Day 2: Young Life Club

JOURNAL ENTRY BY JENNIFER BAKER

Our team began by meeting after breakfast for devotion time and prayer before heading out to Sokone 1, a neighborhood where Young Life has an established presence and even a building where they hold club. Chris Ayo arranged to have a bus transport us from the hotel to the YL clubhouse. It was entertaining hearing the teenage boys’ thoughts as we passed through the areas of Arusha. While the main roads are paved and busy with automobile traffic, most of the side roads are packed dirt, grooved with deep ruts from previous rainy seasons. These roads are filled with pedestrians, bicycles and motorcycles. We passed by street side markets selling shoes from a pile, assorted vegetables and fruits, bottled water and airtime.

Once at the clubhouse, we assessed the need for a gate to secure the perimeter of the courtyard. We walked together to the market to purchase cement and pick up the long boards to be used as forms. Then began the tedious work of breaking up the hard ground and removing evidence of a previous gateway. They boys traded turns with the pickaxes and shovels with the other YL volunteer leaders who were on the scene. As with any construction project, an audience gathered...an audience comprised mostly of young children.

Camille, Courtney, Nina, Cherie and I spent hours loving on kids and keeping them entertained with multiple rounds of Limbo, Duck, Duck, Goose, the Hokey Pokey and any other children’s game they could remember.

Lunch was served in the clubhouse, and we enjoyed a meal of rice cooked with meat, greens and bananas with bottles of water. After all of the adults had filled their plates, the kids were invited to share the remaining food. Work and play resumed after lunch until we were all hot, sweaty, dirty and grass-stained.