Never Stop

When someone hears that I’m in Africa, they may think I’m on a vacation. But we are here to work, and that’s what we do everyday. That is what I love about this service trip – we are always helping somebody and making their life a little easier. Over the weekend, we didn’t stop working. First, we surprised the cleaning ladies at LOAMO and cleaned the school for them. Then, we went to an orphanage to go and play with kids.

On Saturday, we decided to give the ladies at the school a break. They were all filled with joy and were excited that we would help them. It was priceless to see the excitement on their faces when they found out that we were going to clean the school. Cleaning the school reminded me that we are always doing something helpful, whether it is something big or something small. While I was on my hands and knees cleaning the school, I would get that feeling that you are making someone’s day a lot easier and that is when it really hit me. After we all finished with cleaning, Loserian, (the husband of the founder) came up to us and told us something very special. He told us how thankful and grateful he was to have us there, helping his school. Hearing him say those words so sincerely really made my trip. It showed that we are truly making a difference in the students’ and teachers’ lives.

On Sunday, we still didn’t stop working. We went to an orphanage called Save Africa. At the orphanage, there were thirty kids who ranged from three years old to nineteen years old. Every kid was filled with joy and happiness. Even though the kids were shy at first, they opened up to us with just one kick of a soccer ball. All the kids couldn’t have had a bigger smile on their face while we were there, which brought a smile to my face as well. The kids all have very little in their life, but are making the most of it. Seeing the kids’ smiles and hearing their laughter was truly incredible. While at the orphanage, I started to notice that even though we are here to teach, the kids are really teaching us. We might be there to teach English, but the kids are teaching us how to we really need to live our lives.

With a new week ahead of us we were all very anxious to get to our new classes. Switching from Class Three to Prep was a huge change. On the first day when I walked in all the kids ran to me and hugged me, and after tha,t I knew this class was perfect.  Restarting with a new group of teachers and students was very over whelming, but on day two we started to bond more.  Even though it was a huge transition, it is really starting to get more natural. As the week goes on, I’m getting to know the students, teachers, and myself even more. Among the students on this trip, we could probably all agree that the students at LOAMO and Save Africa are actually the true teachers. It really shows that to find happiness, you just need to make the most of life.