Play Days Come to an End

Today was the last day of service week in the township. We spent today differently than we had the rest of the week. We arrived in the township midafternoon and were greeted by a ton of kids running to our bus, as usual. As we stepped off the bus, all of the kids were frantically searching for the Global Leaders they had met and spent time with throughout the week. I was greeted by Ronel, Shania, and Nicole-some of the sweetest girls whom I met during the week. We then all walked to our respective homes of the soup moms whom we had been paired with at the beginning of the week. When we arrived at the house of Mrs. Vanessa, my soup mom, we brought her a plate of cookies and a bag with other baked goods. She was very thankful for the treats we brought, but more so for us being there. As usual, there were many kids running around chaotically and playing in the street.

After playing some games in the street, we all walked to the school for the big field day event. We divided ourselves among teams- my team decided first to call themselves “Team Brazil” but then we joined with another group which caused the team name to change to the “Stormers.” Throughout the field day we played games such as three-legged race, dizzy bat, over-under, and a few more. Surprisingly the games ran pretty smoothly, despite the chaotic nature of most of the week.

After a long day of games and running around, it was finally time to say goodbye, for the last time. All the kids clung to their Global Lead buddies, knowing that we were not returning to the township tomorrow. Everyone was frantically running around making sure they could say goodbye to those they had met. The kids started to show how sad they were about us leaving and just held tighter in their hugs. Eventually we had to pull away and get on the bus. It was upsetting to see some of their sad faces and to know we weren’t coming back again tomorrow. As we were pulling away from the township, I couldn’t help but think of all the great things the kids as well as the soup moms had taught us throughout the week. Although the week was exhausting and emotionally draining at times, it was a really rewarding experience and definitely a highlight of this trip.

Elizabeth Theriot