Day by day at Little Flock there was always a lot going on. There were projects happening specifically because teams were visiting, like the Playground project that we were able to raise funds for. We had various setbacks with tools and materials along the way, but what a JOY to see the kids filling the swing set and “breaking in” the monkey bars and the teeter totter in our last few days there. 
We also took part in a Garden project, adding plantings like beans and squash and tomatoes, and making “stepping stone” markers and painted rocks with the kids to label the various fruit trees and vegetables growing.
Viji also really wanted us to do school work with the kids. Recent exam results for some of the kids showed they were struggling, especially in math.
We tried to work on multiplication facts whenever we could. There were lots of “high fives” with Ashok (a bright young man whose dream is to be a doctor), when he got to the final step and mastered his “12’s” in under 10 seconds. We also did crafts daily that the San Jose team had brought along,
and Barry gave Ukelele lessons (while learning to play himself) with Samuel who had brought 5 from California.
Being able to go and help in the village school was another thing we loved...though it was crazy and chaotic! When we arrived to the school yard, the whole class of younger kids from 2nd to 4th grade came running out to greet us. We soon realized that their teacher had not shown up today, something that is not uncommon in village schools.
We gathered all 40 of the rowdy kids into a big circle, to sing songs. Hokey Pokey went really well, but as soon as we busted out “Old McDonald,” they all went wild. Quickly we realized the only way to keep them all under control would be to break up into small groups like we’d planned. Several of us walked to a small patch of grass flocked by a group of small girls in uniforms (and bare feet in the sweltering heat).
At first it went well. The goal was to help them with their English pronunciation since they rarely have exposure hearing a native English speaker. We first learned each of their names, around the circle. As we moved on to asking about favorite colors, they stared back at us with big brown eyes, in obvious confusion. We resorted to pointing at objects while they yelled out its color in a flurry of excitement.
After that, we lost them! Some began to braid our hair, others ran away to pick up seeds from the tree above, and others crowded in saying, “Auntie, Photo!”.
Phew…The groups rotated. But soon we had a crazy group of boys clumped before us. I quizzed the few that would stay seated, on English words. Their mouths struggled to form the sounds, but I praised them when they got close. At one point, a bell rang, and all the kids jumped up as more filled the school yard. It was absolute craziness.
We were stampeded by an excitable group of girls yelling, “Auntie! Auntie!”…Boys clamored to play thumb wars over and over. By the the time 4:00 rolled around, we were worn out. We waved goodbyes to the joyous kids, glad that we would be teaching the older kids instead the next day. As much as I love little kids, it’s tough when you have 40 of them who just want to climb all over you, plus a language barrier thrown into the mix!
From meeting village kids at school and on our walks to the school and market, we were especially excited to learn about projects initiated by Little Flock to help support and sustain families in the village. A woman named Karen had been coming to Little Flock year by year from California to teach village women the skill of jewelry making, and she was there for 2 weeks while we were there. Little Flock was able to pay the women for the jewelry they produced, and sell them at Little Flock benefit events back in the states.
For a day’s work of making jewelry, they were able to earn $3. Originally, Little Flock paid the women more, but they found it upset the economy of the village. Typically, women may earn $1 a day for a full day of construction labor. Instead, they are now able to walk to nearby Little Flock, make jewelry on the peaceful porch, talking and laughing with other women, rather than doing “hard labor”, and earn a higher wage to support their family. While Karen was there, she had seen one of the village women develop in her jewelry making skills, and her ability to manage the quality of the work of others.
When Karen shared with her the news that they would like to “promote” her into a supervisor role, she was trembling with emotion and clutching onto Viji and Karen’s hand. Now the women could keep coming to Little Flock every day, not just during Karen’s visits, but week after week, earning a steady wage for their family. Our whole team rejoiced at this milestone.
Little Flock also has a Tailoring program for women in the Village. Rani (Queen), Little Flock’s Tailoring instructor, teaches the girls sewing and embroidery on weekends…but Monday through Friday while the girls are at school, village women come to learn sewing skills. During our stay, a delivery of 10 new sewing machines arrived. Now Little Flock will lease the machines to the ladies so that they can take them to their own home, and earn money doing tailoring work for others. While we were there, we got to see a group of them receive certification from her program.
Another exciting development during our visit was the “Groundbreaking” of the new Community Center that Little Flock is going to build on its property.
In it, there will be rooms with permanent equipment for visiting Doctors and Dentists to provide clinics for families in the village. When we first walked through the village upon our arrival, women were pointing to their eyes, and to one of our team wearing glasses. We later realized that they had come to the “mobile” clinic at Little Flock before when American eye doctors were visiting, and they were hopeful that we were there to bring medical care on our visit. We could see firsthand from our little taste of village life, that this center was going to be a wonderful resource for this village community. The center will also hold a computer room, and ideally will one day will evolve into a school, so that Little Flock kids and others in the village could have a higher quality education than the local village school can provide.
We were excited to see and participate in some of the projects at Little Flock that we could see were of benefit to the kids and to the village. And while Viji expressed appreciation for the many projects our teams participated in, she always stressed above all that the most important thing we could do while at Little Flock was to shower love on the children, play with them, and give them a chance “to be kids.”
That, indeed, was our most favorite part of all!
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