Bingo!

Today’s party for the 60 sponsored high school students was a smashing success. There were a couple of surprises, but they were good ones. First of all, the party was supposed to begin at 3:30. On Zambian time, that might mean anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30, but the first group of students arrived at 2:55! No problem there, since that gave me time to take a photograph of each student.

The first game we played was the “Candy Walk”—just like the carnival game “Cake Walk”, but with small bags of candy awarded instead of cakes. As usual, I had to improvise a little. I couldn’t locate a CD player, so I had the students sing as they walked around the circle, and then I rang a dinner bell when it was time for them to find their seats.

We did the Candy Walk outside in the back yard of the Hamby Guest House. Next I had the students sit at tables on the guesthouse verandah for our Bingo game. They had never played Bingo, and they loved it. Each winner got to choose from an assortment of prizes that I had brought with me or rounded up from Ellie’s stash of donations. The first prizes to be taken were the two Bibles. When they were gone, students chose spiral notebooks or pencils, items that are precious commodities for these needy students. Posters, chapsticks, gum, and candy were not nearly as popular.

We served cake and Kool-Aid and had closing comments before sending the students back to their dorms. They all seemed to enjoy the party, and many came by to say “thank you.” It was a pleasure to put together this very simple affair and see them enjoy it so much.

The internet is so limited here that I can't manage any photos. Sorry--I'll post some when I'm back in the US.