The week at Brackenhurst was not an official conference for the AG M’s. They are only allowed to have one every two years where everyone is obligated to come. This year’s conference was an off-year, but the director strongly felt urged to convene the M’s to have them participate in three days of security training and as well as a time of re-evaluating their mission statement and purpose by individual and corporate fields.
Because the security training involved simulating kidnapping and hostage situations, we had to have the kids out of earshot some of the sessions. Therefore, down to the playground we went. This was just one of the many activities we used to keep the kids entertained. And that leads me to the second part of the Brackenhurst blog.
2. Activities. Stuff. Events. You know, the things that keep us entertained.
The playground is certainly one of the things that fits nicely in this category. I’m pretty sure every day at some point, we rounded up the kiddos, slathered them in either sunscreen or princess lotion according to preference, and shuffled down to the pit where the swings, slide, teeter totters, and dirt/sand piles were located. The elementary kids loved playing with our toddlers, and the staff of both groups couldn’t have asked for a better arrangement :) Ruthie and I worked on exposing our pathetically blinding-white selves to the burning sun during this time. And we accomplished our goal by the end of the week…wait for it…yep, sandal tanned feet! Haha. Actually, we are quite a nice shade of tan. Although Ruthie burned and started peeling to the point of resembling either a mild case of leprosy or a bad case of dandruff, we were pleased with our efforts.
I couldn’t forget to mention tea time. Although I’m sure I’ve mentioned it briefly in a previous post somewhere, it is important enough to do so again. At Brackenhurst, time had no meaning except when it came to tea. You could set your watch by it if you wanted to. Every day at 10 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon, we would break for tea, coffee, biscuits (cookies) and sometimes juice. In our toddler case, we had juice time and cake. Or cinnamon rolls. Or banana bread. Or the best doughnuts in the universe. Or whatever they decided to bring us for the day. It was hilarious watching the kids try to eat their snacks. Most of the snack ended up in one of three places: 1) the table, 2) the floor, or 3) their face. Rarely did the snack make it in the mouth :) Totally adorable. With all the tea times, though, I’m fairly certain I could have floated away form drinking so much that week. Or been wired for a year with all the caffeine we consumed. Haha!
Not only was there tea time, but many of the adults went walking in the tea fields for exercise every day. The last day Ruthie and I thought we would explore the paths ourselves, so we headed out with Brooke (a music teacher in Sudan with Julia) and made the journey up the dusty roads to the top. The view was spectacular. The smell of tea bushes and the fields is so distinct as well – it will forever be engrained in my mind’s memory.
The evenings did not have a structured service schedule as usual. Monday night we had a brief time of childcare during security training, but then had the rest of the evening to ourselves. Tuesday night we attended a presentation revealing the new East Africa initiative called Live Dead. It focused on recruiting and sending out teams to the unreached people groups of East Africa, and the lady in the states who is working on the ads and design was there to discuss them. Wednesday night was free, Thursday I had to work childcare again, and Friday I was able to attend the last service where Papa Lowenberg spoke. The high school seniors were honored, the individual fields read their re-worked mission statements, and we had a time of worship and prayer.
When we weren’t otherwise engaged in the evenings, we spent a huge amount of time playing Phase 10 and Dutch Blitz. Our usual group consisted of me, Ruthie, Priscilla, Josiah, Reed, and Jordan. Occasional other players included Nicole, Caleb, Josh, and Gus. We would end up at Uncle Mike’s trying to a claim a large enough table for our intent, order cokes in the glass bottles and possibly mozzarella sticks or sloppy nachos, and settle in for several hours of fun with each other. I felt like I was back at youth camp again, except I never went to youth camp, so even better. Maybe it’s closer to being on tour with my college friends in choir. Either way, we had a most wonderful time, and it was one of my favorite times of the week.
During the week, Ruthie and I were also asked to lead a song for worship after morning tea time. She, Julia, and I practiced one night and it turned into a much-needed, impromptu time of worshiping. If there’s one thing I know in life, it’s that I was made to worship through music and singing. There’s nothing quite like worshiping the Savior with the gifts he gave you.
