Mission Week Summary (1st week of July)

So I slacked majorly about writing journals during mission week. I was going to try and write one every day or at least try to recap each day, but I realize now that at this point the days have begin to blend and doing a summary might be much more feasible. So summary it is. In the beginning of the week, it was a bit of an adjustment getting used to being with a larger group for most of the day, and I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like the week. I didn’t do much besides observe and take part in minor activities, like leading a game or passing out papers, fun fun! I was not doing much of anything, yet Owen, the other WR staff, and the US group were working very hard. I was even tired by the end of the week even though I didn’t do near as much! But it turned out to be alright and a good experience. The highlights were in the middle of the day when we (all the WR staff, US people, and caregivers) all went outside and played games and sang songs, and danced the day away... :) All the caregivers and staff would join together and play games like Red Light, Green Light, Duck Duck Goose, and Simon Says. These three games were my absolute favorite because everybody (all of them adults) participated and had an amazing time. Mothers with babies on their backs were chasing eachother around the circle in duck duck goose and in simon says everyone loved being tricked into following a wrong direction. I led red light, green light, and it was so fun seeing all the adults race towards the finish line, though kinda scary when you think of thirty adults all charging in your direction lol. After learning these games, the caregivers would lead us in Malawian songs and dances, most of which I actually participated in! The singing is beautiful here, and everyone sings in wonderful and perfect harmony. Seriously, what was remarkable about this group was that the caregivers neither the staff, including WR and the US people, nor the caregivers, all knew eachother, we all just came together this week and had fun. All, or most, of the caregivers came from centers that were far apart from eachother. Some caregivers got up at 5 am to walk the 4 hours to get to the meeting place, others rode their bike for 2 hours. Serious dedication, 4 hours is a long time....especially when the women are in charge of cooking and taking care of the home, and some are caring babies on their backs!

One of the Malawian dances was a version of the limbo, with a much better song (beeko, beeko, beekoko...) which Owen loved, and then a line dance where you hop across with one foot hooked across another person’s, and then circle dances, where people sing and call out your name to come and dance, with amazing songs that tell you to come and “shake it.” Great fun, except my love for being in the middle of circles has not grown in the least I would say :) Loved the singing and dancing and playing games together, great memories, and great pictures of people running all over the place. Also, at the end of the week the caregivers all sang to us, “we will never forget you...” and added all our names, singing we will meet again, and it was so beautiful and wonderful, and all the adults were touched, if not crying. : )

It was also a fun week because all of the caregivers got a chance to play with the toys which they were learning how to use and practice using more activity-based and engaging teaching methods. So they got to play with hand puppets, building blocks, read stories, and play with puzzles in small groups. Again, that was a lot of fun. The lessons that the US group to the caregivers were about forming relationships with children and caring for them, setting up lesson plans and structuring a class, teaching kids according to their developmental level, different learning styles, and discipline, all very important subjects and the caregivers seemed to be soaking it up, all very appreciative of the information they were getting, so it was a very worthwhile and great week all around.