Day three in Abaco by Keegan Fopma, a student with Pella Christian’s team
This Friday I got the opportunity to pick up and drop off the local kids we spend the last two evenings with. We picked them up from their school and they had bright smiles and wide open eyes. We had made close connections with them from the day before so we knew who they were and they knew exactly who we were. A boy by the name of Ben that I had grown really close with the previous day told me that he had been looking forward to looking for cool creatures by the ocean and rides on my shoulders all day. Once we got back to camp we spent an hour exploring with the kids. Ben thought it was so cool to wear my hat and sunglasses. He found a sea urchin that he was convinced was an octopus. At about 5:15 we came in to do a small craft with them and the boys showed us their dance moves. We had burgers, hotdogs, and macaroni for supper and got ready to bring them back to their houses. When dropping off Ben I got out and followed Ms Lisa up a rocky rugged path to these small metal houses, I gave Ben a hug and he asked for my hat. I gave it to him and he asked me to tighten it on his head one last time. It was a surreal experience that was extremely hard for me. I will always remember Ben and I hope he remembers me too.
Day three in Abaco by Karis Fikkert, a student with Pella Christian’s team
Today was Friday and it started out with a beautiful sunrise that many of us woke up extra early to watch. Then, we had a delicious Bahamian breakfast of grits and spicy corned beef hash. We piled in the vans and headed over to the church we had been working on the past few days to finish painting it. A few of the church members had come by to see what we were doing and seemed interested in our work. We had the opportunity to finish up the church today ahead of schedule! I painted with Annika and we painted lots of trim inside the church and some on the outside. Then, some of us left to pick up the kids that we had been having at the camp for late afternoon/dinners from school. They were very joyful kids and loved to sing, so on the way to camp we sang all sorts of songs they knew together. At camp, we played outside with them doing things like skipping rocks on the ocean, basketball, volleyball, and jump rope. After dinner we dropped them all off, which was a very sobering experience as one of the girls I had gotten to know, Brendiana, got to her door and no one was home. She tried to hide in the corner a little, as if she thought we would leave and she would just wait there for someone to come home, but we took her with us to come back after we dropped off the other kids. When we came back later no one was home but her older brother was in the driveway, so she got in the car with him. It also broke our hearts to drop off Ben because we basically pulled onto the side of the road and they took him up the hill to his little shack he shared with 12 other people. These moments were hard to take in after an encouraging/uplifting experience the rest of the week. But, it was very eye opening and I am glad I am aware of some of these living situations that we take for granted. I don’t have words for what it is to see kids living in poverty be some of the most joyful people I have ever met.
