No Training Wheels in Africa

Allen and I started off the day with a training session for the entire staff to refresh everyone on acceptable discipline at the CRC. We had some great discussions and the entire staff is eager to try out some new techniques. They particularly enjoyed the role playing exercise and a demonstration Allen did that compared a new child to a balloon. (You probably had to be there to understand that one!)

After the meeting Allen went to Njala University to have a meeting with a professor and some students from the University of Illinois. I stayed behind and helped serve lunch because some of the Aunties got called into a quick meeting. The kids thought it was really funny that I was serving them, and even when the Aunties came back and I went outside, they called me back into the Dining Hall multiple times to serve someone who had missed out.

Then one of the Uncles brought over a bunch of bikes for the kids to ride. The veteran CRC kids are excellent bike riders. They speed up and down the bumpy, rocky, dusty compound and manage to stop in an instant without breaks (Still can’t figure out how they manage that). Some of them have fun tricks and I had a mini heart attack as Moinina rode by me standing on his bike seat. His ability to balance is unreal, and he has no fear! The children that have recently come to the CRC have no experience with bikes. But they were more than willing to get in on the fun. They grabbed bikes right away and spent most of their time pushing themselves with their feet and occasionally pedaling. My first thought was, “these kids need training wheels.” But thats not how things work here. When you are in Africa, you hit the ground running and jump into each new activity without fear. Thats exactly what the kids did. They tried something new, it was scary, and they might have gotten a few bumps and bruises, but they enjoyed every minute of it. I continue to learn from these children each and every day. They are constantly inspiring me to be stronger in my Faith and to experience life with arms wide open.

During family fun time we played musical chairs. As you can probably guess, this turned competitive very quickly. There was lots of laughter, especially when the youngest children were playing. “Junior” had raced to a chair and successfully sat down, when John ran up, grabbed his hand and tugged him to get off. He did, and John scrambled up into the chair. The older kids literally fell out of their chairs laughing at the antics of the 4 year olds. It was a day full of beautiful moments and pure joy.