Day 2 at CSC was a very action packed day! But for now, let’s just talk about what we did in the AM. We will post another blog about the afternoon session bc that deserves to stand on its own!

We started out w the boys at Activities and the girls at Sports. In the morning, the boys took part in “This is my Flag, This is My Country” which the girls had done on Day 1 while the boys were at Sports. All we did was flip-flop the schedule from Day 1 so that both boys and girls do the same things. If boys play soccer, baseball or football – so do the girls! If girls do educational arts and crafts or dance – so do the boys! But regardless if the child is in Sports or Activities they are paired up w a Hope Shines vol in small groups and stay in them for the whole week. In this way the child gets to know us better and can really benefit from the mentorship our amazing vols provide.

The idea behind “This is my Flag, This is my Country” is to allow for group bonding, English language teaching, creativity, patriotism, imagination and confidence building. Oh, and fun! We start the kids off in their groups w a piece of paper labeled “Me and Rwanda”. We ask them to write what they love about Rwanda and then what they love to do (soccer, dancing, learning, playing etc). They wrote many thoughtful things about Rwanda. They have a deep respect for their country. It is beautiful to see.

Then using their thoughts we ask them to imagine a country all of their own where these great things happen. They came up w new country names like, “Play Land”, “Peace” and “Hope Land”. Now, all this sounds fairly simple so far but when dealing w the severe language barrier and tremendous difference in teaching applications here, it ends up being much more intricate. Thank goodness for our intelligent and intuitive translators, who are role models and act as vols themselves and the patience of our entire vol squad. Hope Shines is extremely fortunate to have attracted people w such a high caliber of excellence – for both of our camps!

Once the kids came up w a new name we asked them to draw and decorate a flag to represent their group based on what they wrote down. They made fancy flags out of paper, feathers, markers, sequins, glue – u name it! These now are hanging on the once bare walls of the CSC. After we leave the CSC wall’s will be filled w the kid’s artwork!

Next, we ask them to write a sentence in English about the things they do in their new make-believe country. We explain they are writing a script for a play and that they will perform it for the whole camp. This inspires the child to write and speak English out loud in a fun interactive fashion. After they have written their lines and memorized them we handed out masks and let them decorate them! One of the most interesting things about our work is to watch their creativity flow. They come up w the most original and fabulous designs!

After a huge lunch of rice, beans, meat, veggies and juice the kids performed their plays. The girls did theirs on Day 1 and the boys on Day 2. Everyone cheered them on and encouraged them to feel comfortable “on stage”. Each group had a flair all their own and it was so fun to watch!

To see pics of the play and all else going on at camp pls check out www.facebook.com/hopeshines.inc. We are having trouble w internet connectivity so pics are slow to be uploaded.

More updates to come!!
Thanks for your support!!

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