Saturday was not kind to my turqoise skirt, it was intent on making sure I wouldn’t forget the day’s events. I woke up to find my skirt among various other things (like my sandal! LOL) plastered to the wall with dirt by an army of the ugliest ants I had ever seen.
We didn’t really have a plan for the day, not much was going on since the girls don’t have classes on Saturday. So, I decided to venture over to the other side of the fence and find a way to help out. Off I went in search of some kiddos. After spending some time with them I wandered towards a crowd of women and a few kids gathered who were around a giant pile of sweet potatoes and peelings. I knew what my next task would be. Determined not to let akwardness stand in my way I went up to the girls, offered to help and was handed a “knife” which looked more like a little spear with a wooden handle. As usual they were all animated, talking and laughing in their native tongue and I just sat quietly observing, unaware of their topic of conversation. It stayed that way until one by one the girls wandered off leaving one other girl and me. I tried to ask her how her day was but she didn’t understand what I was saying so I finished the job and went on my way. (I don’t think my hands have ever been dirtier.. they were absolutely caked in dirt!)
After lunch I went back out there only this time I had nail polish and nail polish remover in hand. One little girl who was probably about 5 years old had caught my attention. Not even a hint of a smile on her face was anywhere to be found. Knowing what might put a smile where it belongs, I set off on a mission. The quickest glimpse of a smile passed over her lips as she laid eyes on the goodies I had brought over. It was worth it. A crowd of eager onlookers had gathered around me, desperate to get their nails painted too… I’m pretty sure there are a couple of boys walking around CVI with purple sparkly fingers and toes haha.
I spent a couple more hours playin with the kids and got peed on for the first time! (Pretty good since I’ve been here for almost 2 weeks already!) I had pheobe on one knee and was consoling another little girl on the other. We were sitting in the tire by the swings again watchin the kids havin fun, when all of a sudden I felt something dribbling down my leg… uh oh! In a panic I picked up the little girl and sure enough there was a wet spot covering about a third of my skirt. Guess she had a full bladder! I plunked her back down on my lap, why not? Ha! Then, almost as if nothing had happened we went back to what we were doin.
Later that afternoon we did relays and played games with some of the girls. They loved it! It was a really great opportunity to bond a little more with the girls.
Excited onlookers
Some of the girls were so talented they did it with a baby on their back!
One almost dropped the bottle on the babies head! Eek!
Mzungus turn!
By the end of the day my skirt had dirt and holes in it from the ants, dirt from the potatoes, snot from runny noses, the remnants of a gooey snack transfered there from one of the kids, pee and other unknown substances all over it! And yes, I did wear it again the next day haha.. in my defense all my other skirts were in the wash and I figured I would just get dirty again anyways. T.I.A.
