Today we joined up with an amazing team of people who voluntarily help out at an orphanage and a care home for handicapped children nearby . The owners of our compound contribute their time and use their contacts with tourists like us to support these ventures.
It is boiling hot day and the plan is to help out with a kids day out at the beach. At 10am we drove to the most beautiful unspoiled Brufut Beach ,walked down a compacted orange dust track then along the sand to a collection of simply built sunbleached beach huts, one was a circular seating area with woven elephant grass thatched roof which provided shade. There were 16 children having a beach day out. Some with learning difficulties and some physical disabilities others being given a once in a childhood treat.The adult group was made up of volunteers , sponsors and tourists wanting to help, we fall into the last category.Some of the children come from a local school set up by a dedicated English lady in memory of her husband. They started the school with 100 pupils there are now 500, all run on donations and volunteers and like all of these ventures always looking for funding. This day at the beach is a special treat, a day out,they only get to do this once. Even though they may only live a mile away from the beach their families just cannot spare the time , afford the cost or simply do not have the resources for the children to go to the beach. The adults get to play musical chairs and musical statues, then it was the turn of the children, they soon got the hang of it,they just loved it. Full on for the grown ups, running constant head counts making sure none go missing.
One small boy "Noah" had the bandiest legs they formed a square rather than a diamond shape supporting his body. I guess he was 6 or 7 . He laughed ran and tumbled , throwing himself towards a chair making sure he won the game.His legs had not formed correctly due to a lack of calcium when he was weaned.What a great spirit! A natural born comedian. As he belongs to the handicapped group he gets to come along more frequently. It seems that on his first trips he was upset at the tourists taking photos of him. So the teachers gave him a cheap camera and let him photograph the tourists back. It did the trick he now plays to his audiance. Later when the musicians played the Tom toms he was just the best Micheal Jackson style dancer you've ever seen . Brilliant.
Next on the agenda was taking the children down near the water. Some have never seen the sea. The boys were given water guns , absolutely o respect, if you were there you were a fair target,some of the less able played with buckets of water, it was happiness on steroids. Even the "minders" we're throwing buckets of water at each other. All the time head counting.then finally we took them in the water. Woa! The unadulterated joy and pleasure.Frenetic splashing shouting , my little girl was too strong for me I was frightened I would not be able to hold on to her in a wave so Franco took over.
Then lunch.
Lunch was basic to say the least,rice and chicken liver served for the children on large plastic platters. Each platter ,shared by 5 children ,was laid on the ground. They sat or knelt down beside each other , you cannot afford to muck around at meal times someone else will take your food, using the right hand to fed themselves , no shoving , no pushing they devoured the rice . I gave my two pieces of chicken liver to the two remaining children seated at the dish in front of me.I have to be honest here do not award me any brownie points,there are not many things i will not eat but chicken liver is one of them.The little girl took one piece and waited a second and hid it in her left hand ( the right hand is for eating)she watched the boy in front of her who momentarily took his eye off the ball and she as quick as a flash made a move to take his piece. Just like a kitten smacking out with it paw the boy snatched the piece for himself. All's fair. The children were handed out small brown paper parcels containing a maybe a dessertspoon full of husked peanuts ,this quiet boy just a little bit shorter than me , deaf and dumb ,came up took my hand and tipped some nuts into the palm of my hand. Sharing what you have is just fundamentle and we have seen it over and over here in the Gambia.
It is boiling hot day and the plan is to help out with a kids day out at the beach. At 10am we drove to the most beautiful unspoiled Brufut Beach ,walked down a compacted orange dust track then along the sand to a collection of simply built sunbleached beach huts, one was a circular seating area with woven elephant grass thatched roof which provided shade. There were 16 children having a beach day out. Some with learning difficulties and some physical disabilities others being given a once in a childhood treat.The adult group was made up of volunteers , sponsors and tourists wanting to help, we fall into the last category.Some of the children come from a local school set up by a dedicated English lady in memory of her husband. They started the school with 100 pupils there are now 500, all run on donations and volunteers and like all of these ventures always looking for funding. This day at the beach is a special treat, a day out,they only get to do this once. Even though they may only live a mile away from the beach their families just cannot spare the time , afford the cost or simply do not have the resources for the children to go to the beach. The adults get to play musical chairs and musical statues, then it was the turn of the children, they soon got the hang of it,they just loved it. Full on for the grown ups, running constant head counts making sure none go missing.
One small boy "Noah" had the bandiest legs they formed a square rather than a diamond shape supporting his body. I guess he was 6 or 7 . He laughed ran and tumbled , throwing himself towards a chair making sure he won the game.His legs had not formed correctly due to a lack of calcium when he was weaned.What a great spirit! A natural born comedian. As he belongs to the handicapped group he gets to come along more frequently. It seems that on his first trips he was upset at the tourists taking photos of him. So the teachers gave him a cheap camera and let him photograph the tourists back. It did the trick he now plays to his audiance. Later when the musicians played the Tom toms he was just the best Micheal Jackson style dancer you've ever seen . Brilliant.
Next on the agenda was taking the children down near the water. Some have never seen the sea. The boys were given water guns , absolutely o respect, if you were there you were a fair target,some of the less able played with buckets of water, it was happiness on steroids. Even the "minders" we're throwing buckets of water at each other. All the time head counting.then finally we took them in the water. Woa! The unadulterated joy and pleasure.Frenetic splashing shouting , my little girl was too strong for me I was frightened I would not be able to hold on to her in a wave so Franco took over.
Then lunch.
Lunch was basic to say the least,rice and chicken liver served for the children on large plastic platters. Each platter ,shared by 5 children ,was laid on the ground. They sat or knelt down beside each other , you cannot afford to muck around at meal times someone else will take your food, using the right hand to fed themselves , no shoving , no pushing they devoured the rice . I gave my two pieces of chicken liver to the two remaining children seated at the dish in front of me.I have to be honest here do not award me any brownie points,there are not many things i will not eat but chicken liver is one of them.The little girl took one piece and waited a second and hid it in her left hand ( the right hand is for eating)she watched the boy in front of her who momentarily took his eye off the ball and she as quick as a flash made a move to take his piece. Just like a kitten smacking out with it paw the boy snatched the piece for himself. All's fair. The children were handed out small brown paper parcels containing a maybe a dessertspoon full of husked peanuts ,this quiet boy just a little bit shorter than me , deaf and dumb ,came up took my hand and tipped some nuts into the palm of my hand. Sharing what you have is just fundamentle and we have seen it over and over here in the Gambia.
2 comments:
Very moving! Love angela and Tom, fuerteventura. Ps am reading the glass castle finally. What a book
Another wonderful episode! It all sounds truly amazing. X
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