So many kids to help - too little time

There is so much to write about I am not sure where to begin. First and most importantly, I want to tell all of you about my experience with the children I am playing futbol (soccer), basketball, net ball (girls version of basketball) and kickball with and teaching new sports to. On Monday I had my first day with the kids and it was so overwhelming!!! We worked with over 100 kids at one time! We only had 4 coaches including me. We had to organize all the kids from ages 4-16. It is almost too much to describe in words. I brought about 10 jump ropes and the frisbees and most of the kids have never seen them before. It was wonderful to provide them for the kids. We played tag frisbee, kickball, futbol, relay races, running around the field, calisthenics and jump rope contests. It was over 6 hours of playing with the kids with a break for lunch in about 90 degrees.

Some of the kids have never seen a white person before and certainly not one with as much energy as me. I am not sure they knew what to make of me. They just stare at me with amazement. Other girls grab onto my hands and legs for dear life. They also laugh every time I speak in Tonga. Eric told me that no matter how well you speak Tonga they will laugh every time. At the end of the day when we were saying goodbye Most kept pulling at my pony tail and laughing non-stop about it and then about one hundred kids were grabbing me and wouldn't let go. It was crazy!

I have come to realize that there are luxuries and necessities in life and it is different for each person. For me, a warm shower is a luxury because I have to choose between a steaming hot shower or a cold one. Since it is in the 90's here I am choosing cold, but it is freezing cold! Be sure to be thankful for your shower every day! The other luxury I don't have is a refrigerator and that has been tough. I ended up buying a cooler yesterday and put some big frozen water bottles in it to keep things cold and I put new frozen ones in every morning. I thought I could do without coffee, but I had extreme headaches for the first 2 days that were unbearable, so I broke down and got some instant coffee. That is one luxury I realized I can't live without - at least not while I am here because I don't want to ruin my time here since it is so limited.

TV is also a luxury. Although, I am not missing TV at all. I am reading more than I ever have, writing in my journal, spending time with the neighborhood kids and parents and cooking some amazing meals with all the local vegetables (eggplant, avocado, okra, carrots, maze, tomatoes, peppers and onions)and all sorts of beans and shima (local food that is made from maze flour). Everyone here eats shima almost every day because it is very filling and cheap. They eat shima with their hands and roll it up like it is playdough.

I have enjoyed not blow drying my hair at all. I think that is something I want to continue back at home. You really don't need a washing machine or dryer either. I am having my housekeeper do my laundry so she can earn some extra money.

There is no wine in all of Monze, so I have resorted to drinking the local beer Mosi. Yes - I am actually drinking beer. Surprisingly, it actually is not that bad. I have only had 2 of them, because I am trying to not drink that much during my stay here. I am not missing it either. Who knows, maybe I could try to limit my wine back at home - wishful thinking. Additionally, I haven't had any sugar in over a week and I think I have weened myself off of it which is great. I hope I can keep that up when I get home. I certainly LOVE my sugar!

Sleeping in a mosquito net has been interesting. mine is too small for my bed and it keeps pulling out of my bed so I wake up in the middle of the night wrapped all around my net. My pillow is made with the hardest cotton I have ever felt. I ended up making a pillow with my fleece sweeter and pillow case.

With all that said, I am really happy with this style of living. It is such a simple life, but so fulfilling.

All and all I have had an amazing past 3 days that has transformed my life. First of all, I went to the most spiritual church service on Sunday that I have ever been to. It was over 3 hours long and it went by like 30 mins. I was welcomed into the church with 2 big open arms and they even had everyone get up and welcome me by singing a chant and then brought me to the front to sit next to the pastor - Pastor Deborah.
The gospel music and sermon was so powerful that I found myself crying almost through the whole service. I was thinking of my dad and how close he is to death and it just made me so sad. Deborah pulled me aside after the church was over and sat with me for 30 mins and told me she could feel my sadness so she wanted to give me the love of God. It was very special. I walked out of there feeling very happy and full of faith that things will all work out the way they are supposed to.

Yesterday I went to the St Vincent's Ministry School for the orphans to meet the founder and head master Mazunka of the school. I gave him hundreds of pens and pencils and he was incredibly thankful because they were just running out of them. He told me the history of the school which started in 2003 and it was fascinating. I told him that I would be more than happy to give him some money to help fund it because it only takes about $2,000 per year to run. He took us through the classrooms and every student stood up when Mazunka entered the room. They were all very polite and thankful for the school supplies.

Afterwards, I went to meet the District Commissioner of Monze. She was such an interesting woman. She told us many stories about how she use to be an athlete and is very thankful to us for the work with are doing with the kids. She feels that sports is very important for these kids to keep them away from getting Aids since it is so wide spread in this country.

After that meeting I met the head of National Aids Council Godfrey Kalaluka. MAN!!! That was such a disturbing meeting about how incredibly bad the Aids epidemic is in Monze. I was so disgusted by what the men (most with Aids) are doing to the young girls here at even the age of 6 months!!!! and in some cases by their own relatives!!!! The percentage of people with Aids is not getting better in fact it is rising every year. Godfrey asked if I had any ideas about how to get the sexual education out there to the people of Monze besides just teaching it in the schools because many kids don't have the privilege of going to school since they can't afford it. Only the orphans get to go to school for free. I told him to print up pamphlets about the severity of having sex without a condom and if a man is found raping a young girl they will be prosecuted immediately and sent to jail for 25 years (that is the punishment here for any crime and there is no parole). They take crimes very seriously. I told him that the pamphlets worked for me when I was educating families about the severity of obesity with kids and adults. He said that is a great idea because it doesn't take any money because they have paper and a photocopier and they have volunteers that can pass them out. Also, I told him he should give a small incentive for people in the villages who could be undercover and find the men who are raping the young girls. They would be much more likely to find them since the men talk about only to their peers in the villages. He said that he thought about doing that and he thinks it is a good idea. Of course they need to find the funding for the incentives since they have no money.

I am now heading out for another day with those amazing kids. More to come tomorrow. Everyday is a new day of enlightenment. Sorry for the long blog today, but the internet has been down for the past 2 days so you are getting 3 days worth of info.