Easter activity morning

This morning we had the first of our three activity mornings in Mahaica.  I had prepared enough crafts for 100 children but as we had invited all the kids from the two local schools (over 500!) I was a bit nervous about whether we would have enough and had to trust God that we would be able to cope with whatever came our way!  As it turned out we had 35 children which was a perfect amount as we had plenty of craft stuff, snacks and room to spread out!   We were also very thankful that the electricity held all morning so we were able to show a clip of the film ‘Miracle Maker’ and use our CDs for the songs as well as keep the fans on all morning!   I took photos so will put some on the blog once we get to some wifi! 

We had a fun time – as well as the DVD, we sang some songs, Nettie made an appearance with a bouncy rubber egg, we made some Easter baskets, badges, bookmarks and cards, played the ‘jelly challenge’ (which we have now renamed the ‘Jello challenge’ as that is what they call jelly here) and talked about the first Easter story and the ladies from the church brought along some lovely fruit juice drink and cookies for the children to enjoy. 

It made me laugh thinking about the contrast with running things like this in the UK.  We had no idea who was coming and the children just trickled in from about 8.30 onwards.  We had no list of names, no-one was registered, we had no contact details for their parents and no-one came to collect them so they all just disappeared up the road at 12.00!  None of the children made any fuss about making the crafts but just got on with it, no-one complained they didn’t like the drink or cookies or that they were allergic to anything!  It is all so much simpler here! 

One elderly lady from the church walked all the way to Mahaica market this morning to buy some cookies and drink for the children – we have walked it several times and it is hard going - about half an hour each way in the heat, and for her to carry a heavy bag back was such a sacrificial gift – not to mention that she is very poor so buying the stuff was really like the widow’s mite.  Bless her! 

Two more activity mornings to do in two other villages so will let you know how they go! 

Palm Sunday

Yesterday we had a circuit children’s rally at one of our churches which apparently they have every Palm Sunday.  It started with a procession behind a donkey carrying a little boy dressed as Jesus and then Mark and I led an all age service for the kids.  We had Nettie with us and lots of balloons and a fun time was had by all!  We finished the service within the hour and I think they are used to it lasting at least 2 hours so they seemed mightily relieved!!