When we got there, we immediately got to sanding and painting the playground. It has relaxing, but also tiring work. Thankfully, the majority of the park area was shaded by trees so we weren't working out in the blazing sun. It was really rewarding work to just see our progress as the day wore on. For something so minor I feel like it made a big impact on the way the place looked. Of course the kids could probably care less about a paint job, they were probably wondering why we were invading their space and telling them they weren't allowed to touch anything. But I think they really enjoyed helping us to paint and just playing around with us.
From Mrs. Blalock's description of the place, I had been expecting something so much worse, but it was actually really nice. The kids all seemed happy (though maybe just because we were there to hang out with them), well dressed, and just generally well looked after. I really hope that that is the case and that they are doing well - as well as they can be being orphaned. I enjoyed playing with and chatting with all of them, even when I couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand me. Even if we didn't get words we still had fun and smiled and laughed - it was awesome. More evidence that things like language don't have to be barriers; we all have basic levels of understanding between one another and it's lovely.
My two favorite (is it bad to pick favorites?) girls were Esther and Adisa, they were so sweet and wonderful. Adisa just had the most beautiful eyelashes and a gorgeous little face. I didn't learn much about her, other than that she was 4 years old and friends with Esther. Esther is pretty much my new BFF, she just latched on to me today. She is five years old, in KG1, loves "color red," and her favorite food is jolof. When I asked her about jolof ("It's rice and tomatoes, right?") she proceeded to explain that it also had carrots and you put it together and put it on the gas to cook it. I think that might have been one of my favorite snippets of conversation, because I loved hearing her explain something I didn't understand.
When I was holding her and talking to Olivia and Katie, they started asking her questions. "Is Zidisha your sister?" "Do you like school?" "Do you have a lot of friends?" and she responded yes to all of them. When they asked her who her best friend was she tapped my chest and said "This one" and I just broke down into tears, which is totally uncharacteristic. I don't know, that just pretty much made my heart swell and burst. It was terribly sweet. She asked if I would come back tomorrow, so I'm excited to go back tomorrow to finish the mural and to play with her some more.
I think this experience was kind of a huge learning experience for me, because as much as I say I despise being around kids, I am quite good with them. I think everyone else was shocked at my interactions with the children too because of all of the things I had said about my feelings towards kids. So I think maybe it's another thing to reevaluate. (Not the having kids thing, just me thinking I'm awful with them.) We really did get on quite well; at one point when Caroline was braiding my hair and someone else came up to do it too she said something to the effect of "No, this is my obruni. You can go play with the other obruni." which Leyla and I found to be hilarious. I really do make a lot of things more difficult and psyche myself out on things that are pretty easy and that I'm actually good at. I'll have to remember days like today when I start to do that.
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