So there are the main activities that took place throughout the week. Then there were the late night chats with Julia, laying in the grass reading and making up silly poems while listening to Justin Bieber, watching the boys play soccer in the dark, playing pass-pass* barefoot, the slip-n-slide for the kids, fighting off safari ants, lunch conversations, and meeting new people. On Friday I also visited a group home and clinic that I will write about in my next blog. But now you know how we spent some of our time at Bracken. Sorry it’s so long of a description…
And for those of you unfortunate enough to be ignorant of what pass-pass is, let me provide a definition to clarify ;)
*Pass-pass: a game we invented that involved passing the Frisbee from one person to another. If anyone dropped the Frisbee, Priscilla was required to run around the orange cones spread out across the lawn (her idea, which made it even better). Eventually we modified the rules so that whoever dropped the Frisbee had to do 5 jumping jacks (to save on time) before they could pass it off again. Haha! So much fun.
Showing posts with label Brackenhurst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brackenhurst. Show all posts
Saturday, January 15, 2011
A Look Back at Week 3: Brackenhurst
Where to begin? The last week we were in Africa, Ruthie and I worked the kid’s program at Brackenhurst. The closest equivalent we have in the states to what Brackenhurst is would be a church retreat campground. The grounds are beautiful and the cabins are all unique.
We arrived Sunday afternoon early to eat lunch and attend a workers’ meeting. The meeting ended up being a time to divide the kids by age group (on paper) and then move all the trunks and equipment to entertain the kiddos into their proper places.
Around 4 pm, we had our first encounter with the kids we would be working with all week. The infant/toddler group ended up being 8-9 in size. There was a variety of ages from 1-4 years. One helpful aspect of the week was that the High School Juniors and Seniors were rotated throughout the sessions to help me and the other college worker.
Although it might seem inconvenient to give up one whole week of our break to help watch kids, it was one of the best experiences I could have ever had. I met so many new friends, became close to the high schooler workers, and was embraced by the family comprised of the M’s.
Because it has been nearly 2 weeks since the week at Brackenhurst started, I will only provide a summary of everything that occurred while there. (The next several blog entries will be separated by topic.)
1. Kids. Let me introduce you to our little bunch.
The youngest was Riley and his sister was Alana (2 years). Riley was the happiest little boy I’ve ever been around. The only time he cried the entire week was the morning after he hadn’t slept much and when a trunk lid closed on his hand. However, the second time, it wasn’t really even a cry; more like a whimper. Alana was miss little independent. She had a mind of her own and could turn from glaring with an angry face to smiles and giggles in 0.247 seconds. Although she was 2 years, she still couldn’t communicate well with words, so we constantly were guessing what she wanted, didn’t like, etc. Her most obvious trait was the need to climb. When at the playground, she would just book it up the hills and the next thing we knew she was three levels up near the cabins perfectly happy with herself for her accomplishment.
Then we had Madeline (3 years) and Charlie (2 years) with the occasional visit by little sister Millie (3 months). Madeline was a cheerful girl who could completely entertain herself. She played well with or without other kids around. She loved playing in the sand/dirt and with the balloons. She was constantly tromping around with her bucket and shovel :) Her brother, on the other hand, was a little more difficult. He had separation problems, so at least one parent was always nearby. He was a sweet guy, just quite needy. One of our high school workers, Reed, became his buddy. If Charlie ever needed some attention, Reed was there to give it. He loved the lap harp (which he called a ‘tar trying to say guitar, so cute). And Millie, well, she just smiled and cooed and slept :)
The two princesses were Sienna and Tia, both 3 years. They were cute little curly blond-headed girls who always wore pink and loved playing princess and castle. Miss Criscilla (Priscilla, but they couldn’t say her name) really took to them. They would make tiaras and play princesses. It was quite fun to watch. Whenever we went outside, we made the kids wear sunscreen ‘cause of the high altitude and being near the equator they burned easily. However, none of them liked it…I have never before realized how much little kids hate sunscreen. It was a huge chore to get them to wear it. Anyways, so Priscilla came up with this idea to call the sunscreen “princess lotion,” selling the girls on the idea that they could shimmer in the sun like royalty (um…bring to mind any Twilight images?). It only kind of worked, but it made for an on-going lifelong joke between Priscilla and me.
