The Children's Arrival- Northern Ireland

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 9:21PM Base Camp

So the bus arrived and I ran over, I could see the children looking through the windows at us, and I just began to break down and cry. I had been waiting so long to see them, and that’s just how my body reacted to it. I tried to hold it inside, but it was too hard. We had a few minutes before they got off so I got myself back together before they saw me. They all came off and just started coming up to us and hugging us, so I asked them their names and told them mine “Auntie Eleni.” They speak very quietly so I had to ask a few of them to repeat themselves, there was also a lot of noise.

I didn’t recognize many of them, and it seemed like there were a lot more than just 23. They sat down for a snack, and then went to play outside. The boys all played “football” (soccer), and the girls were on the playground or playing a game they play, which I could not figure out at all. I tried to ask them but they are too young and don’t know enough English to explain it to me. Some of the older ones speak rather well, but it’s still not always easy to understand. I definitely feel the language barrier between them, I just have to continue to be patient with them. Some are quite shy and don’t talk much. I was warned though. Others will talk to you as if they have been with you the whole time and expect you to understand everything that is going on. They are quite polite.

I don’t really know what to think or say. They are and aren’t what I expected. Closer to are based on what I was told.

I’ve also met the rest of my team (for now, it will change again in a few months) Godfrey is from Uganda, Lynsay is from Scotland, Agreeneth is from South Africa, Ruth is from Norther Ireland, and Angee is our tour leader from Oregon. Angee has a major SA accent from being with the children there for the past 4 months, it’s really cute. She even has the “yeah?” thing after her sentences. The children’s native language is Siswati, some of them were speaking it to me, and I didn’t understand. They still aren’t at the stage where they always realize the difference between the languages. I’m sure I will pick some of it up.

The girls like to play a clapping game, quite like “Stella, Ella, Olla”( if you have heard of that game). A few just came up to me and started teaching me, it made me feel very welcome and wanted. The older ones can explain certain things in simple English.

Right now they are counting up to 20ish. Some don’t always get there, and go back to 13, but I haven’t heard any get higher. Possibly if they are by themselves they may be able to do it. I’ve only seen them in group settings so far.

Three girls helped do the dishes, and they started to sing “You Raise Me Up” sung by Josh Groban. Music and dance is natural to them. They dance all the time, I mean ALL the time.

They got some toy planes on their Turkish Air flight so they spent a majority of the evening passing them back and forth to each other. It seems like the fighting and arguing happens when a third tries to join a pair playing. They are like any other children at their age. They push and poke each other, scream, cry, laugh, joke, I’ve pretty much seen it all in the short 3 hours I’ve spent with them.

Before bed they sing which was really awesome to see. Then they hug all the Auntie’s, one girl came running right up to me, it was so cute. The sad part was I don’t remember who it was because I don’t always see their faces because I’m so tall to them, and they move quickly. I honestly need to work on their names a lot more. I’m still working on the pronunciation for some. When they are all running around it feels like their are 50, so it can be a bit overwhelming. At one point, I was alone on the playground/ field with close to 20, and they were all yelling at me to watch what they were doing, and I was turning my head every which way and running around to make sure they were all safe. It wasn’t very easy. They like to try and see what they can get away with, so they would do what I told them not to just to see if I would notice every time they did, which of course I didn’t because I know they were disobeying when I wasn’t watching because I was busy with another group. You kind of just have to laugh when it happens, and do your best to make sure everyone is happy and safe.