Tag Archive | children

My Guest Blogger: Andrea Adams

Sep24

In December 2013, I had my first experience of Africa. I fell in love and knew that I would be going back. I actually distinctly remember the moment of this decision. I was standing in the squatter camp with one of my team members and out of the blue I just said. “I am going to come back here this summer.” I didn’t know then what that would mean but later when I found out about the summer internship, I knew that was where I was supposed to be.

Road block one hit when I realized that the internship would start before my college graduation. I inquired about the possibility of going late but as that was not possible I had a decision to make: attending my college graduation or summer in Africa.

The choice was simple: AFRICA! After months of preparation and hard work I was on a plane travelling across the world. Arrival day was interesting. The  many new people and new surroundings  overloaded my my senses. How I managed to get through the jet lag and stay awake during the next few days of training, I will never know.

 Finally it was time to visit the communities. I was so excited to get back out there but also nervous.  The communities looked different from my last visit because winter had set into the country. Everything was dry and had an empty look about it. I noticed that it looked more traditionally Africa than my previous visit had.  I found  out during my first couple of days that  I really enjoyed talking with people. I loved meeting new faces and then sitting for a good hour and getting to know them. For the first few weeks this is what we did, walk through the different African squatter camps and talk. What was interesting about this is that people with nothing materially were far friendlier than many of the people I knew at home. People seemed to know each other and know children from all over the camps. The togetherness of the communities was something incredible.

One day I got the chance to visit a new community and made friends with a woman named Clementine. She was an amazing woman and I was so fortunate to be able to spend some time with her. I met her family and learned about her life and her struggles. We shared our favourite Bible verses with each other and talked about our different struggles. She was as much of an encouragement to me as I was to her. When I departed we exchanged cell phone numbers so we could keep in touch via sms.

One of my favourite aspects of the summer was working in children’s ministry. We ran a program in Africa called Jabalani kids which means “joyful kids.” The program is full of skits and lessons that keep the kids entertained, while teaching them the basics of the Bible and God’s love for them. I loved being with the kids and had so much fun with this program. There was moments where we were singing with the kids and they would be jumping and laughing around us. I could do nothing but smile watching the joy that radiated off of their faces.

I also got the opportunity to help at the preschool that Impact Africa runs. Here I became a human playground. I ran with the kids, I let them play with my hair and I talked with them. The kids were wild and crazy but it was amazing all the same. One thing that we did with the kids was to take them to the dairy farm. This was similar to a field trip with kids from any part of the world. We started out the day with well behaved and excited children but towards the end the kids were nuts!! Throughout the craziness though you could see that these kids, though they came from the squatter camps, and saw poverty on a regular basis, were still very much children and acted like it!

One day my friend and I met a lovely young women. She was very nervous to talk to us so we left her after a few minutes and said we would come back another day. Two days later we returned and she was amazed that we had taken the time to come back to her home. We sat down and talked and learned that she was only 20 and was the sole provider for her four younger siblings. Her parents had both died a few years earlier. When we got ready to leave, she asked us to come back in the afternoon. When we returned she had invited a group of friends over. We spent the afternoon having a Bible study and talk with the group of women. It was a great opportunity for all of us to learn about each other and share the Word of God.

What I learned in Africa was that people are people no matter what country they live in. The women ,though they lived in different places, had the same struggles and problems that we do in Canada. The kids still jumped and played and God was just as exciting to them. The landscape and the poverty were very different from what we experience here, but seeing these things only made it even more interesting that the similarities were there also.

I had a great trip and can’t wait for my next adventure.

Snow Day

Jan22

When I was a child, growing up in Owen Sound, Ontario, it was inevitable that winter would bring a bountiful offering of snow. Since Owen Sound is situated in a snow belt, eventually the piles of snow would be stacked high along the roads. Even though I was warned not to climb these  snow mountains, the temptation was irresistible.

My relationship with snow was in those days uncomplicated. Snow was fun! Somehow, I could stay outside for hours, making snow tunnels and forts, tasting the snow on my tongue, and lying down on the ground to wave my arms and feet back and forth to make snow angels. My friends and I slid down the hill at Ryerson School  on sleds and landed in heaps at the bottom. We didn’t seem to worry about how cold or wet we were, just the good time we were having.

Once I was an adult and had children of my own, snow became more challenging. We tussled with snow pants, jackets, hats, mitts and scarves. Since I was concerned about cold, little hands, I had strings put on the mittens, so the children were less likely to lose them. Still, my youngest daughter managed to misplace her winter jacket on the way home from school one day, and I have never figured out how! To provide winter entertainment, my husband built skating rinks in the backyard. We gathered up skates and helmets and later hockey sticks.The kids and I made paper snowflakes and other wintertime crafts and wiled away the hours with good books.

SnowyDayKeats

One of these was The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, a picture book  chosen in 1963 for the Caldecott Medal, because of its lively illustrations. The story begins: “One winter morning Peter woke up and looked out the window. Snow had fallen during the night. It covered everything as far as he could see.” Peter spends a magical day outside, engaging in all the activities that  children enjoy.  A complication arises when Peter tries to continue the fun by stuffing his pockets with snowballs before he comes inside. However, all is well the next morning, and he is ready for another day of adventure.

Today, as a Nor’easter blows through Nova Scotia, bringing blizzard conditions, closing schools and making roads treacherous, my relationship with snow is again uncomplicated. It is the perfect opportunity to stay inside, sit at my computer, and write about snow. I am content to watch the flakes spinning past my window, and reflect on snowy days gone by.