Daphne. If you knew her, that name alone would be explanation enough. But since you don’t, let me enlighten you. Daphne was 2 years old, but she could communicate with words quite well. Every day we would wait to see if Daphne showed up…she was the difference between and easy day and a hard one. Our most difficult kid, she would cry for mommy and daddy off and on all day. She didn’t play well with others although she was decent with playing by herself. The routine went something like this: 1) Daphne happy until [fill in the blank]. 2) Cries. 3) Pick Daphne up. 4) Try to distract Daphne with baby doll. 5) Daphne throws whatever you hand her including cookies (she threw them so hard it shattered into pieces when it hit the floor). 5) She would scream for “mommy!” and “juice.” 6.) She would eventually become distracted. 7.) Stop crying. 8.) Repeat throughout day about 12 times. Really, though, she was a dear little girl too. Just needed some extra TLC and patience on our part.
And last, but not least, Josiah and Benjamin. These two were truly our boys – in every sense of the word. They loved beating up on the guy workers, although they didn’t really take to the girls at all. Because they were 4 years old, they were pretty tough and had an awesome time getting tackled for hours on end in the bounce-house boxing ring (our poor guy workers were exhausted by the end of the days). They also made forts and shot missiles and played soccer and ate twice as much as the other kids at tea time :) One funny story with them was that one day when they were playing fort the girls wanted to join. But the boys wouldn’t let them be captains with them. They said the girls could only play if they were cats. So, the girls played cats in the fort. Haha! One of the high school workers (Caleb) commented that he wished he could know what was going on in their heads. Since when are cats the next most logical thing to become after captains?
So there you have it; these were the kids we worked with. Our team of workers was amazing as well. We had M families from all over East Africa – Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Madagascar. Some of the kids spoke Swahili, some spoke French, some spoke English, some didn’t speak at all yet :) They all are growing up experiencing more of the world than most others. They endure sweltering deserts, strange customs, violent religious intolerance, and they all carry the heartache to reach the people they’re sharing life with for Jesus.
I can’t express the amount of respect I have gained for our mission overseas. These men and women sent by the AG have sacrificed convenience and ease, placed their families in extremely difficult and sometimes dangerous situations, and are making an eternal difference. And I am proud and honored to have observed and shared a small part of their lives during the week at Brackenhurst and to be able to call them all friend.
We arrived Sunday afternoon early to eat lunch and attend a workers’ meeting. The meeting ended up being a time to divide the kids by age group (on paper) and then move all the trunks and equipment to entertain the kiddos into their proper places.
Around 4 pm, we had our first encounter with the kids we would be working with all week. The infant/toddler group ended up being 8-9 in size. There was a variety of ages from 1-4 years. One helpful aspect of the week was that the High School Juniors and Seniors were rotated throughout the sessions to help me and the other college worker.
Although it might seem inconvenient to give up one whole week of our break to help watch kids, it was one of the best experiences I could have ever had. I met so many new friends, became close to the high schooler workers, and was embraced by the family comprised of the M’s.
Because it has been nearly 2 weeks since the week at Brackenhurst started, I will only provide a summary of everything that occurred while there. (The next several blog entries will be separated by topic.)
1. Kids. Let me introduce you to our little bunch.
The youngest was Riley and his sister was Alana (2 years). Riley was the happiest little boy I’ve ever been around. The only time he cried the entire week was the morning after he hadn’t slept much and when a trunk lid closed on his hand. However, the second time, it wasn’t really even a cry; more like a whimper. Alana was miss little independent. She had a mind of her own and could turn from glaring with an angry face to smiles and giggles in 0.247 seconds. Although she was 2 years, she still couldn’t communicate well with words, so we constantly were guessing what she wanted, didn’t like, etc. Her most obvious trait was the need to climb. When at the playground, she would just book it up the hills and the next thing we knew she was three levels up near the cabins perfectly happy with herself for her accomplishment.
