Saturday, March 15, 2008
Saturday found the team hosting a “mini-Olympics” for all the children in the care of REMM. This included the girls from Casa Josef, as well as all the foster children, for a total of 37 children, plush some siblings. We rented out a sport court in which to hold the games, which included soccer dribble, basketball throw, jump rope, ring toss, and many more. Our attempts to “organize” the children were less than wildly successful, but they all had a wonderful time and participated in many fun activities. The relay events were enormously popular, as the children (and the team, truth be told) ran forward, backwards, side-stepped, crab-walked, bunny hopped, and any other we could think of to move them up and down the court! Perhaps the highlight of the entire event was the “Closing Ceremony”, in which we called each child up to the “podium” (an upside down storage tub) , put a medal around their neck, took their Polaroid picture, gave them a gift bag, and mostly just cheered wildly. The huge smile on each child’s face was priceless – it is a rare occasion for them to receive this kind of individual attention and recognition. We wound up the celebration with pizza and juice for all at the Bridge (REMM’s coffeehouse, which benefits Casa Josif). After a nap, (for the team, that is), we headed back to play with the girls after their naps. The “menfolk” took on some locals in a nice, friendly “futbol” game in which they got only slightly embarrassed and injured. The evening found most of us back at the Bridge, socializing, playing games, and preparing for tomorrow’s church services in Stei and Tulca (Tulsa’s new, unofficial sister city).
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