Let’s play!

The organization “Schweizerischer Dachverband für Spiel und Kommunikation” generously donated a box full of games for the orphans that we support in Uganda. So Suzie, who is a trained games educationalist, one of the founders of www.schpielend.ch (website will be online any day) and member of the board of the mentioned organisation, brought the magical box directly to the Eco-farm in Chopalwor. As there was a public holiday and we could not bring the box to the orphanage anyway, we decided to bring it to the village and see what’s going to happen if we unpacked the box. So we went to the farm’s store and unpacked coloured plates, sticks, yo-yos, diabolos, devil sticks and some other things that were in the box. In the meantime some kids observed us sceptically from afar. But they still came closer and closer till they reached the store. So Suzie just started playing with the stick and the plates and handed the spinning plates on the stick over to some kid, then to another and another and so on… As the kids became more trusting Suzie showed them how to make the plate rotate on the stick. Soon they also tried and some succeeded pretty fast! More and more kids came until there were no more plates and sticks free, so Suzie introduced other toys like yo-yos and handed them over to the kids. More and more people came watching what was going on in the village. Soon some of the parents also tried out those unknown toys and one could see that they were as excited as the kids were. Small kids showed older kids and even adults how to use the toys and they all handed over the toys peacefully after a while so that everyone got the chance to try the games. We laughed a lot that afternoon and we felt sad when we had to ask everyone to return the toys when it got dark but unfortunately we had to.

We had so much fun with all the people in Chopalwor. This was definitely one of the best days of my life! And Suzie and me were also a bit proud when we heard the following sentence from one of the fathers:

“They've learnt a lot. First of all, they've learnt to trust themselves.”

Wow – thank you very, very much!

If you’re interested in getting educated in playing or want to book a team event then check out:
“Schweizerischer Dachverband für Spiel und Kommunikation”
www.schpielend.ch (website will be up any day)

So this is Suzie…

…and that’s the magic box she brought to Uganda and some of its content
curious kids watching Suzie unpacking some toys…
some seemed to be a bit sceptical about those two “Musungus” (=white man)
but still they are curious and soon all the neighbouring kids crept up…
finally Suzie instructed the brave ones who dared to come close
and soon others came closer as well…
careful inspection of the toys…
who said kids couldn’t concentrate themselves???

proud she is – and she was right, she did very, very well!
after a while the kids instructed themselves
watching, trying, swapping toys…
some toys needed to be fixed after a while…
the mothers were the first adults who also tried
and they did very well!
May I introduce? – Mr. Cool… :-)
Some of the adults needed to be invited personally to play with the kids…
Well, that’s one proud face! Playing seems to have the same effect on adults as on kids…
Soon everyone was playing…
the big finale… posing for Mr. cameraman

what a great day, and what a reward – so many laughing faces…