the saddest flying butt

3-7-09
8:43 am

i am exhausted but having the absolute best time. now that i have less than a week left, i've decided that sleep, meals, and relaxing are pretty much a complete waste of time.

on thursday i spent the morning/early afternoon doing straight up manual labor. i spent what felt like 49 hours pick-axing a small trench around the perimeter of our new netball court so we could pour down chalk. i was pick-axing through rock hard dirt, fairly sizable rocks and weeds galore. my favorite part was probably when i raised the ax over my head, only to have the metal part fly off the handle. oops. the court might actually look worse than when i started, as the lines are crooked and the trench is a different width in every spot, but whatev.

after my day in the field, i was supposed to head to the netball tourney. however, my team took one look at my dirt, sweat, and chalk covered bod (i had picked up what i thought was an empty bag of chalk, only to have it spill all over my black capris) and decided they didn't really need my cheerleading skills that day.

instead, i went to art club where we made some good old fashioned plastic beaded necklaces and friendship bracelets! actually, a lot of the time was spent putting on a one-girl show. some of the students have seen some of my hidden talents (spinning a soccer ball on my finger, folding my tongue into a squiggly line, being able to pronounce hippopotamus without stuttering... which isn't common here, knowing all the words to "take a bow," knowing the hand/dance moves to "awesome god," etc) and word had spread. it felt like summer camp. not only was it fun, but i received a beautiful plastic star beaded bracelet. haha.

yesterday i was with the kids from 8 am until 8 pm. i was doing math from 8-3 and netball from 3-8.

the kids are definitely becoming less shy around me, which makes for more laughter and jokes and less me making a fool of myself, miming out what i'm saying, wondering if they understand me when they don't respond.

while five hours of watching netball is about 4.5 too many, i spent the time getting to know the girls a lot better and improving my understanding of the game. i remain convinced that it is one of the dumbest sports in existence, but i can appreciate a good team now when i see it.

going to the games is sometimes awkward, as a lot of the time more of the spectators are watching me then the game. girls will run up to me, shake my hand, say hello, giggle and then run away. guys will stop walking and blatantly stand directly in front of me, staring. a girl came up to me yesterday and said, "you are so beautiful and cute." mmm. uncomfortable.

at one point during the afternoon, i looked to my right and saw a pair of naked butt cheeks swinging directly toward my face. a 7 or 8 year old boy was clothed in a pair of oversized pants, which were riding around the bottom of his tush. he had grabbed onto a gate on the fence and was swinging back and forth. i sort of laughed, looked at one of the teammates, and jokingly asked, "what the heck is that boy doing???" ruthie glanced at him, looked back at me and said, "oh, he's a street child so he's just making trouble." i must have looked appalled because she went on to say, "don't worry, he shouldn't hurt you." um, not really what i was concerned about. as i looked at the boy more closely, i realized he was streaked with dirt, wearing clothing covered in large tears, and was barefoot despite being in a stadium filled with broken glass. later i asked ruthie what street children do all day and where they sleep. "well, they don't have homes so they just walk around on the streets to find food and then sleep on the street." oh. she said this all very matter of factly, like, "oh you know, just another street child."

living at peace house has been both a blessing and a curse. it's a blessing because i get to see the kids after they can call peace house home, after they've been looked after by the social workers here, after they've been regularly fed 3 meals a day and been given clothing and shoes. it's a curse because it makes it easy to forget about life outside our electric fence. some of the students come from the streets, others come from what is practically slavery, and others yet come from families torn apart by aids and poverty. all have been deemed "vulnerable" or "at-risk." the conditions some of the world still live in continue to blow my mind. how can we fill our garages with cars and our houses with toys and electronics and fancy furniture while street children are so common here that people don't even look twice?

as i continue to travel and see the world, i'm learning that two things are universal: the languages of faith and music. as soon as i ask people here what kind of music they like, they light up and get excited to hear what sort of music we have in common. bernard, a form 2 teacher and fellow art club supervisor, likes dolly parton, the temptations, and michael jackson (precrazy days). maureen, the netball captain, likes 50 cent. ruthie likes alicia keys. devaron likes rihanna. angel likes "awesome god" and happy likes "blessed be your name." erich likes jordin sparks. everyone likes shakira.

one of my favorite parts of being here is that living in africa is like living in a musical. it's not uncommon for people to just start singing--in the streets, down the halls, around campus. half of math tutoring yesterday was singing. while we rode to netball, one of the girls in the back randomly burst into song. before i knew it, the entire van was belting out alicia keys. a lot of the students have been taught the classic worship songs i've sung at youth group and church. it's crazy to think that i've sung these songs with people from around the world. they've been sung at camps in wyoming and utah, church and school in minnesota, colorado and montana, and volunteering in mexico, el salvador and now africa. as dusk settled and the moon began to rise over the netball court, angel, happy and i sat at the top of the stadium singing our favorite worship songs together. i sometimes forget how big god is. isn't it crazy to think that people around the world are singing the same songs and worshipping the same god? god in tanzania is the same god in edina, australia, el salvador, and everywhere else.

i'm starting to get sad that i only have 6 days left. it seems like yesterday i had 6 days until i arrived here. the more time i spend with the kids, the more i'm convinced that i'll eventually be back.




let what we do in here fill the streets out there. --passion band

it's the song of the redeemed rising from the african plains. it's the song of the forgiven drowning out the amazon rain. the song of asian believers, filled with god's holy fire. it's every tribe, every tongue, every nation, a love song born of a grateful choir. of all the bells rung from a thousand steeples, none rings truer than this. it's all god's children singing, 'glory, glory. hallelujah, he reigns. --newsboys