Saturday August 1st

Today made me dizzy. It was children’s corner again, a program during which kids from ages 2-18 come to each of KASO’s five centers for developmental activities, socialization and a nutritious meal. Last week, we basically wandered around in awe of the program and the multitude of children in attendance, joining in to learn traditional dances or to play house with ECD as we felt compelled. This week, though, the volunteers had been really anxious for us to prepare some programs for the kids. Despite a full resume of babysitting, daycare, and youth group leadership experience, I found the task utterly overwhelming. Although I admittedly forced my result on the Meyer’s Briggs during my first leadership class as an undergrad (striking what I saw to be the perfect balance between being an introvert and an introvert, not I, not E, but X), I am an introvert (that just means I re-energize by being alone). Just being surrounded by a couple of hundred small children is totally overwhelming; add to the sheer volume of kids a set of language and cultural barriers and I am completely dumbfounded with what to do with them. Since April, I’ve been working on informed consent documents, IRB proposals and questionnaires, hence the task of entertaining dozens and dozens of kids was way out of my comfort zone.
Tiane and Tutu had brought along some glow in the dark string and beads, so we decided an easy project would be bracelet making. The kids loved it, but it was one of the most stressful things I’ve done since getting here, trying to hand out string and beads to that many kids. Then there were seemingly endless lines of late arrivals…kids dropping their bracelets…etc.
We taught two more activities, the human knot for ages 13-18 and duck duck goose for ECD. The human knot activity came after Charles (lead researcher for KASO) led a discussion and game on how HIV and AIDS affects poverty. During the game, the kids all took off a shoe and set it in front of them as a “parent.” Then, they ran around in a circle while “AIDS” killed some of the “parents.” Charles would yell “nsima!” (the staple food) and each kid would have to find their own or another parent (if theirs had died). The game was supposed to demonstrate how quickly the death of a few parents can lead to extreme economic burden on communities.
Anyway, the human knot went fairly well. There were so many teenagers that we had to do 4 separate groups, but at least 2 of them where able to complete the untangling. Duck duck goose was entertaining. I tried to ask Maria how to say goose in Chichewa, but she didn’t know what I was talking about. I had learned the words for chicken and duck, so we played chicken chicken duck instead. Nkhuku, nkhuku, bakha. My favorite part was that when we told the kids that if they got tagged they had to sit in the stew pot they sat in the middle stirring stirring stirring until the next kid took over.
In preparation for next week, any ideas of games or activities for kids ages 2-5, 7-12, or 13-18 that involve no props or resources, include dozens of kids and can be done in a small space would be much appreciated!
We’ve been spending a lot of time at the local markets, buying fresh veggies (ones that we cook for a looooong time), fruits (only ones w/ thick peels!) and rice. Today I also got some kernels for popcorn. Esau (our driver) asked if I had something that started with a W. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. So, he pulled me back into a little shop and asked for this something that started with a W. The clerk laughed and brought out a large round woven plate. Esau dumped my kernels onto the round plate and tossed them around. Corn husk debris flew. It was a pretty efficient way of cleaning the kernels! Unfortunately when we poured the kernels back into the bag there was a hole, so half of them spilled on the floor.