Volunteering in Kenya: Part 4
Play Time
As I hopped in my Uber this morning, bags full of toys for the children, I felt so much excitement to share the gifts. Is there a better feeling than buying a gift for someone you know will truly appreciate it?
The bubble gun couldn’t have gone down better, eliciting wild screams of pure joy from every single class. Never have I witnessed excitement like it, the children climbing on desks with eyes bulging out of their little heads, scrambling to reach and pop each bubble.
The balloons had much the same effect, the simple, colourful shapes bringing a lightness to the day. Unfortunately, these didn’t last long due to the infrastructure of the basic classrooms, with nails and sharp corrugated iron sticking out from the ceilings. I hold my breath every time students run under the shaded canopy, dreading that one of them might cut their head on the rusty metal.
The board games were shared among the older classes, who took it in turns fairly and patiently to listen and play by the rules in small groups. I’ve never witnessed such restraint and team play with children, I admired the respect they had not only for each other but for their new toys. Watching them revel in the fun was a heartwarmingly beautiful affair, that innocence of child play filling my heart so full it could overflow.
A Rollercoaster of Emotions
I can’t put into order the spectrum of emotions I have felt this week, never have I cried, laughed and simply felt so much. I have learned invaluable lessons from working with this small amount of the children of Kibera, and I will take the lessons with me onwards through life.
It’s really, really difficult not to feel helpless or despair when faced with such a huge issue. It’s important to understand that as an individual, it’s not possible to make systemic change on a huge scale happen, and that showing up to help a small part of it is still an important thing to do (if you can). However, it’s also important to say this.
In my week of volunteering, I witnessed so much joy among these children, and only on a couple of very rare occasions did I ever see a child crying.
A Lesson in Value
These children really have nothing, and in turn I think this means that they really place a higher value on everything. Every single child I taught was eager to learn, taking notes, listening intently, valuing education as they feel lucky to be at school when many of their peers are not. Until today, the only “toy” I saw them playing with was a homemade gadget made by punching a hole in a plastic lid and threading an old string through the middle to make it spin as they pinch the string in each finger and twirl it in circles.
Witnessing them carefully unbox the games, and gently construct the Jenga tower, wait patiently and take their time in turns, before slowly and precisely placing all the parts back inside the box and return it to their small library room for safekeeping. Another lesson I take from this experience is that more does not mean more. By having less you value the things you do have more.
