By Joe Combs
Hey mommy, sorry I haven’t called, I have no service. Ill try the pay phone once I can. After waking up at the crack if dawn, we went to Sabana Perdida, a church/school for preschoolers to 7th grade. My group had to paint three rooms and the wall surrounding the “play area” which wasn’t so bad, minus the fact we were on the roof. Not a whole lot to elaborate on, we painted with little to no contact with kids, literally watched paint dry, then put another coat on. After we finished painting we joined the school program with Matt. I agree with him, the most amazing parts were those not practiced or planned. But for me it was playing games with the kids. We had a football and Tyler and I decided to play keep away with the boys, but what is interesting are their personalities. They weren’t concerned about being the center of attention; rather they wanted to make us the center of attention – completely different from a typical American boy. This was made most apparent when a boy had a tennis ball, I don’t know much about their typical lives but I can make the safe assumption that ball meant a lot to him. Instead of keeping it he insisted we pitch the ball to him so he can hit it – reminder, were on a roof. This kid drilled that ball, completely knocking it off the roof and he wasn’t sad. He was just happy to have us involved.
Two other events touched me today. The first was when I saw a kid drop his bowl of corn flakes, again I don’t know valuable those were to him but for all I know it was his only meal for the day. Upset, he just stood there as the rest of the kids ran out of the room, obliviously stepping on his corn flakes. When I saw this I just thought “well, that’s a bummer” but as I kept playing that event over in my head I began to feel increasingly convicted for not trying to stop the kids, or help pick them up. Then later tonight we sang Hosanna and the line “break my heart for what breaks yours” stabbed me in the heart. The second event was the playing with the kids. While we were playing keep away a really small kid who, for obvious reasons, wasn’t getting the ball. Being the problem solver he is, he decided to climb the tallest thing in the room to gain an edge, which was me. Failing miserably (he kamakazided me from behind off a chair) I felt bad for him so I bent down and let him on my shoulders. We dominated. Then all the other kids found a senior and it basically turned into a giant chicken fight. Once we had to leave the kids kept shouting “mannana mannana!” (tomorrow tomorrow!) Needless to say, I’m thoroughly excited for tomorrow.
Today's pictures can be seen here.
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