Day 35 - Dance Party

Friday, April 15 - Day 35

We had a big party today. It was excellent.

Niki had decided two days ago that it’d be fun to have a party with the kids like the volunteers had in the week before she and I arrived here. Some kids will be away during break so she suggested an end-of-term party today while everyone (including me!) was still there. Yesterday, she and Sarah booked a DJ. Today, we partied. The kids loved it.

The DJs brought a set of giant speakers, a computer, and lots of wires. They were set up by the time Jackie and I arrived in the early afternoon, bearing a tub of fruit salad which I had balanced on my head all the way from the field (using my hands to support, of course). We had each carried one side at first, but realized at the field that Ghanaian-style head-balancing might be easier; it was.

Our arrival coincided with that of Mama Jane, returning from her trip to America. Though the music was already going when we arrived, the dancing really picked up after Mama Jane addressed the kids about her trip. Once they got to move around after sitting on benches for an hour, they danced. And those kids can move. It was so much fun to watch and join in.

I spent much of the party holding, and occasionally dancing with, small children. I got Irene and Beauty both to sleep in the course of the afternoon, Beauty while secured to my back Ghanaian-style. I got lots of pictures of the kids dancing and just being, including Justice with his million-watt, light-up-the-room smile. It was a fantastic final afternoon and evening (the music played until 7) with the kids. It was freeform yet kept them all involved and engaged and they were all so happy. I love seeing them get to just be kids.