Well yesterday was a bit of a crazy day. About a month ago I had promised my kids that I would have them all over to visit me at my place after school closed. I had originally planned to have them over in groups of 5-7, a number I deemed “manageable” Well, after giving it a bit more though I realized there was no way for me to contact them once they went on break so I changed my plan to have them all meet me at school the day after school closed. I rented a minibus and met the kids at school at 10:30 in the morning. Most of them were already there and many had come as early as 7am. We all crammed in the bus and made our way back up the bumpy dirt road to the main road. All but one had come, I asked the kids that lived near him if he was coming and they informed me that he was sick. I felt bad that he was going to miss all the fun. As we drove up to the main road I saw him running down towards us, with a huge smile on his face, obviously happy he hadn’t missed out. Once we arrived to my building they all looked up at the 10 story building in amazement. They followed me in like little ducklings, and I counted them every minute or so to make sure I had not lost any of my 28 babies. When the lift came down to the ground floor they looked at it and then at me and then at the stairs. They decided not to brave the lift, most of them, if not all had never been on one before. As we climbed the stairs it sounded like a heard of elephants invading the building. I followed behind them smiling and noticed 2 were walking very slowly up the stairs. One of the boys was delicately stepping on each step as we climbed higher and higher. I realized that he had never climbed stairs so high before and he was worried they would give way. Once we got to my flat, the stampede charged through the door and took off in every direction to explore. They cautiously walked to the edge of the balcony in awe of how high they were..filled with both curiosity and a bit of fear. One of the girls walked down the hallway and I heard her yelling for me, “teacher, I am lost..where are you” For the next 6 hours they ran around the house, danced, read books, ate a nice meal, jumped on the beds and some even napped. Many of them came up to me and said, “Teacher, we are not leaving and we will hide when it is time to go.” They were arguing who would stay and who would sleep where. It was precious. Once it was time to go me and Swazi lined them up at the door in 2 groups of 14. We took the lift down and had them line up in two groups again, counting and recounting as we made our way to the ice cream shop down the street. We got many curious glances as we marched down the sidewalk and even had a man try and join the ranks once he realized we were heading to the ice cream shop. I had them all sit on the curb and went into the shop to place my order for 30 ice cream cones. She looked at me like she misheard me so I repeated the order and we began taking the cones out to the kids as they patiently and eagerly waited. I don’t think I have ever seen kids enjoy ice cream so much in my life; I just sat watching them savor each lick and wondering if some of them had ever even had it before. Anyway, their joy brought me so much joy in my heart…All I could do was smile.
On another note I am happy to report that all my kids did very well on their exams. They class average was an A!!!! Praise be to God! Please keep them and me in your prayers, as this next term will be even more difficult. They will be taking cumulative exams in November on the entire years worth of information. Since I will be traveling back to visit the states they will have to take exams a week early. Pray God will give them strength to retain all the information they have learned and that I will continue to find creative ways to help them learn and remember what they have already learned. My biggest challenge is that most of them cannot read. Pray that as we start a reading program the kids will improve in this area quickly.
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