happen.
It took a lot to get me out of the house. We had been having these pretty intense riots in town. There were tons of rumours flying around about what was happening. At one point, the caretaker for our apartment told us to get inside, lock our doors, and don't go out because the angry mob of rioters were coming up the street. Shops were closing and traffic was turning around. So I went into my house, locked all my doors and waited. I waited 10, 20, 30 minutes and nothing happened. I decided to go see what was happening. I went out and everything was normal. It was just a bunch of rumours!
I finally left. The streets were pretty dead but really calm. I made it to Kongowea safely. I thought I would be late but I was the first on there again confirming my fears that no one would show up. The first person didn't show up until 2:30 (it was suppose to start at 2). By 3, we had a good number of girls and started. From that time on, it went smoothly and confirmation consumed my fears that what we were doing was right.
Here are some pics of the 3 days of crazy fun.
We had a good mix of Christian and Muslim girls. It was encouraging as a lot of the violence that was going on had some serious religious undertones.
Balloons always make for a fun time!
I loved this little girl! She was such a joy. Her name was Damaris and she became my little sidekick. What really surprised me was that she was SO well behaved - something that, sadly, not a lot of kids have in this community.
Bread-eating and soda-drinking contest!
My favourite game was Lenga Lenga. It's kind of like reverse dodgeball. Two girls stand on either end and try to huck a ball at girls in the middle. Once you are hit, you have to leave. The last one standing, wins. As you can see above, I was the last one standing! I realized how much I really love to play!
Lots of girly shoes
I know, I know. This is suppose to be a bridal shower game but when we were planning to camp, this was one of the first games that was mentioned for us to play. Once the small girls caught on, the creative juices really started to flow and we got some pretty awesome designs. I realized half way through that most of these girls, the muslim ones, will never wear a traditional wedding dress. They have a very different attire when they get married. They obviously still knew how wedding dresses look.
A craft I was planning fell through because the supplies I needed were in town and town was in complete chaos. So I summoned Kelvin to come run some games for us. He is great when it comes to this stuff. We laughed really hard!
We had the most dysfunctional game of soccer I have ever seen. They were having a hard time scoring so one of my girls made every hand ball a penalty kick. Thats how they scored their goals and they were really excited about that.
After day 2, we were debriefing about the day when, somehow, we broke out into a full on balloon battle. It got pretty heated. My cheeks were sore from smiling so much.
We did our version of a fashion show, dancing competition, and american idol. It was a huge hit. Look at this girl strut her stuff!
The winners were presented prizes! (This little girl was actually my flower girl!)
The 3 days were a blast. A crazy, messy, chaotic blast. I was so proud of my ladies who ran the program so well (in fact, I barely did anything). I was happy to be able to connect and build relationships with some of the younger girls in the community. My prayer was that they felt loved, accepted and cared for. I think they left feeling that way.
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