Smile Africa

Today, we completed our 4th day at Smile Africa. It has been both wonderful and exhausting. There are over 400 kids at Smile Africa, all dying to be loved. The moment we enter the gate, the kids swarm the "mzungus", wanting to be held. I just wish that we could pour into each and every one of them, yet there's only a handful of them that I can hold and play with throughout the day. The past couple days, a few of the kids have called me "Stacy" instead of "mzungu," which made me pretty excited, yet the Lord keeps pressing it upon my heart to get them to know His name, not mine... because it is He that is going to stay with them after I leave; He will never leave them.

Yesterday, a couple of the teachers handed their classrooms over to Michelle and I. Yikes! In one class, we were supposed to teach handwriting. The teacher told us to just write something on the board and have the kids copy it. We did this using the verse, John 3:16, and the kids wrote it down. Then, we probed, trying to see if the kids could actually read the words or know the vocabulary... but the kids didn't know what any of the words meant, and they weren't able to read either. They simply knew how to copy the words on the board. Then, we took over the P3 class. This class is for the older kids who aren't sponsored. The hope is that the kids will be sponsored and hopefully be able to catch up with their peers. We read the story of David and Goliath, had the kids summarize it, wrote it on the board, read our summary together, and had the kids write about their hero. At first, the kids were very confused by this whole "apply your learning" aspect, but soon, they understood. Their heroes were Jesus, John the Baptist, and God. It was so precious reading what they wrote.

Today, there was a boy named Habuchi (who's probably 3 or 4). He was coughing really bad, and then threw up all over his shirt. I went to go get him a new shirt and was told by Bri (the short-term missionary who's been here since Januray) that his mom would most likely take his new shirt, sell it, and use the money for alcohol. Heartbreaking. There are so many precious, precious kids at Smile who deserve to be loved and cared for, yet no one even looks their way.

The first day at Smile, the kids were sort of playing soccer with a ball of garbage. The second day, we brought 2 soccer balls, and it was like Christmas. Since then, many games of intense, fun, and sweaty soccer have come about!

By the time we head home for the day, we are sweaty, exhausted, and fulfilled. We take bodas back to our hotel, and often times end the day with a fanta (so refreshing after a hot day!) Yesterday night, we had "pizza" for supper. Definitely different from American pizza! Yet the hotel staff was so great to prepare it for us :)