Day 8

After a late night sharing testimonies we all slept well and woke up at 7.15 all refreshed for breakfast. We had waffles, toast, fruit and boiled eggs which was amazing.

We gathered in groups of 4 and ran through our lessons as we were off to teach the kids at Tent City Primary School. We left the Ministry Centre at 9am arriving approximately an hour later and started organising the food for the feeding program to start. The kids brought up their little bowls and the food flowed ensuring that every student there had food in their bellies.  

As the kids finished their food we moved in. We had chosen a year level to teach and organised pens, pencils, crayons, pipe cleaners (to make toys) and stories to share. We taught kids in classes from Pre-Primary to Year 6. We did activities such as singing, storytelling and colouring in, pipe cleaner animals, rings, bracelets and stick figures; the balloons were made into swords and daggers to act of the story of Goliath. We were in the classrooms for roughly 45 minutes while giving the teachers a well earned break.

A light snack of crackers and home-made biscuits, with a drink from the nearby shop we played a game with the kids. We went onto the basket ball court and the kids formed a huge ring around us. We were left in the middle, surrounded by hundreds of kids. Their bright smiles and cheerful personalities helped us feel less embarrassed for what was come.  The idea was to dance around and invite children to join the group and dance with us. Eventually the majority of the circle would be combined with the inner group, dancing our hearts out. By the end our hearts were racing, our feet were burning but everyone still had gigantic smiles on their faces. It came time to leave the school, so we finished by singing songs with the children. Everyone sung their hearts out and thoroughly enjoyed singing with the younger community.

We left the school, and had a very short bus trip to tent city. Entering tent city was a shock for many of us. The level of poverty was extremely high. Seeing around 800 houses all crammed into a small area, for the number of people that needed to live in the community was heart breaking. Each house was around 30 square metres, catering for up to 10 siblings with no bathroom or toilet. One house we visited hosted 6 siblings, the oldest being 12. The mother of the children passed away while giving birth, leaving the children to fend for themselves, whilst their father worked away to provide an income. Experiencing the poor living conditions for 4000+ people was a kick in the gut for the majority of the team. The heat was overwhelming with no shade in sight for neither us nor the occupants of the village. We were all sweating, thirsty and tired due to the impact of the sun on us. As a team we walked around the village, getting a firsthand experience of how lucky we all are and witnessing the lack of essential items needed for many homes. We were able to give nine blankets out to nine different families, each who were very appreciative of them and couldn’t thank us enough.

We then left the Village to head home everyone sleepy in the car and bus because of the serious heat at Tent City. We arrived home at 2ish and had lunch at 2:30pm and had rice and stew which consisted of Chicken, Black Beans, Corn and other veggies. It was very yummy. After Lunch we had two lady speakers coming in to talk to us about these coming Wednesday’s events of a street soccer tournament and also a choice of a 1km, 2km, or 3km fun run. Most of us either sponsoring a kid for the run or running in the event itself to raise money for Quattro Christian College and the fees required for the children there. After the speakers left we started our first and last rotation of the day which consisted of Building, Feeding, Cleaning, Children’s Home and writing on the blog.

Lots of love Jordan, Joellykins, Amy and Dean

Jordan- Just wanna say hey to Mum, Dad ,Scott, Carrie, Reuben, Beks and Cal including Bek and Cal missing you all heaps sorry i haven’t been in alot of the photos also wanna do a shoutout to Beans and Nibby missing hanging out with the complete cousinhood , love Jord xx

Jo-Elle – Miss you mummy & daddy, love you’s very much and you too blakey & pessy. See yous Sunday morning early :) Love joey xx

Dean-Hey family, missing you all heaps, especially Busta,hope your having a good time, looking forward to seeing you all. Hey Nanna and Grandad and all the relatives. Love you heaps.

Amy W- Hey all my family, missing you loads, hope that you are all doing well. We are all well here, no one has been terribly sick so its all good. Love you all lots and look forward to seeing ya soon. Love Amy xx