Day 17

Wednesday was our chance to give back, to show our appreciation for the opportunities we have enjoyed in China. We went out to the Children’s Village, toured the village, and taught a lesson in the school. The Children’s Village is a community of children who’s parents are in prison. These kids live at the Village until their parents are released. It was so sad to see these poor children but it was nice to be able to give back, to try to help at least for an afternoon. We were divided into our groups and each group was assigned to come up with a “lesson plan” that would take approximately 20 minutes. We had all sorts of games going on. Some groups played hangman, some played duck-duck-goose, and some played Four-Corners. Although everything didn’t go exactly as planned, seeing as the kids were about 10 years older than we had expected so our plans had to be altered slightly. With a bit of creativity however, the kids loved it. It was amazing to us how much a simple game, a game that would have bored teenagers in the US, was so interesting to these kids. They had never played games like these so it was all a new experience to them. Through the games we were able to see them open up, to really get to know them and understand them better. Our group had one little boy that came back three times. He would wait until we had started introductions and sneak in and sit in the back. It was fun to have him there so much because each time he got more brave, each time he started talking more and interacting with us more. These kids truly appreciated us being there. Even though we just played games and talked with them, they soaked up the experience and loved it…and we did too. On the bus after we all compared what we had done, told stories of our favorite kids and passed around our favorite pictures. It was an awesome experience for us to be able to give back to the children of this country that we have all come to appreciate so much.

-Nikell-