The Week of Wackiness: February 23-27

There wasn't that much time left at BanglaHope, so some of the student missionaries and I decided to do something special for the kids. It was going to be like a spirit week, ending with a fun day off of school.


Day 1: Mask Day
The week before, Katie, Caleb and I, traced and cut out little paper masked for all the student. On Friday, for art and craft class,, the kids got to decorate them. The teachers kept them in the classroom for safe keeping. When Monday rolled around the kids were excited and proudly displayed their mask. A lot of the kids participated. The younger ones were so cute and some wore their disguise the entire day. Some kids got creative and made their own masks.


Day 2: Mis Match Day
For this day we expected the kids to mix up their clothes to form the most crazy patterns and color combinations. However, here most patterns and color combinations are considered beautiful. I dressed myself in the most ridiculous way I thought with my wardrobe but throughout the day both kids and staff kept asking me how I was mis matched. I looked at them like they were crazy but then let it slide. Not a lot of kids participated this day and a majority of the ones who did were creative and mis matched their shoes. Even if nobody got it and the kids didn't really participate, this was my favorite day.


Day 3: Crazy Hair Day
The kids enjoyed this day more. All the boys used Caleb's styling gel to spike their hair. A lot of the girls had several pig tails. I painted Caleb's hair to look like a little kids spinner hat. Katie put pipe cleaners in her hair to make it stand up. The kids kept calling her the tree. It looked pretty awesome. Today Sharmi informed me that this wasn't fun. I simply replied to her, “It must be because you aren't participating. I am having tons of fun.” She didn't like that response. For a couple of kids this was out of their comfort zone and they were not enjoying it but for the most part the kids were having fun.


Day 4: Team Day
A big question asked at BanglaHope is what team do you support. During the last world cup the campus took sides and rooted for there favorite teams as they advanced or dropped out. The most supported teams are Argentina and Brazil, and secondarily Germany. Whenever the kids would ask me which team I supported I would say Australia just to mess with them. I honestly didn't watch the world cup. So for this day I drew out the Australian flag and pinned it to me dress. I also wore my green outfit because their uniform is green and yellow. When I walked into class they all tried to guess who I supported. No one remembered what I had been saying. There were some wild guesses; America, India, and Africa were just a couple. I finally had to tell them. I got out the globe to show them where Australia was. Except for the boys who had Jerseys on, you couldn't tell which team they supported but they knew. At recess Katie, Caleb and I painted flags on the kids faces. They loved it. Nathan had to play crowd control. They were getting a little too excited. We couldn't get through them all; so after lunch Katie, Caleb and Nathan continued painting faces while ran around getting thing ready for Friday.


Day 5: Game Day

Team Sea Horse

We intended this day to be like a school picnic, minus the food, full of games and races. The kids got out of school right after pathfinders and we had them till lunch. The plan was to split class 1-3 into two groups and class 4-6 into two group. Then we would rotate the groups to play four games, an obstacle course, a scooter race, and two sets of group games. I got up early Friday morning to set up the obstacle course and it was raining. Oh, no! Nathan, Caleb and I made team signs and then ran off to breakfast. It was still raining. All throughout breakfast my mind was racing thinking of what we would do. We had to entertain these kids from 9:15 till noon. Luckily, by the time we finished eating the rain had stopped and it looked like the sun was coming out. All that worrying for nothing.


I quickly set up the obstacle course, grabbed the team signs and met the others and the kids in the receiving center's field. There we split the kids up into the four group. I led the sea horses, full of girls from classes 1-3. They were a good group. We started at the obstacle course so I could tell teacher Joya how to run it. Those kids had the hardest time running around the cones. It was kind of funny. They were all having fun so I let it slide. Then we moved to teacher Lichil's game. She had the kids hope while holding their ears through their legs. That was hilarious. I joined in and the kids loved it. Then we went to teacher Shuborna's game. I still don't quit understand it. There were two teams. One team linked together by holding hands and the other ran around free. They both tried to tag each other. Lastly we did the scooter race run by teacher Happy.


After the rotational games we all gathered in the receiving center to explain the paint game. This game was for everyone to play at the same time. Hidden on campus were five color stations. The kids had to collect all five colors of paint on their hand, return to base to get a point for their team, get it washed off and start over again. Running around on campus were other staff members with wet rags. If they caught/tagged a child they got to wipe off one of the colors on their hand and they would have to go back and get it again. Nathan had played this game at camp this summer and loved it so much he wanted to try it with the BanglaHope kids. While he was explaining the game to them. I ran around making sure the color stations were set up. I started out as the color blue but throughout the game Katie and I switched off because tagging got tiresome. The kids were running around like wild hooligans, they loved it. We played for about 45 minutes then gave them all otter-pops Mimi had left.


By noon the sun was beaming and it was hot. This was perfect for the surprise we had in store, a water fight. While the kids were eating, Nathan and I and some of the staff kids filled all the buckets we could find with water. Katie, Caleb and Nicole finished filling the water balloons. Some kids noticed what we were doing and got ready. Some changed into swimming clothes, some brought out towels and some put shampoo in their hair. They knew what was happening but they didn't know when. We paraded them by teams to the grassy area in front of the Waid's balcony. There, King Caleb announced the winners of the games. Once he was finished Katie bombarded them with balloons from above and Nathan, Nicole, and I doused them with buckets of water from below. They loved it and kept demanding more. Then they turned on us. We all got soaked but thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The fight had to be put to an end when muddy rivers started to form on the lawn. Now shower time.



It was the perfect way to end the week of wackiness and to end the last full week at BanglaHope.