A Day of Play!!!!

This past Saturday we saw another visit by Rift Valley Academy to CTC. Last time we spent a day at Good Shepherd finishing the garden and the boys dormitory. This Sat., 7 high schoolers came down the hill to spend the morning with the Malaika Kids. This was special for both sides as normally the children at our facility don't come in on Saturday. You could see that they were a bit surprised to be there are a Sat. but still VERY excited. The RVA kids don't get that many chances, if at all, to interact with disabled children. It's always interesting to watch new people come to the facility. Generally, there's some time where they don't feel comfortable. There is something about being with adults/children with disability that really both pulls at the heart strings and also our own very personal comfort level.

It doesn't take long though to cross that barrier. Once the RVA kids realized that the children are just like all other children, full of joy, excitement and love......the wall came down. We did an introduction for the first part where the children sang the normal morning songs, recited a few bible verses and hellos. After a quick tour of the facility with an overview of who's CTC and why we work in Maai Mahiu, I divided the RVA kids into 2 groups. One spent time with the children who have cerebral palsy. The second was put into the play room with rest of the Malaika kids. Both rooms were play day really but in very different forms. It always touches my heart how attached people are to Dan, Henry, Francis (the boys with cerebral palsy). For most this is the first time they have ever had very close contact with children who are VERY restricted in all ways. The RVA kids jumped right in playing with the boys, opening hands to work on dexterity, blowing up balloons, playing games to entertain.....the kids loved it!!!!

In the other room what started out as managed areas for games soon turned into a free for all. Have to love how planning seems to disintegrate with children. Some of the RVA kids are great at making balloon animals. Can you imagine? Our children have NEVER seen anything like a dog made out of a balloon. It soon turned into a volleyball competition to see who could keep the balloon in the air longest. Both groups, Malaika Kids and RVA, bonded in these moments of play. Nothing really to think about but letting the child run free. Pretty amazing to see :)

Oh!!!!! And George. RVA brought nail polish for the girls. Wonderful I said. But it didn't take long for the boys to notice the fun the girls were having. So George sat down and needed his nails painted. He was so proud of having Corvette red nails. And once those were done he started taking off his socks to get his toes painted. And then that started a trend. Mike was soon to follow. You can see in the picture with balloons and the children, George's fingers painted. Who says nail polish is just for girls?

I've included a few pictures of the day. As you can see the Malaika Kids really appreciated their new friends. Thank you Rift Valley Academy for picking up these children and running with them.