Field Day at Chipoka
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:58PM 
As our mini-bus bounced along the dirt road to the church, the children from the COH Chipoka project lined the road and began singing and jumping and cheering. "Welcome, welcome friends!" they sang. Most of the children are new to Circle of Hope, added when we increased enrollment from 15 to 50 in May.
We jumped out of the bus and organized ourselves as quickly as possible. While the team from Indiana Wesleyan University transformed the church yard with flags and banners, Pastor Phiri and I handed out new t-shirts to the children. We had only one goal that day: to have as much fun as possible. Our premise: a World Cup Field Day where the kids could share in all the excitement and team pride that was building all over the world the past few weeks as the competition mounted just to the south of us in South Africa.
The activities started with a lot of noise as the children were divided into four teams and instructed to make up their own cheer. Camaraderie grew as the teams developed their own cheers and sang it out with pride and a lot of gusto for the others to hear.
Next, IWU team members set up four centers where the children played four-square, got their faces painted, memorized a bible verse and colored a flag to represent their country. Awards were given for each event.
The fun continued with relay games like dizzy bat, sack races, carrying a ping-pong ball on a spoon. Watching our pastors get in on the action only added to the hilarity.
You've never seen so many smiles, or heard so much laughter. Though the day had been nothing if not silly, I knew what we had accomplished that day was of utmost importance. When children live in poverty, they lose the opportunity to be goofy, giggly, care-free kids. The seriousness of their situation quickly steals the joy of their youth. Laughter is sometimes the best medicine, lifting our spirits, giving us hope that not every day will be a struggle- hope that our future might be brighter than our past.
Furthermore, that a team of American college students would travel across the world to host a day of fun was a bold statement to these children that they are important. It is a delight to think that the children who are newest to our program would know from the start that they are valued, that this world holds goodness for them, and that their life has purpose. For me, this is an excellent reason to smile.
Karen Roller, International Director
Reader Comments (1)
Love the videos! especially the pastors falling all over the place! they are so great :)