(Paul and Dockline at Hope Club)
Recently, I was fully awakened to the sound of voices coming through the window. It was Kamau and six year-old Dockline engaged in an out of the ordinary discussion. It went something like this:
Kamau: “So what have you decided, are you going to let him go?”
Dockline: “ No, I want to eat him.”
Kamau: “ But why? Mama Rose is fixing you a nice breakfast.”
Dockline: “Because it is good.”
Kamau: “Well how do you eat it?”
Dockline: “ I take off its head and then its legs because it has a spiky thing on it. The belly part has rice in it and it is good! Then I put it on charcoal and cook it and eat it.”
Kamau: “ Oh, I see. Now what if a giant came along and said that he was not going to let Dockline go because he wanted to eat her. Would you like that?”
Dockline: (Giggling) “No I don’t want to be eaten. I’ll let it go.”
Kamau: “ Okay, but now why are you pulling off its legs? What if someone said that they would let Dockline go but they would have to break her legs first, would that be good?”
Dockline: (More giggles) “No!”
What in the world!!!?? As you can imagine, I was intrigued by the exchange and when Kamau came into the house I began to ask questions. It turns out that the unfortunate subject of the conversation was a grasshopper! Dockline spends a fair amount of time hunting them, playing with them, dismembering them, and apparently enjoying them as a delicacy! (I don’t want to think too closely about what the “rice” inside the grasshopper might be!)
Greetings Dear Ones!,
Well, it has been a delightful season of visiting teams from the U.S. We have enjoyed the return visits of our church family and friends from Delaware, meeting old and new brothers and sisters from Wisconsin, Colorado, Philadelphia, Maryland, Texas, and Michigan.
Children at the Village of Hope and in the surrounding villages were treated to special activities at the Hope Bible Clubs, craft projects, learning new games, Vacation Bible School, etc. Our visitors spent time reading each evening to our children at VOH and listening to the children read to them, playing board games (which is not done much in Africa) , teaching knitting and crocheting, wood working, making balloon animals for them, and many other goings-on! At the School of Hope, various classes were learning how to prepare skits and musical programs which they were eager to perform for visiting teams.
The following pictures provide a panorama of what the visitor season has looked like for 2010:
The Delaware teams participated in the Hope Clubs and spent time a lot of time just hanging with the children and loving them! In this picture Rose Chipoya is translating for Stacie and Jim.
This event was an end 0f the quarter program. The team from Wisconsin and youth from Maryland were on hand to witness the festivities.
Roman was enjoying his new balloon hat after Mark from Colorado delighted the children with various balloon sculptures!
During the month of June, South Africa hosted the World Cup and the children were excited to take part in their own opening ceremonies celebrating the sporting event. They made their own hats and flags representing various countries. The teachers used this event to do a unit study for the quarter answering the question, "What makes a good soccer player?"
This was a teacher's appreciation lunch which was arranged by Maureen from Michigan and Bonnie and Lindsay from Delaware. The ladies prepared a beautiful table and provided a relaxing atmosphere with soft music and candles. What a well deserved treat!!
In this picture Joshua is looking up at Jaime who came to visit with his wife and three daughters. The picture says it all. This is why we are here.
We are very grateful to Steve from Delaware and Mark from Michigan for spending a lot of time
getting this huge generator up and running. When we have power shortages, which are frequent, this will help the business at the road front to continue to serve our customers, especially at the restaurant.
There were many moments like these, we just happened to catch this one on camera!
There are happy children and caregivers comfortably sitting on their new furniture thanks to the sewing talents of Wendy from Wisconsin. We had been having trouble finding someone to make the slipcovers for many months, but Wendy very quickly made slip covers for the cushions and Voila!
The girls are enjoying sometime together playing and practicing new found knitting and crocheting skills taught to them by a few of the ladies that visited this summer!
Thank you so much for all who came to spend time with us sharing your talents, gifts, laughter, encouragement and love with us! And we have not forgotten those of you who made it possible for them to come, thank you!
God's Grace & Peace to you all,
The Kamaus
