4 Months in Zambia!
23rd June Today marks the 4 month anniversary of my first ever visit to the Lubuto Library at Fountain of Hope. Doesn't time fly?
This week I have been mainly playing games and singing songs (much to the bemusement of my two work experience students and the hilarity of any Fountain of Hope staff who happen to be walking past). It began with the Games Compendium which the lovely Ali brought from the UK when she visited - I taught the boys how to play Snakes & Ladders and Ludo last week and they loved it. The Dominoes set that she left us is proving slightly more difficult to master but nevertheless popular. This reminded me that I had a Twister game languishing unused in my cupboard, so I unveiled it on Wednesday afternoon (another use for the talking circle!). After the first few questions:
("Auntie Nikki, what is the point of this game?"
"Ermmm, for fun, I think"
"Just for fun? It's not for education?"
"Well, no, it's just for fun really, you know, to make you laugh...")
the kids soon got into the swing of it and there were queues forming after an hour or so. And we did laugh. A lot. Next week may see the introduction of UNO, if my nerves can stand it!
A group of 5 or 6 girls appeared in the Library on Monday, demanding that I sing Peel Banana with them (I think the last time I sang with any of the kids was about 3 months ago so I was quite surprised!). We did so and went through a few other songs. Since then, they have been in almost every day, and our repertoire has expanded thanks to a plea that I put out on Facebook for ideas. They come in just before lunch, so it's a really lovely way to end the morning - and my little choir has steadily grown as the week has progressed. I hope they come back next week because I have been practising some new tunes!