Sex Ed. and Soccer

 
Today we woke up after some much needed rest and had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, potato's and toast. During breakfast we were listening to Phil explain who all the staff was and how they came to work for him when I looked around and noticed that Colton was missing. Now anyone who know Colton knows that this in not an unusual event :) We then heard music and looked out the front window and saw Colton out there playing his guitar and singing. He had about 20 little girls all around him and some of the neighborhood kids were scaling the wall to catch a glimpse of our resident rock star! My first thought was “this is why God has him here.” He has such a heart for these kids and I will admit he had me crying in my coffee. It was truly beautiful.

After breakfast Tamara gave a health talk to all the girls and all of the ladies in our group had the pleasure of assisting her. We talked to all of the girls about basic health and cleanliness and their changing bodies. We then dismissed the girls who were 12 and under so we could discuss some more sexual education. We had great presentation from Tamara explaining the symptoms and causes of many common STD's, and Susan did a wonderful job translating. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch because any time Susan had to translate something she was a bit uncomfortable with she would make a sound that reminded me of Billy Bob Thorton in Sling Blade....Ummmm Hmmmm ....! We also discussed how to avoid STD's by abstaining from sex until marriage. We handed out cards for the girls to write down any questions they had and were too embarrassed to ask. We were very impressed with the questions that came back. Many of them wanted to know more about HIV and AIDS. They had questions about the menstrual cycle and about infections. After the Q&A there were a couple of girls who came up to Tamara with symptoms of and infection they were concerned about and it ended up being just a common vaginal infection that is easily cured with some medication that we had with us. Without the information, these girls could have gone months before they said anything. Knowledge is power.
At about 2pm we went over to the boy's dorm to have lunch with the children. The team was treated to the same meal that the children eat twice a day. Posho (corn flour and water) and beans. After lunch we had a lot of time to play and socialize with the kids. It is very overwhelming because there are 149 of them. All of the kids want to talk to you and take a picture with you and want to know about their sponsor family. Believe me when I say the kids do know who you are and they treasure your letters. When I met my boy Eliya the first thing he asked me was “How is Lee? And Kaitlyn and Ryenn?”. I met a friend of mine's child who asked about her sponsors daughter's trip to camp which I am sure was mentioned in a letter. You would not believe how much you mean to them. You are their family.
The kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to have their pictures taken. Sue and Amanda spent 3 solid hours taking pictures of the kids. The boys are quite the soccer players. Girls here do not play soccer, they play a game with a ball (tightly waded grocery bags) called Net Ball which is kind of like our basketball except they don't dribble. Colton, Ryan and Jamie played soccer with the boys and they were all pretty unsure about Jamie playing. Every time she got the ball they laughed. They called her “Muzungu” (translated as “white person”) until she scored a goal (which was pretty darn awesome to see) she must have gained some respect because from then on they called her “brunette”!
When we came back to the house, Tamara brought back some kids that needed some care. I helped her with some minor medical issues, but we did have one boy with a serious ear infection. When you see Tamara in nurse mode, you get the chance to experience a truly God given calling. She is pretty amazing. It has been so enlightening to see each of the team members gifts emerge. I could not have asked for a more amazing group of people to accompany me on this adventure.
In His Service,
Nicole