Saturday Fun!

Pictures from this last Satuday!

More pics to come - Thanks to Picasa2!

Then Came the Rain......

Language School Begins!

Kate has done an excellent job of getting the language school back up and running with Pierre during the month of June. The attendance varies each week between 25 - 40 boys total depending on the weather and such. It's great to see the boys so eager to learn!

Language School Begins!

Language School Begins!

Language School Begins!

Language School off to a Good Start!

Pierre, working alongside one of the boys in class. Some of the younger boys (that have never been before) aren't even sure how to hold a pen. Others have come a long ways since last year and were VERY excited to get back to class!

Kate Royal with the kids on Saturday morning - just wrapping up craft time and getting ready for the food.

Code named "Fade' Ndiyam" (throw water) - the infamous water balloon toss is probably one of our all time favorite games here in Burkina Faso!

Working Hard at Craft Time!

Each week, Kate does an excellent job of choosing, designing, and modeling a new craft for the kids. Often times coloring is involved along with a little glue. It's always a fun time for us to jump in ourselves.

Good art is hard to come by.....

Just two or three years ago, many of these boys had never had the chance to color a single page; but thanks to the Saturday clubs and your support (and Crayola) many of the kids have become quite the artists!!! Take a look at this piece of art work (taken from the story of Moses as a baby)

Washing up!

We recently started using a rather "sudsy" soap here called Omo. We weren't sure at first how the boys would like it; but were very happy to find out that they LOVED it! The suds were something that kinda just made washing up more of a game than a chore.

A shoe or two....

Each week we do crafts and stories and feed the kids rice and meat. These activities are all done on traditional mats that are culturally familiar to the kids. Here it is known that the boys leave their shoes on the side of the mats - making for a rather colorful picture.....

Waiting to get things started.....

This week, despite the morning rain, it was great to see that we still had some new visitors. This little guy on the left (Sadaa) decided to come for the first time to have his leg bandaged up. When we asked him when he had hurt it, he said that it was 0ver a year ago!!! It had obviously been burned pretty badly and had not healed properly. Kate did a great job on treating the wound; and he was over playing with the rest of the kids within minutes!

Water balloons on a hot day!

Each week Kate and I get to decide which game to start the Saturday clubs with. This time of year, the water balloons usually take first choice due to the heat. We had a blast this last week, though, with over 90 energetic boys, it was a little crazy at times!

Everybody wave hello!!!

Say hello to the crew - From left to right: Moumouni (far left), Pierre (kinda hiding behind his own hand there), me (Tyler), Lydia (girl in the blue shirt) and Kate......
Lydia is new and is a great help each week with the kids here. Pierre is our translator and does an awesome job with helping us communicate everything into the language the kids can understand (Fulfulde is quite the challenge....) Moumouni is just a huge help all around and always has a smile on his face and then there's Kate - who basically brings it all together and leads the club each week!
All that said - none of it could happen without all your support! Thank you all so much!!!

Joseph and the coat of many colors.....

On the 31st, we did the story of Joseph.....or at least the first PART of the story of Joseph. We decided that because of its importance (and length) that we would devide it into 4 sections throughout the month of April. Seen here is a wonderful little craft idea that Kate and I came up with (after many failed patents...) It was halarious to see all the fun shapes and sizes that Joseph turned out to be and then get posted on the chalk board for display! Only wish I had a giant fridge to hang them all on!!!

Let the games begin!

Despite the heat - we had a great turnout with the kids this past Saturday and even had a great game of "Tug of War." We had around 73 kids, so we split up the little guys and the big guys into two groups and then had each one battle against each other seperately. Then we took the winners of the little kids and the winners of the big kids and attempted a "final match!" It was quite a site to see when ALL of the little guys got up (about 40 or so) and pulled together to beat the "big guys" team. They were ecstatic and loved every minute of it!

Time to eat!

Kate Royal handing out rice to the kids this last Saturday. Each week, we see anywhere between 60 and 90 kids - and Kate does an incredible job cooking for ALL of these hungry boys!

Coloring with the kids.

Each week, we also do a craft with the kids. Whether it's coloring with the kids or making fun little paper puppets - it's always a joy to get down and your knees and be a kid again!

Doing skits for the kids...

Each Saturday is action packed and there's always an opportunity to be a little goofy during our skits. In this shot, I'm playing Noah on my great little ark and listening for the sound of the coming animals!

The Kids of Hope

Who are the Kids of Hope??? They are the countless Fulani Garabou and street kids that live here in the city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Each week, these kids come from all over the city to enjoy a free meal of rice and vegetables here at the Kids of Hope center. Every Saturday, we set aside for our Kids of Hope club - which includes games, crafts, skits, and a short Bible story giving all the kids an opportunity to hear about the love of God - some for the very first time.

Okay - now everbody say "HELLO!....."