Kidsclub

Stanleys have been gone for over 2 weeks now. Even though we still have the Hubers, the homeschool-helper couple, with us, it became much quieter. Too quiet… You could feel the loneliness the first 2 days. Hardly a person was to be seen. Louis and Timon kept coming back and asking, “What should I do?” They had become so accustomed to playing with Oscar in their free time. Now there was a hole.

Then came Friday. We wanted to start a kids’ club with the Kovol children and our children in the afternoon. Louis and Timon were just starting school when a huge horde of children appeared. And there were more and more coming. It was no longer “quiet” around our houses and it felt good. I changed a few games because there were more children than expected. We prayed that it wouldn’t rain in the afternoon as it usually does and then started playing at noon. I was able to speak in Kovol Language the whole time (the kids don´t understand Pidgin well). Unfortunately, Maik and Cecilia, who helped us, could not understand it. But it was good practice for me.

It was funny to put them all in a row and let them race. One group was called the “Geko” group and the other “Dragonfly”. The western principles of forming a line and running relay races had to be understood first. In the second game I tried to explain it again and then it worked. It was so nice to see the happy, laughing children, but there were also some curious adults. The children, that’s the future here, I thought. After a few games came the tug-of-war where we put some fathers on one side at the very end. They lost and everyone exploded with laughter. The fathers lying on the floor was a highlight. Finally, we ended the afternoon with popcorn and soccer.

Since then, children have come to play almost every day. Since communication is difficult, our children now also want to learn Kovol.  Young people and adults are playing volleyball again. Some time ago there was a rumor that the Kovol were disturbing us and no one was allowed to play here at our houses. But we had told them again and again that we needed them and that we were lonely in other ways. And finally many people are here again. We are so incredibly grateful to God for that!!

We have now moved the kids’ club to Saturday (as it often rains in the afternoon). Every 2nd week there are competition games and on the Saturday in between the children can play football.