Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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We are driving down the road to a gypsy village and in my head I really did not know what to expect. Would we be wanted there is a huge question I had asked myself over and over. I did not want to come in and make them think were just wanting to see them like they were a tourist attraction. We arrive in our van and car and park them at the end of the road. We get out and start to walk down this long road with small but very colorful houses down both sides of the street. Aaron is carrying a 60 plus pound of potatoes, some of the girls are carrying big bags of shoes, and Anthony and Don have sacks of clothes.  I notice a small little boy in the gate of one of the houses, a dog in front of another gate, a group of kids with their dad on a bench, and a pig in front of another house. I begin to wonder what life is like for them and I want to know more than what I can see.

We went to the family we were visiting to drop off the things we had brought for them. They greeted us with smiles and even had us juice and coffee. We talked for a few minutes and decided to return to the vans to get the games, balls, balloons, and parachute to see if the kids in the village would want to join us for some fun. I didn’t notice that many kids on our way in so I did not know how it would go over. We were outside waiting on Paula, Don, and Aaron to return and then they rounded the corner with the stuff and ten or so kids with huge smiles following behind them. I was really nervous about playing with the kids because of the language barrier but I soon realized that they just wanted us to play with them. It had nothing to do if we could speak their language or not.

The first thing we did was get the parachute out to play with. The kids and us were having a blast. The kids never stopped smiling and I heard lots of laughter too. Then we decided to blow up balloons and they really enjoyed that. Anthony and Lynsey took one group to throw the football and Aaron and Paula took anther to volley the ball around. We had several activities going on all around. The number of kids kept multiplying and the laughter got louder. I did not want to leave them but it was time for us to go. A few of the kids returned home but some of them decided to walk us to our van. As we drove away the kids all waved goodbye but still had those smiles on their faces.

I learned that me loving on a kid and just taking time to play with them is what a kid needs and wants. It doesn’t matter what they look like or where they are from they just want to be kids. I could have entered that village with fear of not know what to say or how to act but instead I was just me. You all know how much I love kids so being apart of this time with them was such a blessing for me.