Hello!!!
Today was by far my favorite day while being in Lesotho. It’s hard to believe that each day we are here it continues to get better and better even this close to the end of our journey. I think I can speak for the group when saying everyone felt a wide array of emotions today. We were heading to two different places. We started our morning at the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation and then spent our afternoon at Kick for Life. Today was the only day that the weather hasn’t been the greatest but that didn’t stop us from accomplishing what we needed to.
We headed to Baylor in the morning to put on a carnival for all of the children there receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS. We wanted to be able to bring different activities for the children, in hopes of them forgetting that they were receiving treatment for a couple of hours. There were temporary tattoos, coloring books and crayons, bubbles, jewelry making, the beloved parachute we all used to play with in gym class, soccer balls, and the polaroid camera Diane (Dr. Rosenberg’s daughter) let me go around with to take pictures with to give to the families.
Since when we were first arrived the weather wasn’t the greatest, kids were a little apprehensive in coming outside but were still watching us through the big glass windows of the waiting room. This is when we decided to head inside to bring a lot of the activities we brought with us to them. I started out going in with handlfulls of the bubble bottles to use and also give to them. Each of the kids were so happy when I started blowing bubbles in front of them but got even more excited when I gave them the bottle to use themselves.
After about 30 minutes or so Dr. Rosenberg told me to break out the camera. He told me to ask the parents/grandparents if they wanted one and told me how for a lot of them this would be one of the only physical pictures they would have of their kid(s). I was a little apprehensive at first on going up to different people asking them if they wanted a picture. Once I took that first polaroid picture and sat with the mom watching the photo develop all nerves dissipated. Her reaction was priceless. I have never seen someone so overwhelmed with happiness over a photo. When I turned around there were so many parents and grandparents calling me over asking for their picture to be taken. Each person after the next was happier and happier. All so grateful and shocked that they were able to keep this photo. As our time went on it became harder and harder to remember that each and everyone of these kids were sick.
Next, we arrived at Kick for Life. Which is an organization allowing boys and girls to be able to play soccer but also receive HIV testing and to be apart of their future outlook on creating a more sustainable Basotho life. The goal is to educate them while still allowing them to play the sport that they love.
When we arrived its safe to say we were all shocked when we found out we weren’t playing kids but playing part or the semipro league. We all the realized we were going to get our butts kicked. Thankfully the woman told us we were going to be intermingling on teams of 6. I have never had so much fun exercising before (Don’t worry Betsy I’ll be ready for the gym when I get back). Obviously they were going a little easy on us but we all still had a blast and were able to laugh about looking like fools while playing soccer.
Everyday has been so amazing and I don’t want our time to end here, but I can’t wait to see you family and share all of my wonderful experiences!