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!!
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