A Day with the Rifle Range Kids

(blog post from Rachel)

A group called "Care and Share" at my school has been taking on a project, an apartment building called the Rifle Range in a poor part of the island. One day a group of my friends went to the apartment and brought bags of food, played with the kids and had a great time. Feeling compassion for these poor families one of my friends, Chan-Mi, planned a day for all of the kids from the rifle range to come to Dalat (our school). The day turned out amazing.



We started out early this morning. I spent the night at my friend, Beth's dorm, and we were woken up and asked to drive to the rifle range and help get the kids. Arriving at the rifle range we met the kids who were so filled with excitement for what the day had in store for them. We drove back to the school and it was neat to see the joy on the kids faces as they saw and experienced things that I take for granted everyday. They live in the middle of the island and were amazed at the view of the ocean. The boys sang at the top of their lungs and the girls opened the windows to have the wind blow through their hair. They giggled and smiled. Arriving at the school, a group of volunteers gathered around to welcome the kids. Screaming and laughing they tumbled out of the vans and ran to the open arms and immediately began to bond with each one of us.



We played relay games, sang catchy songs in Bahasa Melayu and danced, made crafts, played soccer, played on the park, and ate a LOT of food. We acted out the story of David and Goliath for them and sang a song that went along with it. The kids loved the singing and really got into it. As I played soccer with a group of boys they called out to me, "Sister, sister pass to me!" Many of the kids also called us teachers. They were not shy at all and were very respectful.
The kids made a picture frame with a group picture from the day, and on it they wrote, "My Best Friends"
I really connected with a boy named Shashi. He is a very outgoing little boy. He loved to make silly faces and dance. During one of the songs he went to the front of the room and started
break dancing! It was so cute.



The end of the day was emotional when they had to go back home. It was sad for us to see the kids return to their poor, rundown home. But we were SO glad that we were able to give them this special day. The kids said goodbye with many hugs and shouting out, "we love you, we miss you"
It is amazing how quickly we built relationships with these special kids.

The day was full of a lot of laughter and fun. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to build into these kids lives and share the love of Jesus with them. I can't wait untill I get to see these kids again.


Comments

Anonymous said…
What an awesome project! You made many memories for those kids. They will be talking about it for a long time I'm thinking.
November 14, 2009 at 7:31 AM
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