Then we had Madeline (3 years) and Charlie (2 years) with the occasional visit by little sister Millie (3 months). Madeline was a cheerful girl who could completely entertain herself. She played well with or without other kids around. She loved playing in the sand/dirt and with the balloons. She was constantly tromping around with her bucket and shovel :) Her brother, on the other hand, was a little more difficult. He had separation problems, so at least one parent was always nearby. He was a sweet guy, just quite needy. One of our high school workers, Reed, became his buddy. If Charlie ever needed some attention, Reed was there to give it. He loved the lap harp (which he called a ‘tar trying to say guitar, so cute). And Millie, well, she just smiled and cooed and slept :)
The two princesses were Sienna and Tia, both 3 years. They were cute little curly blond-headed girls who always wore pink and loved playing princess and castle. Miss Criscilla (Priscilla, but they couldn’t say her name) really took to them. They would make tiaras and play princesses. It was quite fun to watch. Whenever we went outside, we made the kids wear sunscreen ‘cause of the high altitude and being near the equator they burned easily. However, none of them liked it…I have never before realized how much little kids hate sunscreen. It was a huge chore to get them to wear it. Anyways, so Priscilla came up with this idea to call the sunscreen “princess lotion,” selling the girls on the idea that they could shimmer in the sun like royalty (um…bring to mind any Twilight images?). It only kind of worked, but it made for an on-going lifelong joke between Priscilla and me.
Daphne. If you knew her, that name alone would be explanation enough. But since you don’t, let me enlighten you. Daphne was 2 years old, but she could communicate with words quite well. Every day we would wait to see if Daphne showed up…she was the difference between and easy day and a hard one. Our most difficult kid, she would cry for mommy and daddy off and on all day. She didn’t play well with others although she was decent with playing by herself. The routine went something like this: 1) Daphne happy until [fill in the blank]. 2) Cries. 3) Pick Daphne up. 4) Try to distract Daphne with baby doll. 5) Daphne throws whatever you hand her including cookies (she threw them so hard it shattered into pieces when it hit the floor). 5) She would scream for “mommy!” and “juice.” 6.) She would eventually become distracted. 7.) Stop crying. 8.) Repeat throughout day about 12 times. Really, though, she was a dear little girl too. Just needed some extra TLC and patience on our part.
And last, but not least, Josiah and Benjamin. These two were truly our boys – in every sense of the word. They loved beating up on the guy workers, although they didn’t really take to the girls at all. Because they were 4 years old, they were pretty tough and had an awesome time getting tackled for hours on end in the bounce-house boxing ring (our poor guy workers were exhausted by the end of the days). They also made forts and shot missiles and played soccer and ate twice as much as the other kids at tea time :) One funny story with them was that one day when they were playing fort the girls wanted to join. But the boys wouldn’t let them be captains with them. They said the girls could only play if they were cats. So, the girls played cats in the fort. Haha! One of the high school workers (Caleb) commented that he wished he could know what was going on in their heads. Since when are cats the next most logical thing to become after captains?
So there you have it; these were the kids we worked with. Our team of workers was amazing as well. We had M families from all over East Africa – Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Madagascar. Some of the kids spoke Swahili, some spoke French, some spoke English, some didn’t speak at all yet :) They all are growing up experiencing more of the world than most others. They endure sweltering deserts, strange customs, violent religious intolerance, and they all carry the heartache to reach the people they’re sharing life with for Jesus.
I can’t express the amount of respect I have gained for our mission overseas. These men and women sent by the AG have sacrificed convenience and ease, placed their families in extremely difficult and sometimes dangerous situations, and are making an eternal difference. And I am proud and honored to have observed and shared a small part of their lives during the week at Brackenhurst and to be able to call them all friend.
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