Youth Impact Delegation

Posted by Sarah Cooper, Delegate (Thursday PM)

Today was another great day! I woke up to an egg, vegetables, and bread with home-made raspberry jam. The food here is awesome. I thought that I would lose weight on this trip, but I think I might come back heavier. Last night Jeff, Elizabeth, and I went to a park. We had ice cream and cotton candy. Then we stopped for some watermelon and another kind of honey-flavored melon that no one can name for me. It was all scrumptious!

Initially with the kids we had some questions that helped all of us get to know each other better. The first question involved their culture and what they like/dislike about it. Many of the kids said that they did not like the corruption in their culture; however, they enjoyed the community and hospitality of their culture. I said I enjoyed America because of its opportunity and disliked it because of its total focus on materialism. It is so enjoyable getting to know one another-in our group and with the kids.

We played some outside games that were pretty fun. I think the kids enjoyed themselves. We also did abstract art on canvasses. A lot of them did not understand the concept of abstract, but several surprised us with their artistic ability. There are some pictures displaying the kid’s art.

Later, we talked about conflict and conflict resolution with the kids. We played the game Connect Four and had them work in teams. It was neat to see how they progressed from hasty decision making initially to working together and thinking about decisions later in the process. We then had the kids discuss it and then make up a skit that would portray examples of good conflict resolution vs. bad conflict resolution. We all had a big laugh watching the kids act this out. After all this we ate another fantastic meal that the cooks in the dormitory prepared.

We are about to go on a scavenger hunt and I am sure someone else will describe in detail the amazing time!

I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say I miss my family terribly-but that this experience is something I will treasure forever. Who knows what kind of impact will be made here.