Good morning, good afternoon and good evening readers,

Amy and I thought it would be a splendid idea to create a Jungle Treasure Hunt for the children at the Soup Kitchen in Masis. As per the norm, we worked together with KJ our Peace Corps pal, but this time also with three Red Cross volunteers, Alla, Areg and Rosa. The photos and videos are by all of us. The treasure hunt was an absolutely fantastic idea but my god managing 26 children is exhausting. I think after today maybe I will just have one child in the future. Or perhaps half a child and five nannies to help.

Here was the itinerary of the hunt:

1. Jump on the jungle train to get to your camp. They didn’t 100% get this game. They had to stand in a line, send signals down the line and get to the other side of the room after going around the “big tree”. Hand on the head = GO, hand on the back = STOP, Hand on right shoulder = GO RIGHT and hand of left shoulder = GO LEFT. They kind of just moved and kept their hands on each other’s head, but whatevs we will let em have it.
2. Next stop feed the hungry tiger! Basically put your hand in some gunge whilst blindfolded and retrieve the butterflies. The first team to get all 6 butterflies wins!
3. Cross the swamp on the stepping stones. Now this is the one we worried about because it was a bit tricky. Once a team member steps onto and off a stepping stone it sinks, but all team members have to get across. Turns out that the kids are smarter than we are and came up with a WHOLE NEW solution to the game that wasn’t even mentioned online!
4. Make a mask and creep up on the crocodile. This game was CREEPY AS HELL. The masks made them look like they all belonged to some cult and having that creep up behind you is some nightmare on elm street shit. They loved it though and were so proud of their creations. The other games took so much adult supervision that most of the photos were from this activity.

5. Finally, fill the bucket from the well. They love the relay water                bucket game (as it’s unofficially called), so we adapted it just                    slightly.

At the end they all put the puzzle pieces together as a team and found the treasure chest of sweets and jungle pencils. At first they fought over who gets what but then they lined up to get their prizes. All in all it was a ruddy good day.

I have worked in a primary school before but had to leave because I had a bit of a “meltdown”. I wasn’t all there mentally and I think a classroom of 30 tipped me over the edge. But every time I work with children I remember how much I love it and how present you have to be in that moment. Watching them argue together, work together and celebrate together brings home how incredible children actually are. It’s like watching the adult world in the tiny microcosm that is Masis Soup Kitchen. Maybe when I come home I should be a teacher again, maybe I should look another meltdown in the face or maybe I should just contemplate over it for another ten years. What do you think?

In exhausted kindness,
C x