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good morning all
Day one of our program in the Solomon Islands yay. We were told to expect about 50 kids today but turns out there were a total of 78 of them! 78 little energetic kids running around wondering who these strange looking people are.
We held our program in a little hut with the help of Machi. Most of these kids don't attend school as their parents simply don't have the money for them to. Whereas, the lucky few that do attend school, they're currently on school holidays which means that they just hang around the streets playing with sticks, cocoa pods or coming to the base to join in on a game of volleyball (yes, they are really good too)
Todays program consists of some songs, memory verses, a drama, name games and prayer.
The kids were so amused with the balloons that we gave them as part of the memory verse game, they blew them up. popped them and continued playing with the leftover scraps. They climbed the base's bush lime tree and ate them straight. (I tried one and i cringed.. ekk)
Oh and the kids are very musical, they sing, sing and sing! (Always the same song, on repeat). Machi and the kids taught us a song called 'We're together again' and got us to join in with the actions. haha so cute!!
After all this, our team went out on the ute to the local market. There were side stalls everywhere, and the smells from the food that they cook on portable woks. We got into the main market and it was so crowded! (Not from people trying to buy stuff but from people trying to sell it). Some of the locals were even sitting on the floor with mats or plastic bags as seats as there wasn't enough table space for everyone. The local fruits, vegies and fish are extremely cheap, very fresh and everything is huge! The locals there rely on our business to feed their families but there were simply too many to help out. As we walked past, they tried to reduce their prices and showed us their best produce. We got the stuff we needed, went back, prepped dinner then went out to play some volleyball with the base workers (Phillip, Allen, John and Florie).
We decided today to sponsor a boy called Allen, he works at SWIM base andhe's a bright young man, but he simply doesn't have the money to let him continue with his final year of high school. His goal is to one day study overseas so hopefully we can get him one step closer to that.
Today was my turn to go out and feed the chickens, i thought to myself, can't be that hard, right? Just have to dump the contents of the red bucket over the fence of the chicken pen. But boy, was i wrong!! Kevin had let the chickens out, so they weren't in the pen and as soon as they saw me with the red bucket, they ran after me like there was no tomorrow!!! Some scary stuff!
Oh, and tonight, there are so many geckos and mosquitos out. It's not even funny Our bodies are all oily from the insect repellent that we keep applying and re-applying. Malaria is very serious here so better be safe than sorry, right? The geckos are scary-looking and FAT! Yuck! Poor Yumin had to shower with one (she freaked and ran out) Yeap, and if you're not careful outside, you'll step on a cane toad, they come out at night and they're everywhere! It's like all my fears all in one place, hope tomorrow gets better!
With lots of love, jo (accompanied by a few geckos) xo.
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