Smile Camp

Today we took the children along to smile camp which was being held at Bakau Upper Basic School which is close to the stadium. The smile group run a variety of activities for children in the local area. On arrival we registered the children they were put into teams Abigail butterflies and Bradley ants both of which were drawn on their arms. We then joined a group who were playing catch with a group of locals. The idea was if you dropped the ball then you lost the use of a limb, i.e. arm, leg. If you then caught the ball you regained them. This game was then followed by duck, duck, goose which was where someone goes a round the ring tapping each person saying duck when they say goose that person has to chase them and try to catch them before they get back to their place. We then split up into two groups of older and younger children to play a game of British bulldog. The children really enjoyed this running around making sure they crossed the line without getting caught. I new it wouldn’t last as Bradley took a nasty fall grazing his knee and arm. Songs were next sung and then we went into one of the classrooms where we listened to a story which was acted out by the smile group. Abigail was pleased when pictures were handed out for her to colour. When one of the smile group suddenly produced a tray of chocolate spread tapalapa’s she was mobbed by the children. After much pushing the tray was removed and Paul had to step in as bouncer whilst the tapalapa was handed out. Then we were given mangoes with much of the same performance until they had run out. We have now resorted to eating the mangoes as the Gambians do peeling the skin back like a banana. They are so juicy and delicious, you do get in a bit of a mess though. We returned back outside to play bucket ball, basket ball with buckets, read stories or play football. Finally the day came to a close at 1 o’clock, we headed for home helping to carry some of the equipment back to the smile compound.