Here's our plan: As the kids enter the church, we will divide them into age groups & give them name tags. Rylee & Alyssa will take the littlest ones, Shannon & Dirk will have the next age up, Stuart & Heather will have the next oldest ones & Doug & Colin will have the oldest group. The groups will then rotate to one of four stations - Games led by Jason, Music led by Michael, Crafts led by Autumn & Bible Story led by me.
FIRST THING NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN: the kids don't want to be separated from their elder siblings. We have 2 translators with us, but that is not enough for us to communicate with each child individually & try to explain about separating them... so we don't... We just decide (right then & there) to just count out the 1st 25 kids into Group 1, the next 25 into Group 2, and so on... and so on... and so on... and so on... and so on... This leads me to the SECOND THING NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN: we don't have 100-175 kids show up. We have over 350!!! On the 1st day!!! We are working in a small space with supplies for only about 200 children. We don't even have enough name tags for them all. (This makes them very sad - these kids have so little, that they are especially upset when someone gets something that they don't - even something as simple as an index card name tag tied with yarn).
Jason's games are ok - but he struggles a bit since his groups aren't divided by age. Games that are appropriate for the wee ones aren't as much fun for the big kids... & games for the big kids could harm some of the little ones. Music goes well - but they are cramped in their space under a tree in the back yard.
THIRD THING NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN: Crafts... Autumn had to dip into her other days' crafts in order to do let all the kids make something... We are just about cleaned out of our week's supply of crafts in the 1st day. (We'll worry about the next days' crafts later...) Bible Story is almost impossible - I am being drowned out by much more "fun" activities, that many kids try to sneak out of my station to another more exciting one... FOURTH THING NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN: We have spent a lot of time organizing & translating the Bible stories but I am unable to keep them interested long enough to even make them aware that we are talking about God!
We also put a LOT of thought into Snacks for each day. We knew that they have little to eat, so we made sure that our snacks were not only in keeping with the theme each day & were fun and nutritious. FIFTH THING NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN: As with Crafts, you can probably guess by now, there was NO WAY we had enough snacks for everyone. We had to give each child just 3 little animal crackers & a half a Dixie cup of Gatorade. The older kids (& some of the adults!) kept pushing the smaller kids aside to get more snacks. It was so chaotic... like a run on the bank during the Great Depression... At one time, I was standing on top of a table, holding the animal crackers over my head & STILL being mobbed!!!
Then, an "angel of the Lord" appeared in the form of one of the Mamas... She started cracking a switch (never hitting anyone, but making a fierce sound!) and SOME amount of normalcy / calmness was restored.
Our 2½ hours of VBS has gone by in a flash - & I'm not sure that anyone got anything spiritual out of it. I feel so dejected... And to make matters just a tad worse - as we walked out of the church that afternoon, we saw all the crafts (that we had painstakingly cut out / assembled the night before) littered in the creek. (Back home, we are so used to proudly displaying our kids' art on the refrigerator, but these kids just didn't know what to do with their crafts .. so they tossed them. A HUGE part of their trash problem is that littering is simply "normal" culture in Haiti...) I KNOW that God has called us here, but I am feeling inept & overwhelmed...
But then comes along another "angel of the Lord" in the form of Stuart... He came to be know as our "ray of sunshine" over the course of this week, as he can ALWAYS see the positive side of ANY situation. He reminded us that in the chaos, we had managed to:
1) make the kids feel loved - through our hugs
2) give them a fun break in their sometimes monotonous day - through our songs & games
3) give them a delicious snack (albeit not a lot) and
4) talk to them about our Lord & Savior who loves them!
He made us feel so much better!!! We are re-energized! We know that he is right... "If God is for us, who can be against us?" ~Romans 8:31.
We take a short lunch break (before starting our work project for the afternoon)... but we are still a bit shell-shocked. I am simply too exhausted to eat (& those of you who know me, know that THAT never happens!) We spend our lunch break re-charging our energies. Tonight during our Rooftop time we will set about changing all of our carefully / thoughtfully made plans for VBS the rest of the week.
No more crafts - we simply don't have the supplies anymore & it takes too much time for 350+ kids to make anything... Snacks will now be served at the END of VBS, as the kids are leaving (we fashioned a type of "drive thru" line to help us with this - to be guarded by the Mama with the switch!)... I also decided that instead of reading the Bible stories & then having them translated, I am simply going to read to them directly from our Haitian Creole Bible storybook. (Hopefully this will help in the "keeping their interest" department). Now we are like Scarlet O'Hara - "tomorrow is another day!" ;)
Day 2 of VBS - We continued to regroup the rest of the day yesterday & I believe we have another workable plan... As hard as it may be to believe, we actually had MORE kids the 2nd day than we did the 1st. (Once word got out about the fun & the snacks that the "blans"(white people) were bringing, even more children showed up the next day!) ...But today, we are ready! No name tags - let's face it... it would've taken us the entire 2½ hours of VBS just to write their names... We break them up in stations - with the 1st 50 kids going to Music, then next 50 to Games, etc... This seems to work better & easier. Since we're not doing Crafts anymore, this gives us a few more minutes at the other stations & that too helps us deal with the large crowd of children. During my Bible storytime, I read to them from a Haitian Creole Bible storybook. One of our translators, Paul, has nicely "prepped" the kids. He explained to them (in Creole - thinking I wouldn't understand him) that although I do know a bit of French, I know virtually NO Haitian Creole, so they are not to laugh at me! The kids sweetly comply. Paul patiently reads along with me, helping me with any pronunciation problems & occasionally breaking to ask the kids to repeat what they just heard. We move along smoothly & we have plenty of time to do our Bible memory verse. I am AMAZED at how quickly the children learn the verses each day!!! (& they are so very happy to receive a sticker as a reward!)
Day 3 & 4 of VBS - The subsequent VBS days go SO VERY well. We are having so much fun! We are spilling out past the church into the neighbors' yards, but all is good! The kids are enjoying their time with us so much that they try to follow us each afternoon when it's time for us to leave. In just a few short days we are in love!!! How are we going to say goodbye to these precious children?
"Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to." ~ Deuteronomy 15:10
We have come to this place to share God's blessings with these people, but the Lord has blessed US as well! (even more so?) Thank you God for Your abundant grace & love!
More to come soon- about our work project at the church...
Renmen ak benediksyon!
~Laura
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