| | "O Canada"
How many 6 year olds in Canada have been practicing Canada's national anthem lately? I hear from Vella back in Mozambique (I'm in Canada for a couple months' break over Christmas) that her boys, mini-Canadian flags in hand, were marching out of the house and around the garden singing "O Canada!" I wish I had a video! Vella also says that while playing, they talk often about visiting Canada until January. If only it wasn't pretend! I sure miss them! As we loaded the vehicle to head to the airport where they saw me off, they told all the kids surrounding the truck that "We're going to the airport with Mana Nancy. She's going to Canada. When she comes back in January she'll bring us presents." I guess that's all they need to know! If only I had a photo of Antonino and Vicente each trying to pull one of my big roller suitcases! They were incredibly persistent, but eventually had to give up as the bag was nearly as big as them!
 
Victoria, Chico (helper) and the boys seeing me off at the airport, and Tracey with the boys watching for my plane to arrive
Here, on the other side of the ocean, I spent an evening playing, reading and talking with 6 year old Abigail, 8 year old Amma, and 10 year old Noah who pumped me full of questions about Africa and the kids I work with. They wanted to know if they went to school, why they only went to school in the morning, what they did with the afternoon since they weren't in school. As they were putting Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes together they asked what boys and girls there liked to play with. When I told them that they guarded the boxes under their beds for years afterwards, they wanted to know why. Noah wondered what the kids played with and if they liked soccer balls (YES!!). When I explained that the got to watch a movie once a week they were curious what movies they watched and if they got popcorn with it. After explaining about the girls getting milk once a week, Amma wondered why they only got it once a week. When talk turned to what our kids got to eat, they were very puzzled about why our kids only got chicken 2-3 times a year (especially after we ate a delicious chicken dinner). Other questions: What kinds of "icky" things have I seen in Africa? (They loved talk of tarantulas, worms, snakes, bats, etc!) Where do the kids live? Why do the babies live in a separate house from the rest of the kids? Why do they not have moms and dads? In so many ways, kids are kids around the world, but in so many other ways, they are worlds apart.
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| | Posted 12/3/2008 1:09 AM - 37 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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