DAY 6: Games, the Prodigal Son, and Crackers (clogging secret revealed!)

  On day five, our coping mechanisms kicked in. Basically, this means that we nerded out over breakfast and said something along the lines of, "Oh, I wish that we x, then we could do x," and so on. And for those of you who really want to know, we translated as many elf names from the Lord of the Rings trilogy that we could remember, without the Silmarillion in front of us. In my defense, I am not as nerdy as my dad. Yet. :)   (the above picture is of Tristan and the winner of a game that had over 17 rounds)

  With the women Mom did something different. Because we were still (ARE still) working on their project, M. Samuel did all the teaching. Since he is an evangelist, he taught them basic evangelism. The women were very receptive. I was really embarrassed, though, because M. Samuel had asked me to hastily draw some pictures on a piece of paper for him, to help illustrate. After I was finished I felt as if I could have done better, but M. Samuel seemed very pleased. He even held them up and told all the women 'Ms. Maryann did this.' Thankfully I wasn't there for that because I was with the kids all day.

M. Samuel and Mme. Tchalera 

Aidan and Christianna hung out all day while everyone else ran around. Later they joined our mock VBS to the delight of all the kids. I mean, more white people!!!

Looking back at this picture, I laugh. Aidan's hair was so long then!

  Who wouldn't love to play the same games as the white people when you live in the middle of a village? Tristan and I dug up all the games we could remember and Tristan even made up one. There was another fourteen-year-old boy there and he beat Tristan at his own game. If Tristan opened his mouth, no one else was speaking. If he said something, everyone was listening. If he moved, all eyes were glued to his every move. It. Was. Hilarious. There is really no way to describe the sort of wonder that the children held for him. He was a magnet and they were paperclips.

Mommy asked me to tell a story to the kids. At first I said no, though she persuaded me to do it. Personally, I think Tristan would have had a much more enthralled audience, attentive as mine was. I told them the story of the prodigal son, and M. Samuel saved the day by suggesting I tell it in English and he translate. Whew!

Playing a game Tristan taught them.

 Directly after lunch Mme. Louise and Mme. Tchalare asked me to help them divide up a bag of rice we had brought for 'gifts' among bags for every student family. Unfortunately, the bags we had bought were very cheap. Four broke all over the floor. African resourcefulness kicked in, and we swept them off the floor back into the bags...

 That afternoon Tristan made up his game and tramped off as the pied piper down the roads. Once he had all the kids in a circle, he showed them.
  Kid #1 would step to the middle, throw up a green plastic ball, and clap once. Kid #2 would do the same, all the way down the circle. Then Kid #1 would clap twice. Around the circle. Three times. Tristan called these, "the elimination rounds." If a child did not clap the exact number (you can't clap four times during round three), he would get three chances with Tristan breathing down his neck. The winner would get an extra packet of crackers. Speaking of crackers, we had brought a lot, and what gifts are better for the kids than cookies and crackers! We went through about six packages in all!

Round 3

 We played several games, but the one I probably enjoyed the most was a version of 'Duck-Duck-Goose.' (I don't have pictures of this because I was to busy playing) Tata Louise began it by ripping of a branch with leaves from a mango tree. Rousing all the children in a loud Ewe or Ife song, she would run around the circle of children on the outside until she had picked one. Dropping the branch at their feet, she would race around the circle with her adversary close behind. If the child touched her with the branch, they could return to their place and Tata Louise would have to continue. If she made it around the circle and into their spot before they tagged her, she won and they had to pick someone.

Distribution of the Crackers!

I stopped counting at forty and I think there are over fifty children.  

  Late that afternoon all of the student's wives and some of the students came to 'bid our family farewell.'  I got to hold my buddy, baby Joy again. And then (lo and behold), my camera died! Actually I saw it coming, but it was very providential, having happened on the last day in the afternoon. But it also means I can't SHOW you what was causing our misery down in the drainage system (not that you want to see it; it was GROSS) 

 Our plumber had arrived early that morning and was on his knees all day sticking wire down a series of pipes in the backyard. After the last student had said his thanks I wandered into the backyard and found our plumber standing over what looked like a wet pile of dirt with a very satisfied look on his face. I asked in horror what it was and he replied with no little horror himself that it was a big plastic flour sack that an unknown person had tried to flush down the toilet. Daddy was relieved that we had not caused the problem and Aidan, needless to say, relished in the fact that it was a vile, sickening, gross story he could tell unsuspecting American volunteers who came to visit us upon our return. 

Thus ended our latest trip to Moretan. I have encapsulated it in the last 6 blogs in a little over the last two months (boy, am I glad that's over) As mentioned before, our project is still in progress, so if you would please pray that we will be able to find all the resources, we would deeply appreciate it. And if you read through ALL of my posts about this trip, THANK YOU! And I hope you will return to read more. :)

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